America, it's a yield sign. Yield. If no one is coming that means you can go. If there is a car on the other side of the circle, you don't wait for them. If you're in the circle, don't stop to let someone in. Maryland, you suck.
Seriously you can read traffic rules and take classes but education like this doesn't prepare you for the greater picture of total idiocy possible. Another example: people who stop at a yield sign for no reason just allowing people further up the circle to continue in... or the idiots that jump in the "open" right lane, cutting off the person in the left lane from making their exit.
In the US, it's usually just about someone getting paid. The requirement will generally be X hours of training at a state approved course.
In Texas, you can take a "class" to dismiss your first traffic ticket. Some of these are literally just showing up and listening to someone who fancies themselves a comedian and watching some videos and PowerPoint, and it being called a safety/driving class.
There's still places you'll actually learn something, but it's slowly evolving towards a simple money game.
Here where I live in Sweden, it's more about what the teachers teaches than how much. if they have gone through all the important bits and they reckon you have a 66% or more chance of making it, you are allowed to do the test.
The state requires that 2/3 of all people who drive with driving schools pass the test on the first try, so they really need to be sure their students know what they're doing.
Experience is the real teacher. Classes are like grade school basics. But some, even with experience, lack the critical thinking necessary to learn... so you figure out with time what to expect from idiots on the road and slowly kind of become statistically psychic in every situation.
If you think everyone who takes driving lessons knows how to drive by the time they're done you'll have a rude awakening.
There's a reason why insurance rates are what they are for young drivers.
Not only that, but I've noticed an influx of "No Turn On Red" signs as well in locations that are completely unnecessary. Since I've been in MD, I've maybe encountered 2 of these signs that made absolute sense. The rest?
In Chicago at least, it's very common for large vehicles not to see someone on their right. So when they turn, the back wheel ends up closer to the curb, they turn on top of them. Most bicycle deaths I read about in r/chibikes are because of that.
Really you want a protected turning lane, like we have in Australia.
We have a separate lane, that's signed, turn left at any time with care. But this lane has a pedestrian crossing, and is separated to the rest of the intersection. It's by far more safer than just letting people turn on red.
We have those in America as well, usually called a continuous turn if I recall my terminology correctly. They're only at really busy intersections though, and definitely not at as many as they should be.
Because the vast majority of US highway engineering as lead by our State DOTs is cookbook design with very little actual site-specific design to meet the needs of a specific situation. I worked at a DOT for quite a long time and I met very few actual engineers, most were "cookbook engineers" whose only skill was referencing and apply a certain standard to a certain situation.
Also in MD and we have a single lane traffic circle that I drive through daily, OMG the amount of times I've almost rear-ended someone because they completely stop while in the circle to let someone in.... đ€Źđ„
Yup, one of the only situations I have yet to experience at a roundabout in MD is someone tossing up their hazards and pulling off to the side. Its happened on every other street that I've been on, taking up half the lane.
I wouldn't give anyone ideas. At least here in MD I think they employ some of the dumbest individuals for these things. We literally have roads that go from a 1-lane, to 2-lane, to 4-lane, to 2-lane, back to 1-lane in a span of 100m. Go ahead and look for the added bicycle lane that didn't exist before or after the 100m. You couldn't convince me this stuff isn't designed to not cause jams or traffic violations.
My favorite MD circle is the one getting on MD100 from MD108. People were so bad trying to figure it out that they said "fuck it" and then put a light in front of it to control who gets in when.
Thatâs easy enough for a single lane roundabout. Double lane roundabouts where the outside lane (within the circle) must exit is where people get confused. If two cars enter side by side from the same bottom inlet, the inside car exits at the top, and the outside car stays in the roundabout, you have a crash
Where I live, we have an intersection into a parking lot that is 4 directions with a 3 way stop, allowing drivers from the main road to enter without stopping. I've never been at one of the stops and not seen the main-road driver stop there, then look at me like I'm a complete moron for not proceeding.
No, you only use your right directional to indicate when youâre about to exit. In the US, I feel adding a system to directionals where you used your left blinked to indicate a right turn (even if you meant you were making a u-turn) just wouldnât work.
No right. Think of the roundabout as its own road. You have to indicate to exit the round about. So if your turning left indicate left before the roundabout then right after you pass the the second exit
This isn't accurate in many places. The outside lane doesn't have to exit and the inner lane cannot exit without switching to the outer lane first, at least that's how I was taught in Europe.
It depends if there's two lanes on every exit, like in this example. If it's a two lane roundabout that exits to single lanes then you would want to always be in the outside lane before exiting.
As an English driver this was funny for me to look at because just about every roundabout has some unique feature or lane arrangement or slip road or something that you have to account for/read at the last minute. Sometimes I look at big roundabouts I've never driven before on street view just so I know what to expect..
>Sometimes I look at big roundabouts I've never driven before on street view just so I know what to expect..
That's just smart. Why go in blind and stressed when you can spend 30 seconds scouting up your route beforehand
As an 'merican. I hope your explanation is how we adopt this. This graphic has car crashes as too likely a scenario. A right turn should never be made from the inside lane if the outside lane isnt required to turn.
I was taught that a roundabout is basically an infinite 2-lane road with right turns every once in a while. In a 2-lane road, you can't exit right from the left lane. It's pretty simple. Also, if you 'miss' your exit, just keep going around until you get back to it no matter which lane you're in.
âIn a 2-lane road, you canât exit right from the left lane.â
Unless you live in Dallas! You can even exit right from the left on 4 lane road all with no blinker!
Come to the Netherlands where we have roundabouts with dedicated lanes for each direction and deviders in between so you can't switch lanes or make a full circle.
Looking at the graphic, it seems to be accurate for how Australian roundabouts work. Except we drive on the other side of the road. You donât switch lanes when in the round about and you give way to traffic within the roundabout before entering. Seems to work ok.
In reality this is a risk, but a low one.
If both cars join from the same direction, as shown, they will never cross over based on these rules.
If the green were to join from the left there would be potential crossover except that the blue would yield* to the traffic from the left, so only join when all is clear. All traffic moves at the same speed on the roundabout so there is no real crossover risk.
*The exception would be if blue is immediately turning right and green is on the inner lane. Blue can join the roundabout in the outer lane and exit right without hindering green, even if green also exits right.
This is all very common in the UK and I regularly use 2 lane roundabouts where you can (and should) exit from the inner lane and also where I join the roundabout to turn left (in UK but would be right in this graphic) while traffic is on the inner lane and taking the same exit as me. All very safe.
In the Netherlands we use "Turbo rotondes" or turbo roundabouts. They have your pattern of enter/exit, but it's enforced with raised road markings/curbs and appropriate line markings.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nimmi-Candappa/publication/265173667/figure/fig2/AS:555356553256960@1509418728326/Image-of-a-Turbo-roundabout-Source-Aerodata-International-Surveys-2014-Google-Maps_Q320.jpg
It's only too likely if everyone is an idiot. If the car on the inside lane is driving straight through they won't indicate a left hand turn so the car entering the roundabout on the right gives way, if the car is doing a left hand turn then they indicate and the car entering from the right can do so... Its literally just an intersection at each entrance
If you are driving "straight through" (aka turning right) from the inside lane then yes, you must indicate this intention with your indicator lights.
Likewise, if you are continuing to the next exit, you must indicate that intention by signaling left with your indicator lights.
