I used to see it a lot in the land of roundabouts aka Milton Keynes, usually people who are unable to cope with the idea of the lanes on the approach to a roundabout still being valid through it, and the various amounts of white paint being pure decoration not an actual guide to how it all works.
It seems to me that as the idea of having indicators is to indicate your intentions to other road users, it makes more sense to use your indicators to indicate your intentions to other road users, as opposed to using them to give some vague of idea of where you may or may not be heading. I was once knocked off my bike on a roundabout by a bloke indicating right but actually turning left, so the idea of actively signalling your intentions rather than relying on the self cancelling mechanism is IMHO a good one.
Living and working in MK I pretty much encounter most of the situations people have described.
Not indicating at all at any point round the roundabout.
Indicating on entry and round but not when exiting.
Turning right and not indicating on entry but remembering to do it when exiting.
Making manoeuvres without indicating but then putting the indicator on part way through their manoeuvre.
Using the incorrect lane on entry to a roundabout.
Lazy drivers not following the left lane when going straight on and straying into the right hand lane.
Not wanting to join the queue for straight on so deliberately using the turn right only lane to get to the front of the queue and push in. Sometimes they go through the charade of driving round the roundabout but I have seen drivers just blatantly pushing in.
Drivers slowing right down and stopping even though there's no traffic coming from the right.
You can guarantee I'll encounter at least one of these on a daily basis.
It doesn't help though nowadays though with the markings on the road. Sometimes they contradict the rules of roundabouts. There's one near us that has a big yellow sign saying "use any lane to go straight on". Huh?
It doesn't help though nowadays though with the markings on the road. Sometimes they contradict the rules of roundabouts. There's one near us that has a big yellow sign saying "use any lane to go straight on". Huh?
Do people indicate right on those huge roundabouts such as over motorways that seem to take half an hour to get to the three o'clock position? I admit I don't as I use lane discipline following the usually well laid out road markings and only indicate left my exit point.
You enter the roundabout at 6 o'clock, if the exit you want is further on than 12pm (i.e. straight ahead) then you indicate right.
If it's at, say, 9 o'clock, you indicate left.
If you literally are going straight on to exit at 12o'clock then you don't indicate at all until you've gone passed the exit before 12 o'clock. Then you indicate left.
Is this really confusing?! It's not if you think of the roundabout as a clock!
No the courteous and correct thing to do on the road is to indicate left when they are going to park, otherwise assume they are continuing in the direction they are travelling.
I'm not going to change what I have been taught...it seem so correct imo.
Also I'll indicate left if parking.
It doesn't help though nowadays though with the markings on the road. Sometimes they contradict the rules of roundabouts. There's one near us that has a big yellow sign saying "use any lane to go straight on". Huh?
I've never seen this unless the exit road has two lanes, which is in line with the highway code, provided you exit in the same lane. Not enter in the right lane and swing over to the left lane when exiting, like people do on a roundabout near me, for an inexplicable reason.
A lot of cars just pull up behind a parked car ( when I assume the are going to pass).. they mostly don't indicate left to park....and the driver gets out>:(
No....indicating to notify others you are attempting to pass a parked vehicle...seems common sense an is courteous.
I agree. I work facing a road and on many occasions I hear a beep of the horn, take a look to find some driver behind a parked car not indicating (to pass parked car) and angry that someone has passed them thinking they were parked.
As for roundabouts, especially mini painted on ones, it's amazing how many drivers treat them as if they're not there, and make no effort to go round them.
Why do some people indicate right when they enter a roundabout and are going straight on. Surely, their immediate act is to turn left, so how on earth can indicating right be the correct thing to do ? A lot of people do this and on many occasions I have attempted to overtake someone on the left who is going straight ahead because I have interpreted their indication of turning right as meaning they are turning right.
The only thing that annoys me more than this are drivers who just will not use a bus lane when it is not in use (and drive at 20mph in the right hand lane). Trouble is this is very prevalent - I use a couple of roads with bus lanes regularly that also have speed cams and I would say that 95% at least of drivers do not use the bus lane when they can.
What i loathe is, when they don't indicate, until they are right on the line, or just over it, like when i get to the roundabout at the top of the bank here, i stop and look right, to see wether they are going to come straight across me, but most don't indicate at all, and others just indicate, when they've just crossed the line, and indicated left to go down the bank, not coming across you, so you could have gone, instead of sitting there waiting like a tit!.
Something I'm seeing more of is letting another driver in at a roundabout.
i.e. Some idiot sat in the middle of a free flowing roundabout letting a car coming from the left in front of them, whilst the poor sod behind, expecting a clear run, potentially causing a blockage. Makes me crazy.
I've seen it happen three times at one particular roundabout.
You're supposed to indicate as you pass the exit before the one you're taking.
The size of the roundabout doesn't matter.
Of course it matters, whatever the Highway Code says about it. In the smallest mini-roundabouts, by the time you've indicated left at the prior exit, and there is time for someone else to notice your indication, you have already left the roundabout. Everyone can see from your road positioning and speed that you cannot by then be turning left, and usually that you can't be turning right either.
In such cases, indicating when going straight on is pointless unless, in some cases, traffic is busy and at a crawl.
People make mistakes. No big deal. Drive at a reasonable distance from the car in front and it's not a problem.
