Best way to navigate a right turn on large multi lane roundabout

[ColinJ]

On another occasion I was riding the Northwest Passage audax event. Late in the day our route took us round the huge Whitebirk motorway roundabout near Blackburn. I was feeling very anxious about it as I came down the Blackburn bypass towards it but was rescued by someone who knew a way of avoiding it. I should have been following the line shown in yellow but the mystery rider led me onto a business park at the side of the bypass. Then down a dead end road littered in debris. From the end of that there was a very short length of footpath going down a slope to the pavement at the side of a much less scary roundabout. That is the route I always take now (shown by the green dots) and I make sure that I tell as many people as possible about it to save them from Whitebirk!

In general, if I had to tackle a big, busy roundabout I would look for a way of walking my bike round the side of it.

 

[growingvegetables]

... that's what makes this roundabout a particular nightmare ...

Just had a look on google street view. Just WOW!

Hey - if there's karma, you can be safe in the knowledge that whoever designed that abomination is now condemned to riding it, round and round, on the crappiest BSO imaginable ... FOR EVER AND A DAY! Tantalus had it easy!

 

[alicat]

I've always had a very pragmatic approach to negotiating what I consider dangerous junctions when riding a bike. I stop, get off the bike, walk across the junction the shortest/safest route, and remount the bike once on the other side.

Yep, I'd walk it too. Not very far at all.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Avoid it if you can. If there is no other way to get where you’re going, position yourself on the white line on the left of the centre lane. Keep your left arm out, after you’ve passed the first exit, and get a move on. Most traffic won’t be going at ‘full speed’ going round a roundabout like that, so the speed differential shouldn’t be great enough to cause a big issue, but you have to be assertive, and make a decisive move left, after you’re past the first exit. Most normal thinking motorists, will not deliberately try to prevent the manoeuvre.

 

[classic33]

I would normally do my best to avoid big roundabouts and plot my routes accordingly. One ride went wrong though and I was delayed so long that I was in danger of having to ride home in the dark without lights so I abandoned my scenic country route and went round Huddersfield's ring road instead. I then climbed up the A629 to the big roundabout at Ainley Top next to the M62.

I had been given lifts up there before that but as a passenger in a car I hadn't appreciated that the road round the roundabout from that direction is significantly uphill. I got there in the rush hour. I stopped to let traffic pass from my right and then went for a gap but I couldn't get any speed up because of the gradient so I limped out and caused panic braking by drivers bearing down on me. It was a very scary experience and I would not choose to cycle round there again.

My route round the roundabout is shown by the yellow line. The elevation profile shows how much the road climbs round the roundabout.

View attachment 383018

Never realised it was as steep as shown. They've changed the lane markings in recent months.

 

[Slick]

Not exactly like the problem posed, but it does show what can happen on a roundabout if you aren't in the middle of the lane.

http://road.cc/content/news/232200-near-miss-day-57-driver-almost-left-hooks-cyclist-roundabout

 

[ColinJ]

Never realised it was as steep as shown. They've changed the lane markings in recent months.

The steepest section is AFTER the roundabout but it is still about 5% from where I entered the roundabout. I normally sprint around roundabouts to get them done as quickly as possible but on that one I was wobbling about trying to get moving and the cars coming from my right caught up with me alarmingly quickly!

PS I've just taken another look at it ... it is way more than 5% on the roundabout itself because it goes up 5 metres in 100 but the first part leading up to the roundabout doesn't gain much elevation. Yes - about 6.5% for 200 metres. I'm sure that most riders would have the same problem as me on that from a standing start.

 

[ColinJ]

I just took a look at the Ainley Top roundabout on Streetview and see that it is controlled by traffic lights now. That makes a lot of sense. It was a number of years ago that I rode up there and I don't recall there being lights then.

Ah - the lights were installed since 2012 after more than 50 accidents on that roundabout ... So, it wasn't just me being a scaredy-cat then!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I would normally do my best to avoid big roundabouts and plot my routes accordingly. One ride went wrong though and I was delayed so long that I was in danger of having to ride home in the dark without lights so I abandoned my scenic country route and went round Huddersfield's ring road instead. I then climbed up the A629 to the big roundabout at Ainley Top next to the M62.