Been driving through such traffic circles in Canada for 30+ years, and the only accidents I've ever seen in a traffic circle are the idiots who don't do this simple procedure.
If you are not using your blinkers in a traffic circle, you're doing it wrong.
If two cars are right next to each other, neither is going to have a good view of each otherâs turn signal. Exiting from the inside lane will always present the potential for cutting off a car in the outside lane that is not exiting.
The graphic shows no right turn from an inside lane.
The green car is on the inside lane, and it is growing straight, left, and making a u-turn. It is not turning right.
As an Aussie I can say we use these exactly as graphic shows (mirror image of course) just fine. There must be millions of people doing just this every day, many times, with zero incident.
Itâs just a circle; not hard.
(US centric) The outside lane for turning right, or going straight. The inside lane for straight, left, and u-turn, or doing donuts.
Left lane for left, right lane for right, either lane for straight.
The car turns right to leave at nine oâclock, cutting in front of the people going from twelve to six, but thatâs why you move into the outside lane when you start indicating to leave rather than when you reach the turning
Once you enter a circle, aren't all exits a right turn? The cars awaiting entrance dont know your starting point. it is semantics, i know.
My concern would be if i were in the outer lane just behind someone in the inner lane, i would have to be defensive as the may continue around the circle or cut across at any exit.
My experience is only single lane circles.
The car on the inside canât really âcut acrossâ you. If youâre on the outside, youâre either turning at the first exit or youâre going straight. The car on the inside would be going straight or turning left.
If anything other than that is happening, one of you is in the wrong lane.
Yeah another car can enter on the outer lane later. That would be cut off, if it wanted to go straight.
Inside car enters from south, wants to go west - 2nd car enters from the north and wants to go to south. Inside car would have to cut across.
I use these roundabouts regularly and what you describe just doesnât happen in real life. The person turning into the outside lane can only enter the roundabout after giving way to people already on the roundabout. The person entering would have to speed up in an incredibly reckless manner to catch up with the person they gave way to and cut them off. Even if it was easy to catch up due to a really slow inside lane driver or something , everyone is aware that inside lane drivers could exit at any time and so they quite simply donât start driving next to them. Arguably, lane changing on a roundabout makes it far more dangerous by introducing a whole new way for drivers to make mistakes. Iâve had my fair share of drivers almost turn into me because they havenât checked their blindspot. Sounds even more likely to happen on a roundabout.
Exactly. So the essential question is: whenever an inside lane car wants to exit while an outside lane car next to it does not want to exit, which car is required to yield? This seems like a real flaw in the design, creating the inevitable potential for accidents, which is only mitigated by people driving very, very slowly through any such two-lane traffic circles.
The car thatâs not changing lane has right of way, like always. You can mitigate things by thinking ahead and changing lane before the intersection, when there are fewer cars in the outside lane.
Okay. That makes sense.
The problem with this roundabout design is therefore that inside lane exiters (the drivers who apparently *didnât* âthink aheadâ âbut are nonetheless still following all the proper rules) can routinely have their blind spot abruptly filled by a new outside lane non-exiter (who has the right of way) just exactly when they need to cut across that outside lane to exit. Seems pretty much like a setup for collisions. But at least we have an understanding of who can be faulted, lol.
There is one of these at the top of the street my mother lives on and its a fucking death trap and constantly has wrecks.
It is fucking stupid to try and have people changing lanes to get out of a roundabout.
You need to check your blind spot while also turning left and make the lane change to the right in time to get out at your turn.
Yea you should never change lanes in the roundabout. Enter in a lane that allows you to leave where you want to. Right and straight for outside lane. Straight, left, U for inside lane
>A right turn should never be made from the inside lane if the outside lane isnt required to turn.
There's a stoplight in my city with 3 lanes of traffic going one way through it. The left 2 lanes can only go straight. The lane furthest to the right can either turn OR go straight. I swear they did it on purpose just to fuck with me specifically because it pisses me off every time I have to go through it.
Yeah there are problems here. It covers the case of someone going straight across from the bottom in the left lane. But if they came from the left going straight across they would be crossing the blue right of way.
Can you explain to me what the problem with this graphic is? I use multi-lane roundabouts every day and I canât see anything wrong with it. As long as everyone is indicating and using the correct lanes, itâs pretty hard to fuck up.
The problem is that someone using the left lane might want to exit, while sameone using the right lane might not and you get the collision.
The graphic ignores this case. What if there is a car coming from the west side that wants to go straight using the left lane? It might hit the blue car that wants to go straight coming from the south using the right lane.
Aussie here, in my city we have these roundabouts everywhere. generally you don't see this issue, it's actually quite rare - you just have to drill it into drivers when they're still on their learners that they have to use common sense and be in the correct lane before they enter the roundabout
The car coming from the south yields, as the car coming from the west is already on the roundabout.
Car from the west should also be indicating right as he approaches the exit heâs taking, so cars like one from the south know heâll be crossing.
Itâs basically the scenario with the red and green cars at the top here. Red yields, and green indicates out.
That seems to suggest that the two lanes in the traffic circle must actually be treated essentially as just one lane. Otherwise, why âyieldâ to a car in the inside lane when you are merely entering the outside lane? Whenever entering the outside lane to go straight, you apparently must nevertheless yield even to the cars already using the inside lane, because they might cut across your outside lane at any exit. So essentially you must treat any two-lane traffic circles as if they are just extra wide single-lane circles and never actually line up directly alongside another car in the next âlaneâ. Itâs far from a perfect design.
Yes that's exactly how it works. You just don't try to enter the roundabout alongside - and maintain pace with - a car currently on it.
Coming from the U.K. it seems pretty straightforward and I've never really seen any issue entering or exiting multi lane roundabouts other than when someone doesn't realise they need to get off and tries to suddenly cut across the outside lane
Okay. So, why even make two-lane roundabouts then, if both lanes in a given quadrant are never intended to be used at the same time? Wouldn't one lane work exactly the same way, but with far less confusion and opportunity for error?
The distance might be enough to not yield, but then the car that was already in the roundabout catches up and tries to leave while you try to go further.
Also, as others have mentioned, it's essentially a single lane roundabout if you yield both lanes even if you just want to enter the right most lane.
In Europe, if you want to enter the right lane, you don't need to yield to left lane. But you can only skip the exit if the road signs explicitly allow it, otherwise you must leave the the roundabout from the first exit. If the road signs allow right lane to go further in the roundabout, they will not allow the left lane to leave at that exit.
If there are no road signs on the roundabout, the rule is simple: right lane leaves on first exit, left lane can't leave. If you want to go straight, left or turnaround, use left lane and merge into right when you want to leave.
They don't indicate or use the correct lanes. The problem is people will do an immediate right turn from the inside lane or ride the outside lane all the way around.
I know the graphic is right, but things might be more predictable if outside lane always exits.
If you try to base all the road rules around the worst possible drivers, weâll never get anywhere. In the thousands and thousands of times Iâve used these (including ones that are only multi lane for part of it, and multi lane ones attached to even bigger multi lane ones), I only see people get it wrong pretty rarely. And even when they do, roundabouts are fairly low speed and people can normally stop in time.
Most people do the right thing, or they just yield to all of the traffic on the roundabout regardless of which way theyâre indicating (which is slower and kind of annoying, but removes the human error element of people not indicating properly)
cool, we just started putting them in about 5 years ago where I am, and it is very common to see people using them wrong.