The same person then went on to do it at 3 consecutive roundabouts, I don't think it was a mistake. And yes, I have seen this behaviour on many occasions but admittedly not so much in recent years. As it happens I was in an adjacent lane so I couldn't maintain a reasonable distance behind.
As I've said in another post, I was in the left lane going straight on (and the lane is marked as such with an arrow). The person to my right was indicating right but then attempted to drive into me when the two lanes became one on the exit..
As I've said in another post, I was in the left lane going straight on (and the lane is marked as such with an arrow). The person to my right was indicating right but then attempted to drive into me when the two lanes became one on the exit..
If they were adjacent to you and on your right, how could you see their indicator?
What would you have done differently had they not been indicating?
If they were adjacent to you and on your right, how could you see their indicator?
What would you have done differently had they not been indicating?
Because they were already there, indicating right as I arrived at the roundabout.
If they had not been indicating I would have assumed they were going straight ahead, and since they were in the right hand lane I would have naturally given way.
Because they were already there, indicating right as I arrived at the roundabout.
If they had not been indicating I would have assumed they were going straight ahead, and since they were in the right hand lane I would have naturally given way.
Ah, I see.
Probably best then to not rely on indicators too much, if at all, in a situation like that, and always keep an eye on the vehicle next to you on roundabouts.
I try to never get exactly side by side with vehicles on R/As for this sort of reason.
Something I'm seeing more of is letting another driver in at a roundabout.
i.e. Some idiot sat in the middle of a free flowing roundabout letting a car coming from the left in front of them, whilst the poor sod behind, expecting a clear run, potentially causing a blockage. Makes me crazy.
I've seen it happen three times at one particular roundabout.
There seem to be a lot of people approaching a roundabout who don't want to actually stop and wait so they creep out as you are going past, and in some cases actually pull out and make you slow down to avoid hitting them when you are trying to exit.
Comments
Living and working in MK I pretty much encounter most of the situations people have described.
Not indicating at all at any point round the roundabout.
Indicating on entry and round but not when exiting.
Turning right and not indicating on entry but remembering to do it when exiting.
Making manoeuvres without indicating but then putting the indicator on part way through their manoeuvre.
Using the incorrect lane on entry to a roundabout.
Lazy drivers not following the left lane when going straight on and straying into the right hand lane.
Not wanting to join the queue for straight on so deliberately using the turn right only lane to get to the front of the queue and push in. Sometimes they go through the charade of driving round the roundabout but I have seen drivers just blatantly pushing in.
Drivers slowing right down and stopping even though there's no traffic coming from the right.
You can guarantee I'll encounter at least one of these on a daily basis.
Ah! Ta muchly
agreed, no indicating is very annoying and hazardous. Not seen the indicating right thing!
i thought road signs trumped highway code rules.
Yep, that's what I was taught too. Makes sense.
Agree...I can't see all the confusion
I'm not going to change what I have been taught...it seem so correct imo.
Also I'll indicate left if parking.
I've never seen this unless the exit road has two lanes, which is in line with the highway code, provided you exit in the same lane. Not enter in the right lane and swing over to the left lane when exiting, like people do on a roundabout near me, for an inexplicable reason.
I agree. I work facing a road and on many occasions I hear a beep of the horn, take a look to find some driver behind a parked car not indicating (to pass parked car) and angry that someone has passed them thinking they were parked.
As for roundabouts, especially mini painted on ones, it's amazing how many drivers treat them as if they're not there, and make no effort to go round them.
You shouldn't be overtaking on a roundabout
You should never pull out solely on an indicator anyway
i.e. Some idiot sat in the middle of a free flowing roundabout letting a car coming from the left in front of them, whilst the poor sod behind, expecting a clear run, potentially causing a blockage. Makes me crazy.
I've seen it happen three times at one particular roundabout.
You're supposed to indicate as you pass the exit before the one you're taking.
The size of the roundabout doesn't matter.
Of course it matters, whatever the Highway Code says about it. In the smallest mini-roundabouts, by the time you've indicated left at the prior exit, and there is time for someone else to notice your indication, you have already left the roundabout. Everyone can see from your road positioning and speed that you cannot by then be turning left, and usually that you can't be turning right either.
In such cases, indicating when going straight on is pointless unless, in some cases, traffic is busy and at a crawl.
The same person then went on to do it at 3 consecutive roundabouts, I don't think it was a mistake. And yes, I have seen this behaviour on many occasions but admittedly not so much in recent years. As it happens I was in an adjacent lane so I couldn't maintain a reasonable distance behind.
As I've said in another post, I was in the left lane going straight on (and the lane is marked as such with an arrow). The person to my right was indicating right but then attempted to drive into me when the two lanes became one on the exit..
If they were adjacent to you and on your right, how could you see their indicator?
What would you have done differently had they not been indicating?
Because they were already there, indicating right as I arrived at the roundabout.
If they had not been indicating I would have assumed they were going straight ahead, and since they were in the right hand lane I would have naturally given way.
Ah, I see.
Probably best then to not rely on indicators too much, if at all, in a situation like that, and always keep an eye on the vehicle next to you on roundabouts.
I try to never get exactly side by side with vehicles on R/As for this sort of reason.
There seem to be a lot of people approaching a roundabout who don't want to actually stop and wait so they creep out as you are going past, and in some cases actually pull out and make you slow down to avoid hitting them when you are trying to exit.
Yeah maybe so. But it doesn't how with people's habits. They see the sign on that roundabout and think it applies to all maybe.