I had been given lifts up there before that but as a passenger in a car I hadn't appreciated that the road round the roundabout from that direction is significantly uphill. I got there in the rush hour. I stopped to let traffic pass from my right and then went for a gap but I couldn't get any speed up because of the gradient so I limped out and caused panic braking by drivers bearing down on me. It was a very scary experience and I would not choose to cycle round there again.

My route round the roundabout is shown by the yellow line. The elevation profile shows how much the road climbs round the roundabout.

View attachment 383018

That one's a sod!!
Even in a car at times



This is my local bug-bear, not sure how to get a little OS map like that
It's jct 31/M62
A 'Dog-Bone' of a junction (see Geograph link below)

Outbound, I'm at the other side, with the left lane being a straight-ahead & M62 (west-bound)
I take primary when I can, as I have been taken onto the slip-road twice!
First time, almost ended up in a fist-fight on the hard shoulder, after I hammered on the roof of the car as he cut me up
Second time, I was very lucky, as an unmarked Traffic Car, was behind me, & blue lights appeared as they pulled the offender up
I still wonder what was said to the driver............

Homewards, I'm wanting the centre lane, all the way round, to past the flyover, & then a filter off the centre lane, to a dedicated lane to join the A-road
(two lefts, are for bypass/industrial estate, two rights, are for M62 west)


https://www.instantstreetview.com/@53.709878,-1.393445,194.8h,-4p,1z

http://www.geograph.org.uk/showmap.php?gridref=SE3923

 

[ColinJ]

This is my local bug-bear, not sure how to get a little OS map like that
It's jct 31/M62
A 'Dog-Bone' of a junction (see Geograph link below)

Outbound, I'm at the other side, with the left lane being a straight-ahead & M62 (west-bound)
I take primary when I can, as I have been taken onto the slip-road twice!
First time, almost ended up in a fist-fight on the hard shoulder, after I hammered on the roof of the car as he cut me up
Second time, I was very lucky, as an unmarked Traffic Car, was behind me, & blue lights appeared as they pulled the offender up
I still wonder what was said to the driver............

Homewards, I'm wanting the centre lane, all the way round, to past the flyover, & then a filter off the centre lane, to a dedicated lane to join the A-road
(two lefts, are for bypass/industrial estate, two rights, are for M62 west)


https://www.instantstreetview.com/@53.709878,-1.393445,194.8h,-4p,1z

http://www.geograph.org.uk/showmap.php?gridref=SE3923

Yikes!

(I crop parts of a digital OS map that I save using Print Screen. It is probably a bit naughty but I do pay for all of my maps and I encourage as many people as possible to buy OS products so I don't think I am harming them.)

 

[pjd57]

I prefer to go round as though in a car.
But if it's very fast/ busy , wet , windy , I'll pull in to the kerb and be a pedestrian.

 

[Ian H]

Big, fast roundabouts can be difficult. I usually cope by being assertive (eye-contact, assertive hand-signals) and as fast as possible.

This thread does remind me how much easier French roundabouts are—only because motorists there are so much less aggressive.

 

[NickNick]

Big, fast roundabouts can be difficult. I usually cope by being assertive (eye-contact, assertive hand-signals) and as fast as possible.

This thread does remind me how much easier French roundabouts are—only because motorists there are so much less aggressive.

I can't wait to move back to France!

 

[growingvegetables]

... position yourself on the white line on the ...

... doesn't matter which lane! On the white line?

Sorry - but that is just plain madness.

My cat's p!$$ed off - cos she's only got a measly 9 lives.

 

[Racing roadkill]

... doesn't matter which lane! On the white line?

Sorry - but that is just plain madness.

My cat's p!$$ed off - cos she's only got a measly 9 lives.

Not done too many of these roundabouts / scenarios then. When I say “on the white line” I mean hug it, not ride on top of it. I often use a roundabout between Farnham and Aldershot, that’s quite similar, except it’s got a motorway left and right, and a dual carriageway fore and aft. Trial and error, have enabled me to work out the way that works best for me, you don’t make ‘errors’ with trucks around too often.