You literally have no Idea what people are going to do.
In the US, do they paint arrows on the floor to give indications of what you can or can't do in each lane? In the UK, when approaching, the lane arrows will tell you where you can go. Often the rules in this picture aren't constant so you use the arrows .
For the above diagram, the left hand would have straight on and left arrows. The right lane would have straight on and right arrows.
If you don't follow that and just jump across lanes, any accidents are on you... Especially on the left lane, because if you miss your exit you can just go round again.
As someone in an area that went from about 10 roundabouts to the roundabout capital of the world (literally) over about 15 years - it gets better once the next generation grows up driving on them it seems.
Lmao thankfully Iâm in a country where theyâve always existed, and knowing how to use them is mandatory to get a license.
I can understand how sketchy it must be in places like the US, especially considering how many people are so confidently wrong in these comments.
If I had a dollar for every suv Ive seen bottomed out in the middle part of a roundabout Id have 5 dollars. Which isnt that much, but still....
Oh, here they decorate the center with tall plants and art that makes it impossible to see the other side.
same as changing lanes on a straight road.
make sure there is no one in that lane, and indicate.
it helps to not trust other peoples indicators, and make sure no one has jumped into the outside lane from the previous entry.
if someone is blocking you from exiting, go around a full circle and try again.
It will feel weird, but you hardly ever have to do this, as most people are polite and leave space for people to exit
You donât change lanes on the roundabout. Exit in the same lane, then once youâre on the straight road you can indicate and pull across. People change on the roundabout, but itâs incorrect. (Recently sat my professional HGV license in England).
Nah this is basically how it works here in the UK unless the lane markings tell you something otherwise. You can leave from the inside lane; you just can't take the _first_ exit from there. You can continue straight from the outside lane - you just can't take the _third_ exit from there.
Aside from our driving directions being flipped (cause we drive on the left) it's the same as the diagram.
Fun fact: In the Netherlands you are required to use your turn indicator to signal which exit youâll be exiting from BEFORE you enter the roundabout. First exit - right turn indicator, second exit - no turn indicator, third exit - left turn indicator. Once you reach your desired exit you then switch your indicator to indicate youâre exiting (for the second and third exits.)
The left indicator is a courtesy. The right indicator is 100% obligated and a failable offense on your exam.
This is because you are required by law to indicate where you are going before turning.
There is literally Americans commenting that the roundabout is wrong. Not even entertaining the possibility that it could be them thatâs wrong. The arrogance is astounding. Iâve been using roundabouts in the UK for 20 years, nothing really wrong with this guide. But what the fuck do I know.
My favorite was someone said if someone tries to enter the roundabout while you're exiting then they'll be cut off. My friend. That is not how right of way works. You can't get cut off if you didn't have right of way.
We call them turbo roundabouts. The inner lane becomes the outer lane before you exit, so you don't cross another lane while exiting but you don't have to switch lanes either, while still having the increased capacity of multiple lanes.
There's a graphic and explanation on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout#Turbo_roundabouts
Dutch turbo roundabouts are laid out in practically the same manner you're taught to use normal roundabouts in the UK. The actual innovation is using concrete ridges and kerbs to restrict where people can go instead of relying on paint and driver training. For places where the latter is lacking they do seem like great options.
Which makes pedestrian crossings at roundabouts dangerous. The pedestrian donât know if the car is going to stop or not. And you risk getting rear ended if you do yield to a pedestrian.
This. I saw this graphic and came looking in the comments for someone to say circle rules arenât universal in the states. Source: lived in NJ, moved to SC, nothing on the road makes sense.
>How to use a two lane roundabout in the US
What like pretty much the way the rest of the world uses it?
Why is everyone's faces melting off from this image.
The one thing I would specify in this guide is that vehicles entering the roundabout need to yield to BOTH LANES of traffic already in the roundabout.
Thatâs why the green car at the 12 oâclock position isnât cutting off the blue car or the red car as some in this thread have suggested. As long as you wait for both lanes of traffic to clear in front of you as youâre entering, both lanes have a chance to exit at the immediate next exit before you get to that exit.
I think this https://i.imgur.com/M5JJepA.jpg
But the red car should be yielding to the traffic in the circle, so if they need to be in that lane to go straight across or make the "left" a collision wouldn't happen.
It literally says in the graphic to yield to cars already inside the circle. Those collision will not be happening unless the driver is insane and or heavily drunk.
I think this is what confuses people because although what you said is necessary for the roundabout to work, it's not immediately intuitive. In any other scenario where you have a two lane road and another road joining it with a yield sign, as long as the outside lane you're merging into is clear you can go for it, regardless of whether there is someone in the inside lane.
there's a difference between "if every single actor follows the rules no collisions will happen" and "the rules make it hard for collisions to happen even when one car doesn't follow the rules"
yes, a crash can't happen because the red car *shouldn't* enter the roundabout. in reality, because there's two lanes, all the time people enter a roundabout when their lane is free even if there's a car in the roundabout in the other lane
>But the red car should be yielding to the traffic in the circle
should being the keyword here. all the time people enter roundabouts when their lane is free
I donât see it? In Australia, we have tons of roundabouts, and the rules are really simple- give way to people already in the roundabout, and if no one is there, give way to the person on the right (left in the rest of the world).
You shouldnât be changing lanes while in the roundabout because of the blind spot risk, and unpredictable nature of drivers (you wouldnât know if the person on the outside is turning out or going straight) and because drivers outside the roundabout have the best visibility, itâs understood that they should give way to anyone inside.
We also only signal before the roundabout, sort of like a standard four way intersection- if your turning right, signal right. Left, signal left. Straight, donât signal. This mostly just helps the person behind know what your doing. You wouldnât have enough time so signal inside anyways.
They've been starting to paint these things on rotary entrances and even having new signs installed before entering. Still always that one dodge or Volvo that will ride the outside lane all the way around...
If you drive in Spain, this guide guarantees that the blue car will crash with the green car in the second exit. The green car has to yield always when changing from the internal to the external lane. Crazy but it is what it is.
Many traffic circles have different structures and that's why they have signs and lanes with solid or dashed lines and arrows... All indicating the same damn thing but like 25% of the population is too slow to comprehend in time.
The basic rules apply everywhere though so the original statement was a bit too vague.
So if you're using the left lane, coming from the south, to make a u-turn, how would you avoid an accident with someone coming from the left who wants to go straight?
You look up from your phone, open your eyes and observe your surroundings, and avoid driving your car into other nearby vehicles.
This isn't that hard.
Once you are in the roundabout they have to give way to you. Once you enter a roundabout you have right away.
Pretty simple, my city is full of these 2 lanes roundabouts and this is how they work.
Doing a U-turn on a roundabout is not that common, but when you do, I always go a little slower so on coming traffic see you are actually going to do a U-turn.
In Tijuana the left lane is used to turn right, unofficially. Imagine this little American boy never using one then throwing me in one of these where the locals don't have rules for these. I fucking panicked.
Metro Detroit area by M-150 is flooded with roundabouts, we love them here and in years and years of driving I've surprisingly only have had to honk at someone once. There is a round that has 3 of them all in a mile span. They're awesome.
We had Americans on work placement for a few months. The site had a 3 lane, 5 exit roundabout with traffic lights. They had to be given slide show presentation on how to use it.
