RANT : Car drivers on roundabouts

[jdtate101]

Three times now within a matter of a day I've had drivers pull out very close to me. It's where your already on the round-a-bout, say turning right, you have signalled correctly, but this guy decided to creep out from the left to join the round-a-bout slowly so that he just misses your back wheel. Do they not understand how un-nerving this is, to have a car moving out on you essentially looking like it's going to hit you. Ok, he doesn't hit me, but in all three cases when I have remonstrated with the driver they act like they've dont care.

Sorry, just needed to let of steam about this one.

J

 

[Linford]

They just don't care. I followed a driver into a roundabout this morning and he did exactly the same thing to a well lit and dayglowed cyclist who was on it. I kept my distance from the driver before this point as they were a bit erratic and tailgating another car which turned off before the roundabout itself. The thing is though that this driver didn't look like in any hurry and looking to shave a few seconds, just undisciplined poor driving.

 

[BrumJim]

Yes, and it does un-nerve me.

(And shouldn't that be "Circus" rather than "Roundabout"?)

 

[GrasB]

If someone is creeping out I tend to either accelerate past if there's space or slow down & let them go first. Either way I keep a comfortable space around me. It's very annoying though & people don't do it just to bikes either, they do it to all types of vehicle.

 

[Jezston]

(And shouldn't that be "Circus" rather than "Roundabout"?)

Is that because ...

[drum roll starts]

... they're full of clowns?

[rimshot, cymbal crash, audience groans]

 

[Bicycle]

Good post by the OP. In all the kerfuffle and moral indignation about RLJs, this is the unsexy but greater issue for me in terms of cycling safety.

Contrary to my (unscientific) views on RLJ, I see many more cars (and a greater proportion of cars) entering roundabouts unsafely than I do bicycles. In fact, I rarely see a bicycle do this.

It's not just the majestic sweep onto an occupied roundabout that disturbs me, it's the guessing game about where a vehicle intends to leave the junction. Indicator use by some drivers seems random at best.

The above are a mild inconvenience for other drivers, but a major bugbear for cyclists.

This is brought home to me when cycling with my children. I notice that my 'verbal advice' to them becomes a stream of unintelligible and sometimes contradictory squawks as we approach busy roundabouts. Not helpful, but that's how I am.

Last year I was amused watching my daughter (a learner driver) trying to roll smoothly onto roundabouts. The thing that ground the most enamel off her teeth in those days was drivers sailing across roundabouts with not a thought for their indicator or mirrors.

Just to give a BBC-like balance to this almost-rant, I am frustrated both when cycling and when driving by cyclists who like to sart on the outside of a roundabout and apex-clip the central island to give themselve a shorter route over the junction. This happens rarely, but it terrifies drivers.

 

[GrasB]

In all honesty I wish a lot of drivers didn't use their indicators on roundabouts. They don't have a clue on how to signal their intentions so the use of the indicators only serves to confuse matters. A classic case of a flashing indicator only proves the bulb is working. Example from a few weeks ago:
It all starts out well approaching the roundabout, the driver signals right & moves to the outside lane. Things start getting interesting when they start signalling left almost immediately after entering the off-side lane but enter the roundabout on the off-side. At this point they start signalling right again but almost immediately cross to the nearside lane. Only when they reach the mouth of the exit they're going out of do they signal left. This resulted in 3 if not 4 drivers jamming the brakes on because the maneuvers the driver made were completely contrary to the signals being shown. It would have been much better not to signal as the road position was much clearer than the signals.

 

[Bicycle]

[QUOTE 1723071, member: 45"]

Anyway, I quite enjoy the joust of a roundabout. The bigger ones are better as 99% of the time a bike can get onto the roundabout at a gap where the queuing cars can't. I find it much easier to flow into the traffic on a bike than in a car.[/quote]

Me too, when I'm in the mood.

Favourite in London as a cyclist is Old Street. Favourites on a motorcycle were Hogarth (A316), Wandsworth Bridge and the old Elephant & Castle set-up.

 

[gaz]

Like this:


Worse is like this, as if it isn't for me reading the situation, i would have gotten hit.

 

[GrasB]

The Cambridge side of the M11 Barton interchange approached from either the Barton flyover or Coton flyover (assuming no interference from traffic exiting the M11) is an absolute corker. Both approaches give good visibility over the entire roundabout & the size of it allows you to carry a lot of momentum on & off the roundabout. Take primary, be confident, keep up good observation looking all around you then signal boldly & well in advance. Best is going from Coton to Barton, if everything lines up properly you can be doing 25mph & accelerating climbing up the flyover. There's a temptation to cut tight into the bell mouth, just remember to hold a very strong primary as you enter the flyover else you'll have cars turning left onto the M11 'though you'.

 

[lulubel]

In all honesty I wish a lot of drivers didn't use their indicators on roundabouts. They don't have a clue on how to signal their intentions so the use of the indicators only serves to confuse matters. A classic case of a flashing indicator only proves the bulb is working.

How about this one? A car appoaches a roundabout. There is a choice of 2 exits, left or straight ahead. The car is indicating right. What does the driver plan to do?

She takes the first exit (left), and then turns into the first road on the right. (And, yes, the driver in question was a woman. It's quite embarrassing ...)

 

[HLaB]

I got caught out at this roundabout last year. I had been coming from the south circulating the roundabout in the uturn lane before exiting on the same south arm of the dual carriageway. I was ending up about where the circulating silver car is and about to move to the outside lane, when a driver came fast down the St Margarets Drive dual carriageway straight onto the roundabout (the approach the Navy 4x4 is on) straight at me and swerving tight left just before hitting me. It unnerved me big time and on the greasy surface I lost the wheels on a large drain cover. Of course as the driver said in his garbled East European accent it was 100% my fault because he never crossed the line. He might not have crossed into the central lane of the roundabout but he certainly crossed the give way line, jerk

 

[Matthew_T]

I suspect they are like these but behind you instead of in front:



Another incident on a roundabout:

 

[Dan B]

I beg to differ on Old St roundabout (assuming you refer to the one in East London), it's a miserable place. And it's light-controlled anyway. Although that said, the left hand turn onto Old St eastbound is a lot of fun if you time the lights crossing City Rd correctly.

For apex clipping, are you talking about single-lane RBTs and moving within the lane, or are you talking about riders who cross lanes? I do the former but not the latter - and my observation is that pretty much all kinds of vehicle do too, to the extent that their vehicle width and lane width allow.

 

[Bicycle]

I beg to differ on Old St roundabout (assuming you refer to the one in East London), it's a miserable place. And it's light-controlled anyway. Although that said, the left hand turn onto Old St eastbound is a lot of fun if you time the lights crossing City Rd correctly.

For apex clipping, are you talking about single-lane RBTs and moving within the lane, or are you talking about riders who cross lanes? I do the former but not the latter - and my observation is that pretty much all kinds of vehicle do too, to the extent that their vehicle width and lane width allow.

Multi-lane. No issues with the sigle-lane ones; there's no room to pass anyway.