Do You Get Scared At Times

[Frood42]

This was the Rose Hill Roundabout, I was coming up from Sutton, going down the A217 towards Mitcham. I kept left but in the correct lane, eejit came from somewhere and wanted to take the exit before mine, but he was in the right hand lane until the last minute...impatient so-and-so should have either waited or gone round again and got in the correct sodding lane

At work so can't find the map

http://goo.gl/maps/oBOrP

I see no issue with you using the left hand lane in Primary using some communication to show you will not be taking an exit in advance.

The issue I see with this roundabout is the design, the way the left hand lane seems to go all the way around, continuing the three lanes, despite taking you past an exit that is two lanes wide.
I noticed the left hand lane has road markings saying City/A297, so some maybe expecting you to go off rather than carrying on around the roundabout through a two lane exit.

People will have their own views, and as I have not ridden the road I can only give a theory as to how I would personally take it.

Looking at the roundabout sign I can see third exit would be my target,
I can see the second exit is for Central London,
Before the lights take primary in right hand lane
(my reasoning being the traffic will be heading for Central London and you're taking the third exit, and the left hand lane on the roundabout is signed City/A297),
on exiting the lights look to take the middle lane in primary (although again A297 traffic could also be using this),
coming from the middle lane move across to left hand lane in primary after the central london/A297 exit,
take next exit in primary, move to seconday after clearing corner for the exit.

Or use primary in left hand lane, with hold back or right turn hand signals in advance of each exit, but that Central London exit is always going to be a PITA.

Having never ridden the road though I could be completely wrong.

Errrmmm, sorry, not much help really.

The only thing I would add is that there are probably drivers out there who also have a lot of problems with that roundabout, of course they are not as exposed.
.

 

[wilkotom]

The only thing I would add is that there are probably drivers out there who also have a lot of problems with that roundabout, of course they are not as exposed.
.

I live not too far away from that roundabout. I hate driving around it; I'm fortunate I've never had to cycle it, it's always full of idiots who can't get in lane.

 

[Pico Triano]

Just from riding no. There's always some idiot out there that can do something stupid and put a bit of fear into me even now.

 

[LordMarv]

Do I get scared? Watching some of the videos of cycling in London and other large UK cities scares me spitless! Not a criticism, but wow. But then again I'm in a small city, so I was naive when I took up cycling again. I worry about weekend drunks and little old ladies who can't see over their dashboards! I think seeing the filtering was what freaked me out the most. But London cycling is civilized compared to the vids of cycling in India

 

[Rob3rt]

Scared is not the word I would use to describe it. But I would be a liar if I said I have not experienced fear at some point. Usually it is fairly transient and short term, as in I get spooked by an incident then calm down almost immediately. Never really a prolonged sense of being scared, anxious maybe.

I am quite happy to hurl myself down a dual carriageway on a TT bike...

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Even after knocking on the door of 30 years commutign by bike, & the weekend rides, training, racing, etc............

There's only been a handful of 'Brown Alerts'

Mainly these were due to the roads I had to travel;

1. When I worked in Leeds, I rode to work/home from via the A61 (main Wakefield-Leeds road)
Between Wood Lane (Rothwell turning,with the Jaw Bones), & Stourton, going into Leeds, there is a section where you have to ride down the centre of the road (on white-line)
You therefore have traffic leaving the M1 (now M621) on your left, & traffic from the A61 on your right
Then.... you have the A61 traffic wanting to join the M621 crossing your path to the slip-road
Conversely, vehicles leaving the M621 cross your path to head along the A61 into Stourton
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/507271

If you look at the map, you may get some idea, the hill is 2 one-way roads, so going into Leeds, you bear left at roundabout (after M1 north) & pass under M621, before joing its 'off slip'

Plus.... there's a 'roundabout' under the M621 at that point, but thankfully!!, vehicles using it have to give way

Then.....Going back home (which was anytime from 18;00 - 23:00), I had to travel up the centre lane of 3 (L/H = Pontefract/Woodlesford/M1 North), centre lane = A61 'Bell Hill', R/H lane = M621/M1 south)
So, at 18:00, when drivers are all in the wrong lanes, cutting between them, (left to right, centre to wherever & back!!), it got a bit worrying at times.

Anyone readers from the Leeds area ought to know this road??



2. East Chevin Road, Otley
A very rapid descent from the top of Otley Chevin, dropping directly into the town of Otley (comes out near Chevin Cycles)
It can be a 55-60MPH descent, on broken tarmac, & more scaril, partially screened car-park exits.
There's been a few times, I've had to take avoiding action, as you'd possibly not stop rolling down the hill, till you got to Otley, if you went over a bonnet

If it was like this http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3305491 I doubt I'd want to ride down it, but have ridden up it in this state


3. Mortimer Road ('Strines') In 'Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs' as 'Ewden Bank' (137) descending the northern most section (north of pic in book), & finding a patch of diesel just before a sharp right-hand corner (thankfully, with some run-off up a farm tack on the bend
This corner; http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2453620
'Le Tour' will pass along this route, but from north-south
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3418149

 

[Amanda P]

Phil I know York quite well as I'm a Leeds boy from years ago, and still spend most weekends through the year over near Pickering. Are you talking about the A64, the A59 or the ring road in town?

I'm talking of the A64 between York and Malton. If you're heading for Pickering most weekends, you've probably passsed me at some point. And assuming you're not cycling the trip, you're helping to make that road busy!

 

[Doc333]

I'm talking of the A64 between York and Malton. If you're heading for Pickering most weekends, you've probably passsed me at some point. And assuming you're not cycling the trip, you're helping to make that road busy!

Phil that road is a joke and usually backed up from the roundabout all the way past the pubs and Thompson Fish place where its single lane. The problem everyone has got, is how do people who live on the outskirts of York and all the way to the coast get home or to work, without doing a massive detour. That section of road can take me as long to negotiate as the time it took me to get from Cheshire.

York is supposed to be cycle friendly like Oxford, Cambridge etc, yet you need to play roulette to get into the centre. The A64 should be duel carraigway all the way, and have cycle lane or track, with flyover areas for coming off into the City. I'm afraid the local council spent more time ardguing about York City football ground that stuff that matters

 

[Amanda P]

Phil that road is a joke and usually backed up from the roundabout all the way past the pubs and Thompson Fish place where its single lane. The problem everyone has got, is how do people who live on the outskirts of York and all the way to the coast get home or to work, without doing a massive detour. That section of road can take me as long to negotiate as the time it took me to get from Cheshire.

York is supposed to be cycle friendly like Oxford, Cambridge etc, yet you need to play roulette to get into the centre. The A64 should be duel carraigway all the way, and have cycle lane or track, with flyover areas for coming off into the City. I'm afraid the local council spent more time ardguing about York City football ground that stuff that matters

They could go on the train? Well, they could if it stopped anywhere other than Malton and Seamer - all the intermediate stops on what would otherwise be a perfectly good, busy commuter line, were closed in the 60s.

There's talk of dualling the A64 again. But it seems to me that you increase road capacity and it rapidly fills up and becomes congested again: 'build it and they will come'. So I'm afraid I'm quite happy to see the A64 crawling or queuing - it's a damn sight safer than when 40-ton lorries are bowling past bus stops at 60mph. Not much fun if you want to get to Scarborough by car on a Friday night, but a whole lot more fun if you live anywhere near it.