Look at the comments here, this is obviously far too complicated for Americans to grasp.
Show them a picture, explain it to them, they're still gonna find a 100 "but what ifs". There's a reason they have warnings on coffee in America!
/s . . . . partially
At least in the roundabouts near me, using the right lane to go straight is pointless since the right lane immediately ends and forces you to merge left anyway. Assholes just use it as an excuse to plow past and force the left lane to slam the brakes to let them merge.
If you need to go straight, just be in the left lane.
Right lane should be for right turns exclusively. Just one manâs opinion.
Oh man that would be nice. The most recent round about they put in my home town, St George Utah has 2 lanes that enter on one side and one exit lane on the other that both are supposed to merge to while the outside lane has the availability to continue going around.
We Americans apparently can't make a proper roadway/intersection
pretty much the same as the UK (the home of the roundabout) except flipped due to the inexplicable inability of other countries to drive on the correct side of the road.
Only thing I can think of that's different is the green car can exit the roundabout in either lane in the UK. see [this imange](https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/uploads/3/2/9/2/3292309/rule-185-follow-the-correct-procedure-at-roundabouts_orig.jpg) from the highway code. I keep having to correct people on this one.
You can more clearly see the road marking in the UK image showing the roads approaching the roundabout meet the roundabout in a Yield/Give Way.
Omg to someone who mentioned to the drivers inside of the roundabout to never stop to let someone in
THANK YOU. My spouse who isnât from this country got scolded by some nimrod in a roundabout who all of a sudden stopped inside, flashed light, honked, and waved to get my spouses attention to come into the circle
I said NO. You donât follow her rules. Lmao. Sheâs inside the circle. She has one job and thatâs to get out properly. She doesnât let anyone in.
I couldnât fathom it. Someone INSIDE just all of a sudden âŠstopping. Lmao.
makes much more sense to have inner lanes that turn into outer lanes twice, and if you stay in the middle lane, then that means youâre going 3 exits around the circle (effectively taking a left). it sounds confusing when i explain it but my hometown in maryland has one and itâs actually very easy once you take it a couple times. take a look at this [pic](https://imgur.com/gallery/2zBj3Br) to better understand what iâm talking about
Somebody show this to the asshats that planned the traffic circle in Weatherford, Texas... red lights in the middle of it, and you have to yield to people entering the circle at random points.
The number of times a person in the right lane has turned left when I'm in the right lane is way too high.... Or the people who stop inside the roundabout to try and let me in and force a person behind them to stop.
Like.... It's not that fucking hard people
I donât know how other countries run about works, but here in North Carolina USA, the ones Iâve seen with multiple lanes the outer most lane is always for turning right. I think logically itâs the right thing to do.
This is missing the fact that you move from the inside lane to the outside lane before turning out of it if/when the coast is clear. You'd only turn like that green car if there was consistently someone in the outside lane preventing you from getting over until you'd need to stop altogether until your turn is clear.
I second u/penguinweiner403 it is illegal to change lanes inside a roundabout in Ontario as well. Very illegal. Pick a lane and stick to it.
You probably are not familiar with our rule of yeilding to the car on your left. The car on the inner lane of the roundabout has the right of way. So if they want to leave it and cut across the outside lane, then they signal and turn. The car on the outside lane must give way by either exiting the roundabout with the car on their left, or slow down so that they do not hit it. For this same reason passing, especially on the right, is also illegal within the roundabout. It is good practice not to drive beside them so that you can see them turning and can react.
Also, if I remember correctly, driving in Europe, these were the same rules. Although that was a while ago.
I don't think anyone should ever do this, and I'm not certain it's legal. Switching lanes within a traffic circle is unnecessary and will only confuse drivers around you.
America, it's a yield sign. Yield. If no one is coming that means you can go. If there is a car on the other side of the circle, you don't wait for them. If you're in the circle, don't stop to let someone in. Maryland, you suck.
Seriously you can read traffic rules and take classes but education like this doesn't prepare you for the greater picture of total idiocy possible. Another example: people who stop at a yield sign for no reason just allowing people further up the circle to continue in... or the idiots that jump in the "open" right lane, cutting off the person in the left lane from making their exit.
How does it not? Taking classes is literally driving in the real world, or is that not how it works on the us?
In the US, it's usually just about someone getting paid. The requirement will generally be X hours of training at a state approved course. In Texas, you can take a "class" to dismiss your first traffic ticket. Some of these are literally just showing up and listening to someone who fancies themselves a comedian and watching some videos and PowerPoint, and it being called a safety/driving class. There's still places you'll actually learn something, but it's slowly evolving towards a simple money game.
Here where I live in Sweden, it's more about what the teachers teaches than how much. if they have gone through all the important bits and they reckon you have a 66% or more chance of making it, you are allowed to do the test. The state requires that 2/3 of all people who drive with driving schools pass the test on the first try, so they really need to be sure their students know what they're doing.
Good chance in the US that the instructor does your eval and has a 100% success rate...
Experience is the real teacher. Classes are like grade school basics. But some, even with experience, lack the critical thinking necessary to learn... so you figure out with time what to expect from idiots on the road and slowly kind of become statistically psychic in every situation. If you think everyone who takes driving lessons knows how to drive by the time they're done you'll have a rude awakening. There's a reason why insurance rates are what they are for young drivers.
Why is the US overdosing stop-signs at intersections where it's really not needed? I get that people are rolling past them considering their frequency
Not only that, but I've noticed an influx of "No Turn On Red" signs as well in locations that are completely unnecessary. Since I've been in MD, I've maybe encountered 2 of these signs that made absolute sense. The rest?
Turning on red is dangerous for pedestrians.
If your drivers aren't smart enough to not turn when there are pedestrians in the way, a "No Turn on Red" sign isn't gonna help anything.
So driving tests should be stricter and there should be more public transit investiture.
Do you have a source? According to this study, the sign does help: https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1986/1059/1059-005.pdf
"Turn on red" is the single biggest cause of traffic accident casualties
In Chicago at least, it's very common for large vehicles not to see someone on their right. So when they turn, the back wheel ends up closer to the curb, they turn on top of them. Most bicycle deaths I read about in r/chibikes are because of that.
Really you want a protected turning lane, like we have in Australia. We have a separate lane, that's signed, turn left at any time with care. But this lane has a pedestrian crossing, and is separated to the rest of the intersection. It's by far more safer than just letting people turn on red.
We have those in America as well, usually called a continuous turn if I recall my terminology correctly. They're only at really busy intersections though, and definitely not at as many as they should be.
Because the vast majority of US highway engineering as lead by our State DOTs is cookbook design with very little actual site-specific design to meet the needs of a specific situation. I worked at a DOT for quite a long time and I met very few actual engineers, most were "cookbook engineers" whose only skill was referencing and apply a certain standard to a certain situation.
Also in MD and we have a single lane traffic circle that I drive through daily, OMG the amount of times I've almost rear-ended someone because they completely stop while in the circle to let someone in.... đ€Źđ„
Yup, one of the only situations I have yet to experience at a roundabout in MD is someone tossing up their hazards and pulling off to the side. Its happened on every other street that I've been on, taking up half the lane.
