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

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alicat

Legendary Member
Location
Staffs
Now I think about it, I know the OP's roundabout. I am more than ever inclined to say 'hop off'. There is a lot going on and very few motorists are expecting to see a cyclist so they aren't looking out for them.
 
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.
Weeeeeelllll ... if it works for you :wacko:. I'll stick to taking the lane - all of it! :tongue:
 
OP
OP
NickNick

NickNick

Well-Known Member
Now I think about it, I know the OP's roundabout. I am more than ever inclined to say 'hop off'. There is a lot going on and very few motorists are expecting to see a cyclist so they aren't looking out for them.

It really annoys me as Birmingham City Council are about to spend millions building a cycle path down the middle of the Bristol road which is one of the safest trunk roads to cycle into the city centre along as the really wide pavements already have a cycle path/dual use all the way along. They could resurface the admittedly rough pavements, for a fraction of the cost and then use the funds saved to try and make the much more dangerous trunk roads safer. The Stratford road is a great example, its a main/only road for many of Birmingham's resident's to get into work in the city centre or access the train stations, but apart from a couple of 2 meter stretches of painted on cycle path before a couple of traffic lights, you're left to you're own devices and then you have that nightmare of a roundabout to tackle.

At the time they were doing their consultations I fired off multiple well thought out & polite messages but their mind was already clearly made up, you never hear anything back and it doesn't look like they've made any alterations. Our council seems to love and always have money for the small number of larger, often white elephant, project (library, centenary square where they 've found £10m to landscape it, again! the city centre in general), but not more sensible low key/not glamourous changes which could improve the lives of far more of the cities residents.

Sorry for the rant!
 

Ajax Bay

Guru
Location
East Devon
our route took us round the huge Whitebirk motorway roundabout near Blackburn. . . . 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
If you'd carried on just a bit further, @ColinJ , past Sofology, you'd have seen the cycle path marked dropping off left (from your carriageway) and then under the bypass and along the canal to the 'much less scary' roundabout. Tell as many people as possible.
I usually cope by being assertive (eye-contact, assertive hand-signals) and as fast as possible.
To which I merely amplify: repeated eye-contact, repeated hand signalling, the latter until clear of the roundabout. Cycle fast: it's the closing speed you're seeking to minimise. Be prepared for the unexpected from your fellow road users.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
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)
That's a horrible layout. Highways England should upgrade Mill Lane to its west as a non-motorised bypass route of that junction. It's already bridged and the tarmac's basically still in place. Maybe something could be done to make the northern connection less of a detour.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
It really annoys me as Birmingham City Council are about to spend millions building a cycle path down the middle of the Bristol road which is one of the safest trunk roads to cycle into the city centre along as the really wide pavements already have a cycle path/dual use all the way along. They could resurface the admittedly rough pavements, for a fraction of the cost and then use the funds saved to try and make the much more dangerous trunk roads safer.
https://cyclebath.org.uk/2017/10/31...dence-based-approach-to-investing-in-cycling/ might be an insight into some of the reasons why this currently happens. Government tends to throw money at current cycling demand more than where supply is missing. It's debatable which approach is better: do you build it and hope they will come, or do you try to improve conditions where they've already come?
 

Slick

Guru
https://cyclebath.org.uk/2017/10/31...dence-based-approach-to-investing-in-cycling/ might be an insight into some of the reasons why this currently happens. Government tends to throw money at current cycling demand more than where supply is missing. It's debatable which approach is better: do you build it and hope they will come, or do you try to improve conditions where they've already come?
I remember a councillor explaining to me their choice on road upgrades, and was quite shocked by his frankness. He reckoned that they would keep spending on the infrastructure that was already in good condition but leave the poor quality stuff to rot as when it was bad enough they could apply to central government for additional funding. I suppose it must make sense to someone.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
If you'd carried on just a bit further, @ColinJ , past Sofology, you'd have seen the cycle path marked dropping off left (from your carriageway) and then under the bypass and along the canal to the 'much less scary' roundabout.
I probably wouldn't have at the time because it was 10 or 11 years ago when I first went there and I'm not sure that the cyclepath was there then. I can see it on Street View now though (images from summer 2016). I can't see how to get up from the canal towpath to Davies Rd (the littered dead end road) but I'll take your word for it that there is a way. It would certainly make sense to have connected the towpath up to the end of Davies Rd.

Going via the cyclepath would avoid having to turn right at the lights to get onto the Whitebirk business park so I'll go that way next time instead.
 
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