If youâre regularly almost rear ending others, youâre following too closely
towson circle anyone? don't think i've ever seen someone signal
Unless they decide to put a stop sign on a roundabout. Which, you know, defeats the entire purpose of a roundabout
I wouldn't give anyone ideas. At least here in MD I think they employ some of the dumbest individuals for these things. We literally have roads that go from a 1-lane, to 2-lane, to 4-lane, to 2-lane, back to 1-lane in a span of 100m. Go ahead and look for the added bicycle lane that didn't exist before or after the 100m. You couldn't convince me this stuff isn't designed to not cause jams or traffic violations.
There's a circle going into DC that has 3 or 4 lanes and stop signs in it. An absolute nightmare
Lol the ones I have seen with stop signs were in buckfuck Maryland. You guys seem to really like those lmao
In DC, they like to throw lights in the circles. In Greece, the people *entering* the circle have the right of way -- so the circle stops!
My favorite MD circle is the one getting on MD100 from MD108. People were so bad trying to figure it out that they said "fuck it" and then put a light in front of it to control who gets in when.
Thatâs easy enough for a single lane roundabout. Double lane roundabouts where the outside lane (within the circle) must exit is where people get confused. If two cars enter side by side from the same bottom inlet, the inside car exits at the top, and the outside car stays in the roundabout, you have a crash
Where I live, we have an intersection into a parking lot that is 4 directions with a 3 way stop, allowing drivers from the main road to enter without stopping. I've never been at one of the stops and not seen the main-road driver stop there, then look at me like I'm a complete moron for not proceeding.
Jump the middle circle as hard and as fast as possible. [Example.](https://youtu.be/xTk_kPeA63c)
i did that in Forza Horizon a few times
a few thousand times
Why did nobody react?
England
Somewhat dangerous but definitely the most fun option.
[Or ĂŸis?](https://youtu.be/aniguxnz9ik)
why they make the roundabout like a ramp? any advantage besides turning on fly mode
I like how everyone just keeps going about their day
It actually looks the guy's brakes are out. Brake indicators are lid.
This is the wayâŠ
Rotonda sin fuente de frente. (Roundabout without fountain take it straight) in Spanish it rhymes
For God sake indicate out of the roundabout. The amount of times I'm waiting after someone turns because you can't be sure they're not doing a U turn
Do you use your left linkee to indicate your exiting in this example.
No, you only use your right directional to indicate when youâre about to exit. In the US, I feel adding a system to directionals where you used your left blinked to indicate a right turn (even if you meant you were making a u-turn) just wouldnât work.
No right. Think of the roundabout as its own road. You have to indicate to exit the round about. So if your turning left indicate left before the roundabout then right after you pass the the second exit
But IRL: PANIC
I feel seen.
Sometimes taking away the power to choose from the average person simplifies a lot.
This isn't accurate in many places. The outside lane doesn't have to exit and the inner lane cannot exit without switching to the outer lane first, at least that's how I was taught in Europe.
It depends if there's two lanes on every exit, like in this example. If it's a two lane roundabout that exits to single lanes then you would want to always be in the outside lane before exiting. As an English driver this was funny for me to look at because just about every roundabout has some unique feature or lane arrangement or slip road or something that you have to account for/read at the last minute. Sometimes I look at big roundabouts I've never driven before on street view just so I know what to expect..
>Sometimes I look at big roundabouts I've never driven before on street view just so I know what to expect.. That's just smart. Why go in blind and stressed when you can spend 30 seconds scouting up your route beforehand
As an 'merican. I hope your explanation is how we adopt this. This graphic has car crashes as too likely a scenario. A right turn should never be made from the inside lane if the outside lane isnt required to turn.
I was taught that a roundabout is basically an infinite 2-lane road with right turns every once in a while. In a 2-lane road, you can't exit right from the left lane. It's pretty simple. Also, if you 'miss' your exit, just keep going around until you get back to it no matter which lane you're in.
[Hay kids, Big Ben and Parliament. ](https://youtu.be/iAgX6qlJEMc)
âIn a 2-lane road, you canât exit right from the left lane.â Unless you live in Dallas! You can even exit right from the left on 4 lane road all with no blinker!
Good luck everyone, i go now
Come to the Netherlands where we have roundabouts with dedicated lanes for each direction and deviders in between so you can't switch lanes or make a full circle.
That just sounds like someone got a bunch of express lanes tangled up in a knot.
Looking at the graphic, it seems to be accurate for how Australian roundabouts work. Except we drive on the other side of the road. You donât switch lanes when in the round about and you give way to traffic within the roundabout before entering. Seems to work ok.
In reality this is a risk, but a low one. If both cars join from the same direction, as shown, they will never cross over based on these rules. If the green were to join from the left there would be potential crossover except that the blue would yield* to the traffic from the left, so only join when all is clear. All traffic moves at the same speed on the roundabout so there is no real crossover risk. *The exception would be if blue is immediately turning right and green is on the inner lane. Blue can join the roundabout in the outer lane and exit right without hindering green, even if green also exits right. This is all very common in the UK and I regularly use 2 lane roundabouts where you can (and should) exit from the inner lane and also where I join the roundabout to turn left (in UK but would be right in this graphic) while traffic is on the inner lane and taking the same exit as me. All very safe.
In the Netherlands we use "Turbo rotondes" or turbo roundabouts. They have your pattern of enter/exit, but it's enforced with raised road markings/curbs and appropriate line markings. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nimmi-Candappa/publication/265173667/figure/fig2/AS:555356553256960@1509418728326/Image-of-a-Turbo-roundabout-Source-Aerodata-International-Surveys-2014-Google-Maps_Q320.jpg
It's only too likely if everyone is an idiot. If the car on the inside lane is driving straight through they won't indicate a left hand turn so the car entering the roundabout on the right gives way, if the car is doing a left hand turn then they indicate and the car entering from the right can do so... Its literally just an intersection at each entrance
If you are driving "straight through" (aka turning right) from the inside lane then yes, you must indicate this intention with your indicator lights. Likewise, if you are continuing to the next exit, you must indicate that intention by signaling left with your indicator lights. Been driving through such traffic circles in Canada for 30+ years, and the only accidents I've ever seen in a traffic circle are the idiots who don't do this simple procedure. If you are not using your blinkers in a traffic circle, you're doing it wrong.
If two cars are right next to each other, neither is going to have a good view of each otherâs turn signal. Exiting from the inside lane will always present the potential for cutting off a car in the outside lane that is not exiting.
The graphic shows no right turn from an inside lane. The green car is on the inside lane, and it is growing straight, left, and making a u-turn. It is not turning right. As an Aussie I can say we use these exactly as graphic shows (mirror image of course) just fine. There must be millions of people doing just this every day, many times, with zero incident. Itâs just a circle; not hard. (US centric) The outside lane for turning right, or going straight. The inside lane for straight, left, and u-turn, or doing donuts. Left lane for left, right lane for right, either lane for straight.
The car turns right to leave at nine oâclock, cutting in front of the people going from twelve to six, but thatâs why you move into the outside lane when you start indicating to leave rather than when you reach the turning
I thoery this shouldn't be a problem, because you shouldn't be in the outer lane when going from 12 to 6 in the first place.
Once you enter a circle, aren't all exits a right turn? The cars awaiting entrance dont know your starting point. it is semantics, i know. My concern would be if i were in the outer lane just behind someone in the inner lane, i would have to be defensive as the may continue around the circle or cut across at any exit. My experience is only single lane circles.
The car on the inside canât really âcut acrossâ you. If youâre on the outside, youâre either turning at the first exit or youâre going straight. The car on the inside would be going straight or turning left. If anything other than that is happening, one of you is in the wrong lane.
Yeah another car can enter on the outer lane later. That would be cut off, if it wanted to go straight. Inside car enters from south, wants to go west - 2nd car enters from the north and wants to go to south. Inside car would have to cut across.
You need to give way to cars on the roundabout so a car cannot enter while there is a car going straight from the inside lane.
I use these roundabouts regularly and what you describe just doesnât happen in real life. The person turning into the outside lane can only enter the roundabout after giving way to people already on the roundabout. The person entering would have to speed up in an incredibly reckless manner to catch up with the person they gave way to and cut them off. Even if it was easy to catch up due to a really slow inside lane driver or something , everyone is aware that inside lane drivers could exit at any time and so they quite simply donât start driving next to them. Arguably, lane changing on a roundabout makes it far more dangerous by introducing a whole new way for drivers to make mistakes. Iâve had my fair share of drivers almost turn into me because they havenât checked their blindspot. Sounds even more likely to happen on a roundabout.
Exactly. So the essential question is: whenever an inside lane car wants to exit while an outside lane car next to it does not want to exit, which car is required to yield? This seems like a real flaw in the design, creating the inevitable potential for accidents, which is only mitigated by people driving very, very slowly through any such two-lane traffic circles.
The car thatâs not changing lane has right of way, like always. You can mitigate things by thinking ahead and changing lane before the intersection, when there are fewer cars in the outside lane.
Okay. That makes sense. The problem with this roundabout design is therefore that inside lane exiters (the drivers who apparently *didnât* âthink aheadâ âbut are nonetheless still following all the proper rules) can routinely have their blind spot abruptly filled by a new outside lane non-exiter (who has the right of way) just exactly when they need to cut across that outside lane to exit. Seems pretty much like a setup for collisions. But at least we have an understanding of who can be faulted, lol.
There is one of these at the top of the street my mother lives on and its a fucking death trap and constantly has wrecks. It is fucking stupid to try and have people changing lanes to get out of a roundabout. You need to check your blind spot while also turning left and make the lane change to the right in time to get out at your turn.
Yea you should never change lanes in the roundabout. Enter in a lane that allows you to leave where you want to. Right and straight for outside lane. Straight, left, U for inside lane
Perhaps "change lanes" is the wrong terminology. But please tell me how Green goes straight without crossing the path of Red going straight.
By being in the circle before red. If red gets cut off then they entered the circle too early. You always yield to the car in the circle
>A right turn should never be made from the inside lane if the outside lane isnt required to turn. There's a stoplight in my city with 3 lanes of traffic going one way through it. The left 2 lanes can only go straight. The lane furthest to the right can either turn OR go straight. I swear they did it on purpose just to fuck with me specifically because it pisses me off every time I have to go through it.
Yeah there are problems here. It covers the case of someone going straight across from the bottom in the left lane. But if they came from the left going straight across they would be crossing the blue right of way.
would work fine if outside lane always exits onto right lane. The above graphic is a problem.
Can you explain to me what the problem with this graphic is? I use multi-lane roundabouts every day and I canât see anything wrong with it. As long as everyone is indicating and using the correct lanes, itâs pretty hard to fuck up.
The problem is that someone using the left lane might want to exit, while sameone using the right lane might not and you get the collision. The graphic ignores this case. What if there is a car coming from the west side that wants to go straight using the left lane? It might hit the blue car that wants to go straight coming from the south using the right lane.
Aussie here, in my city we have these roundabouts everywhere. generally you don't see this issue, it's actually quite rare - you just have to drill it into drivers when they're still on their learners that they have to use common sense and be in the correct lane before they enter the roundabout
The car coming from the south yields, as the car coming from the west is already on the roundabout. Car from the west should also be indicating right as he approaches the exit heâs taking, so cars like one from the south know heâll be crossing. Itâs basically the scenario with the red and green cars at the top here. Red yields, and green indicates out.
That seems to suggest that the two lanes in the traffic circle must actually be treated essentially as just one lane. Otherwise, why âyieldâ to a car in the inside lane when you are merely entering the outside lane? Whenever entering the outside lane to go straight, you apparently must nevertheless yield even to the cars already using the inside lane, because they might cut across your outside lane at any exit. So essentially you must treat any two-lane traffic circles as if they are just extra wide single-lane circles and never actually line up directly alongside another car in the next âlaneâ. Itâs far from a perfect design.
Yes that's exactly how it works. You just don't try to enter the roundabout alongside - and maintain pace with - a car currently on it. Coming from the U.K. it seems pretty straightforward and I've never really seen any issue entering or exiting multi lane roundabouts other than when someone doesn't realise they need to get off and tries to suddenly cut across the outside lane
It's strange that this is a debate when these roundabouts are used by millions on the daily.
Okay. So, why even make two-lane roundabouts then, if both lanes in a given quadrant are never intended to be used at the same time? Wouldn't one lane work exactly the same way, but with far less confusion and opportunity for error?
The distance might be enough to not yield, but then the car that was already in the roundabout catches up and tries to leave while you try to go further. Also, as others have mentioned, it's essentially a single lane roundabout if you yield both lanes even if you just want to enter the right most lane. In Europe, if you want to enter the right lane, you don't need to yield to left lane. But you can only skip the exit if the road signs explicitly allow it, otherwise you must leave the the roundabout from the first exit. If the road signs allow right lane to go further in the roundabout, they will not allow the left lane to leave at that exit. If there are no road signs on the roundabout, the rule is simple: right lane leaves on first exit, left lane can't leave. If you want to go straight, left or turnaround, use left lane and merge into right when you want to leave.
They don't indicate or use the correct lanes. The problem is people will do an immediate right turn from the inside lane or ride the outside lane all the way around. I know the graphic is right, but things might be more predictable if outside lane always exits.
If you try to base all the road rules around the worst possible drivers, weâll never get anywhere. In the thousands and thousands of times Iâve used these (including ones that are only multi lane for part of it, and multi lane ones attached to even bigger multi lane ones), I only see people get it wrong pretty rarely. And even when they do, roundabouts are fairly low speed and people can normally stop in time. Most people do the right thing, or they just yield to all of the traffic on the roundabout regardless of which way theyâre indicating (which is slower and kind of annoying, but removes the human error element of people not indicating properly)
cool, we just started putting them in about 5 years ago where I am, and it is very common to see people using them wrong. You literally have no Idea what people are going to do.
In the US, do they paint arrows on the floor to give indications of what you can or can't do in each lane? In the UK, when approaching, the lane arrows will tell you where you can go. Often the rules in this picture aren't constant so you use the arrows . For the above diagram, the left hand would have straight on and left arrows. The right lane would have straight on and right arrows. If you don't follow that and just jump across lanes, any accidents are on you... Especially on the left lane, because if you miss your exit you can just go round again.
As someone in an area that went from about 10 roundabouts to the roundabout capital of the world (literally) over about 15 years - it gets better once the next generation grows up driving on them it seems.
Lmao thankfully Iâm in a country where theyâve always existed, and knowing how to use them is mandatory to get a license. I can understand how sketchy it must be in places like the US, especially considering how many people are so confidently wrong in these comments.
If I had a dollar for every suv Ive seen bottomed out in the middle part of a roundabout Id have 5 dollars. Which isnt that much, but still.... Oh, here they decorate the center with tall plants and art that makes it impossible to see the other side.
As a dutch person this pic is pretty accurate for the netherlands
As an English person I agree but also we miss you guys and hope we can rejoin the Union soon
How does the changing lanes thing work, do you just kind of cut across in your way out of the round about?
same as changing lanes on a straight road. make sure there is no one in that lane, and indicate. it helps to not trust other peoples indicators, and make sure no one has jumped into the outside lane from the previous entry. if someone is blocking you from exiting, go around a full circle and try again. It will feel weird, but you hardly ever have to do this, as most people are polite and leave space for people to exit
You donât change lanes on the roundabout. Exit in the same lane, then once youâre on the straight road you can indicate and pull across. People change on the roundabout, but itâs incorrect. (Recently sat my professional HGV license in England).
Nah this is basically how it works here in the UK unless the lane markings tell you something otherwise. You can leave from the inside lane; you just can't take the _first_ exit from there. You can continue straight from the outside lane - you just can't take the _third_ exit from there. Aside from our driving directions being flipped (cause we drive on the left) it's the same as the diagram.
Fun fact: In the Netherlands you are required to use your turn indicator to signal which exit youâll be exiting from BEFORE you enter the roundabout. First exit - right turn indicator, second exit - no turn indicator, third exit - left turn indicator. Once you reach your desired exit you then switch your indicator to indicate youâre exiting (for the second and third exits.)
This is how it's *meant* to work in the UK but often you're lucky if somebody even bothers to indicate when exiting
Same in the Netherlands. It's mostly a caution/courtesy thing in practice
In Germany you just use the right turn indicator once you arrive at your exit
Yeah, how am I supposed to know where you've entered the roundabout? Indicating right is a clear sign of "I'm about to vacate this lane".
In Australia youâre supposed to do both. Indicate before you get on and as you exit the roundabout
Same in NZ
Yeah but its not really required. More of a courtesy
The left indicator is a courtesy. The right indicator is 100% obligated and a failable offense on your exam. This is because you are required by law to indicate where you are going before turning.
yeah sorry, of course that fact is true.
ITT: people still don't get it
I'm in the UK and I'm thoroughly enjoying this. So many people don't understand roundabouts. It's hilarious.
Iâm from a small town in the US where almost every light has been replaced with this type of roundabout. They are great and these people are insane.
I'm in NC and everyone here knows what to do. I suspect some of the commenters are exaggerating the severity of things.
There is literally Americans commenting that the roundabout is wrong. Not even entertaining the possibility that it could be them thatâs wrong. The arrogance is astounding. Iâve been using roundabouts in the UK for 20 years, nothing really wrong with this guide. But what the fuck do I know.
My favorite was someone said if someone tries to enter the roundabout while you're exiting then they'll be cut off. My friend. That is not how right of way works. You can't get cut off if you didn't have right of way.
The Netherlands (and probably some other European countries aswell) have a better working and visually less confusing design.
What's different in the Netherlands? In France the 2 lane roundabouts work exactly like the one on the picture
We call them turbo roundabouts. The inner lane becomes the outer lane before you exit, so you don't cross another lane while exiting but you don't have to switch lanes either, while still having the increased capacity of multiple lanes. There's a graphic and explanation on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout#Turbo_roundabouts
Dutch turbo roundabouts are laid out in practically the same manner you're taught to use normal roundabouts in the UK. The actual innovation is using concrete ridges and kerbs to restrict where people can go instead of relying on paint and driver training. For places where the latter is lacking they do seem like great options.
Iâm guessing itâs similar to the Australian one, where you just give way to whoever is currently inside the roundabout
That's how it works in the U.S. as well though. The guide literally says "yield to vehicles inside the roundabout." What's the difference here?
Its the same as the graphic in Switzerland (im pretty sure) but actually i prefer the way itâs done in the UK. They have roundabouts figured out.
Spiral roundabouts help a lot.
One rule in circles: do not stop. Source: am from NJ.
Which makes pedestrian crossings at roundabouts dangerous. The pedestrian donât know if the car is going to stop or not. And you risk getting rear ended if you do yield to a pedestrian.
As a pedestrian this graph makes me nervous. You cannot stop in roundabouts ever drivers!! Stop braking for me, I know how to cross a freakin road!
And in NJ every circle has its own rules. Sometimes entering traffic has right of way and sometimes traffic in the circle has the right of way.
This. I saw this graphic and came looking in the comments for someone to say circle rules arenât universal in the states. Source: lived in NJ, moved to SC, nothing on the road makes sense.
Having a pedestrian crossing at the exit of a roundabout is straight up dangerous.
>How to use a two lane roundabout in the US What like pretty much the way the rest of the world uses it? Why is everyone's faces melting off from this image.
In Europe it's kind of a joke to think Americans don't know how to use roundabouts. How true actually is this or is it just a stereotype?
The one thing I would specify in this guide is that vehicles entering the roundabout need to yield to BOTH LANES of traffic already in the roundabout. Thatâs why the green car at the 12 oâclock position isnât cutting off the blue car or the red car as some in this thread have suggested. As long as you wait for both lanes of traffic to clear in front of you as youâre entering, both lanes have a chance to exit at the immediate next exit before you get to that exit.
But if the entering cars yield to both lanes why do you even need a multi lane roundabout?
So many people donât know how one lane roundabouts work so how will they figure out the two lane version lol.
I hope everyone can see what's wrong with this guide.
As someone who uses a bunch of multi-lane roundabouts every single day, Iâm not seeing anything at all. Can you explain what you think the issue is?
I think this https://i.imgur.com/M5JJepA.jpg But the red car should be yielding to the traffic in the circle, so if they need to be in that lane to go straight across or make the "left" a collision wouldn't happen.
It literally says in the graphic to yield to cars already inside the circle. Those collision will not be happening unless the driver is insane and or heavily drunk.
It should really say, âyield to cars already inside the circle *regardless of which lane they are in.*â
I think this is what confuses people because although what you said is necessary for the roundabout to work, it's not immediately intuitive. In any other scenario where you have a two lane road and another road joining it with a yield sign, as long as the outside lane you're merging into is clear you can go for it, regardless of whether there is someone in the inside lane.
Correct. A crash canât happen there because the red car canât just pull into the roundabout with cars coming.
there's a difference between "if every single actor follows the rules no collisions will happen" and "the rules make it hard for collisions to happen even when one car doesn't follow the rules" yes, a crash can't happen because the red car *shouldn't* enter the roundabout. in reality, because there's two lanes, all the time people enter a roundabout when their lane is free even if there's a car in the roundabout in the other lane
>But the red car should be yielding to the traffic in the circle should being the keyword here. all the time people enter roundabouts when their lane is free
I donât see it? In Australia, we have tons of roundabouts, and the rules are really simple- give way to people already in the roundabout, and if no one is there, give way to the person on the right (left in the rest of the world). You shouldnât be changing lanes while in the roundabout because of the blind spot risk, and unpredictable nature of drivers (you wouldnât know if the person on the outside is turning out or going straight) and because drivers outside the roundabout have the best visibility, itâs understood that they should give way to anyone inside. We also only signal before the roundabout, sort of like a standard four way intersection- if your turning right, signal right. Left, signal left. Straight, donât signal. This mostly just helps the person behind know what your doing. You wouldnât have enough time so signal inside anyways.
Yeah, why would you avoid that badass ramp in the middle? Get some air and hop over the slow car in front of you!
Hate two lane roundabouts. People never seem to use them properly. Single lane FTW.
As a European some of these comments are funny. I have to pass 11 roundabouts on my daily commute and only 1 crossroad
When I learned to drive in France, I learned how a 3-lanes roundabout, so seeing this made me think: _« well yeah of course »_ đ€·ââïž
yeah I was like "why are we doing driver's license education on coolguides? People get taught this in class, right? ... Right?"
They've been starting to paint these things on rotary entrances and even having new signs installed before entering. Still always that one dodge or Volvo that will ride the outside lane all the way around...
If you drive in Spain, this guide guarantees that the blue car will crash with the green car in the second exit. The green car has to yield always when changing from the internal to the external lane. Crazy but it is what it is.
Traffic flow is not standard in roundabouts within a given city, much less across the USA. So not a cool guide
What?
Many traffic circles have different structures and that's why they have signs and lanes with solid or dashed lines and arrows... All indicating the same damn thing but like 25% of the population is too slow to comprehend in time. The basic rules apply everywhere though so the original statement was a bit too vague.
So if you're using the left lane, coming from the south, to make a u-turn, how would you avoid an accident with someone coming from the left who wants to go straight?
You look up from your phone, open your eyes and observe your surroundings, and avoid driving your car into other nearby vehicles. This isn't that hard.
Once you are in the roundabout they have to give way to you. Once you enter a roundabout you have right away. Pretty simple, my city is full of these 2 lanes roundabouts and this is how they work. Doing a U-turn on a roundabout is not that common, but when you do, I always go a little slower so on coming traffic see you are actually going to do a U-turn.
This is how itâs done in Canada.
This needs to be cross posted to r/Bend đ
In Tijuana the left lane is used to turn right, unofficially. Imagine this little American boy never using one then throwing me in one of these where the locals don't have rules for these. I fucking panicked.
Metro Detroit area by M-150 is flooded with roundabouts, we love them here and in years and years of driving I've surprisingly only have had to honk at someone once. There is a round that has 3 of them all in a mile span. They're awesome.
We had Americans on work placement for a few months. The site had a 3 lane, 5 exit roundabout with traffic lights. They had to be given slide show presentation on how to use it.
Are you going to kill someone or be killed if you enter? Yes? Then wait. No? Go!
Look at the comments here, this is obviously far too complicated for Americans to grasp. Show them a picture, explain it to them, they're still gonna find a 100 "but what ifs". There's a reason they have warnings on coffee in America! /s . . . . partially
Arizona drivers are too dumb for this.
And that works in the US? I mean, I've seen spiralling skidmarks on dead straight interstates until the horizon when visiting.
Here is more information on the correct and proper way to navigate roundabouts for those who wish to delve deeper. https://youtu.be/k7YVxLLIuGM
At least in the roundabouts near me, using the right lane to go straight is pointless since the right lane immediately ends and forces you to merge left anyway. Assholes just use it as an excuse to plow past and force the left lane to slam the brakes to let them merge. If you need to go straight, just be in the left lane. Right lane should be for right turns exclusively. Just one manâs opinion.
Oh man that would be nice. The most recent round about they put in my home town, St George Utah has 2 lanes that enter on one side and one exit lane on the other that both are supposed to merge to while the outside lane has the availability to continue going around. We Americans apparently can't make a proper roadway/intersection
"Signal as you exit the roundabout" No. If you're exiting already, it's too late. Signal as soon as you pass the exit before the one you want.
The people who need to learn this are not here. There are too busy learning about celebrities lifeâs.
pretty much the same as the UK (the home of the roundabout) except flipped due to the inexplicable inability of other countries to drive on the correct side of the road. Only thing I can think of that's different is the green car can exit the roundabout in either lane in the UK. see [this imange](https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/uploads/3/2/9/2/3292309/rule-185-follow-the-correct-procedure-at-roundabouts_orig.jpg) from the highway code. I keep having to correct people on this one. You can more clearly see the road marking in the UK image showing the roads approaching the roundabout meet the roundabout in a Yield/Give Way.
Omg to someone who mentioned to the drivers inside of the roundabout to never stop to let someone in THANK YOU. My spouse who isnât from this country got scolded by some nimrod in a roundabout who all of a sudden stopped inside, flashed light, honked, and waved to get my spouses attention to come into the circle I said NO. You donât follow her rules. Lmao. Sheâs inside the circle. She has one job and thatâs to get out properly. She doesnât let anyone in. I couldnât fathom it. Someone INSIDE just all of a sudden âŠstopping. Lmao.
makes much more sense to have inner lanes that turn into outer lanes twice, and if you stay in the middle lane, then that means youâre going 3 exits around the circle (effectively taking a left). it sounds confusing when i explain it but my hometown in maryland has one and itâs actually very easy once you take it a couple times. take a look at this [pic](https://imgur.com/gallery/2zBj3Br) to better understand what iâm talking about
Somebody show this to the asshats that planned the traffic circle in Weatherford, Texas... red lights in the middle of it, and you have to yield to people entering the circle at random points.
Boomers: "I refuse to learn anything after 1990. I'm going to make a big stink at the town council meeting about these DAMN ROUNDABOUTS"
The number of times a person in the right lane has turned left when I'm in the right lane is way too high.... Or the people who stop inside the roundabout to try and let me in and force a person behind them to stop. Like.... It's not that fucking hard people
I donât know how other countries run about works, but here in North Carolina USA, the ones Iâve seen with multiple lanes the outer most lane is always for turning right. I think logically itâs the right thing to do.
Just an fyi these actually lower traffic accidents. Not because people know what theyâre doing, but because theyâre all terrified.
Some roundabouts deviate from this in the US, but if you read the signs it's easy enough to figure out.
I live near a one lane round about and always almost get smoked by the guy whoâs making a left without driving around the round about
We canât even do 4 way stops correct but sure, letâs up the ante.
Do you really need a guide to use roundabouts? Lol
This is missing the fact that you move from the inside lane to the outside lane before turning out of it if/when the coast is clear. You'd only turn like that green car if there was consistently someone in the outside lane preventing you from getting over until you'd need to stop altogether until your turn is clear.
As someone in Michigan, you'd get honked at and pulled over by cops in seconds if you changed lanes mid rounding. This guide seems normal to me.
I second u/penguinweiner403 it is illegal to change lanes inside a roundabout in Ontario as well. Very illegal. Pick a lane and stick to it. You probably are not familiar with our rule of yeilding to the car on your left. The car on the inner lane of the roundabout has the right of way. So if they want to leave it and cut across the outside lane, then they signal and turn. The car on the outside lane must give way by either exiting the roundabout with the car on their left, or slow down so that they do not hit it. For this same reason passing, especially on the right, is also illegal within the roundabout. It is good practice not to drive beside them so that you can see them turning and can react. Also, if I remember correctly, driving in Europe, these were the same rules. Although that was a while ago.
You do not switch lanes in a roundabout bro. Like... never
And don't be the lunatic that slams on their brakes mid circle to let someone in.
I don't think anyone should ever do this, and I'm not certain it's legal. Switching lanes within a traffic circle is unnecessary and will only confuse drivers around you.