Roundabouts

[tom73]

Test them out in lighter traffic move over into the line you need early if it’s safe to do it. Take primary position and keep it as you go. Find easy get outs if you can’t get safely get into the line you need as you approach them. I’ve one that I have to use on the way home popular with boy racers. The approach is nice long open road with a pinch point on approach and a supermarket car park entrance. I know if I can’t move over it’s no panic. I can stay left and safely turn back round just down the road and come off the other way.
Remember no harm in walking your bike over if that’s the safest option at the time.

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

im ok with little ones but big ones in the dark are scary
do people navigate these safely
or is it better to cross as a pedestrian, pushing your bike
B y the way I have a high viz jacket, front and back lights and helmet light

It might help to give a clearer idea of what you mean by a "big" roundabout.
Not many, but some roundabouts / junctions are so hairy that I would not advise riding them, regardless of experience.
Trafalgar Square from The Mall to Northumberland Avenue springs to mind (although I find it OK in the other direction)

 

[Lovacott]

Remember no harm in walking your bike over if that’s the safest option at the time.

Although safety is always the main consideration, I find roundabouts to be very safe compared to other types of junction.

All traffic is forced to slow down and the majority will enter the roundabout from a more or less standing start.

The cyclist has the advantage because he/she will always be quicker off the mark than any car (pedal pressure = instant movement on a bike).

The cyclist also has a higher vantage point.

I lived in Australia for a number of years where traffic lights and stop signs are the main junction control methods and roundabouts are pretty rare.

Give me a roundabout any day.

 

[Solocle]

Here's a big scary roundabout I successfully navigated.

I've never encountered a roundbout where I just got off and walked.

Basically just keep your speed up, and watch out for vehicles emerging without giving way.

 

[Mike_P]

Although safety is always the main consideration, I find roundabouts to be very safe compared to other types of junction.

Other disturbing junctions IME are those where the road tapers so very gradually into two lanes on the approach meaning if you need the right hand lane you seem to be for ever in the gradual widening section, and those where turning lanes have been forced onto a carriageway only just wide enough meaning going straight on is an immediate zig zag to overtake the left turning lane and then to avoid the facing right turning lane meaning a need to watch out for any clowns trying to overtake on the right hand side and any traffic turning left too widely on the left hand side traffic.

 

[newfhouse]

Here's a big scary roundabout I successfully navigated.
View attachment 559273
View attachment 559274
I've never encountered a roundbout where I just got off and walked.

Basically just keep your speed up, and watch out for vehicles emerging without giving way.

Traffic light control makes it safer than it may look at first as joining traffic is a bit more predictable. I cross a similar M25 junction without concern, but not all riders feel able to be sufficiently assertive. That's not a criticism of them, more a reflection that such junctions are not designed with vulnerable road users in mind.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I don't think I have encountered a roundabout yet that I won't cycle on. I ride across/around them all, even the big multi-lane ones at motorway junctions that also have traffic lights around them.

Come to London and enjoy the challenge of Hanger Lane Gyratory then! It's chaotic and requires a ballsy approach to navigate at busy times even in a motor vehicle never mind on a bike. I see very, very few riders venture onto it. Some of the roundabouts where major A roads intersect with the M25 on the periphery of London aren't the sort of places any sane person would choose to ride around either.

 

[Lovacott]

My roundabout experience.

 

[Lovacott]

Come to London and enjoy the challenge of Hanger Lane Gyratory then! It's chaotic and requires a ballsy approach to navigate at busy times even in a motor vehicle never mind on a bike. I see very, very few riders venture onto it. Some of the roundabouts where major A roads intersect with the M25 on the periphery of London aren't the sort of places any sane person would choose to ride around either.

I used to do that one daily on the way to Iver from Harlesden.

Three lane roundabout.

Nightmare.

 

[HLaB]

I've heard that it's more useful to look at the wheels to see if a driver has really seen me. Some drivers can seem to be giving me eye contact but actually not looking for bikes.

A bit OT. I got to a roundabout once and stopped for a classic sports car going round (the type with large narrow wheels on the outside of the body and easy to see. The driver behind me stopped too. The sports car wasn't indicating, no worries, its big easy to see wheels informed me it was staying on the roundabout, so I continued to give way for another second. The driver behind me never looked at the sports car wheels and thought they saw an indicator on the sports car to say it was leaving the roundabout and accelerated into the back of me. The driver was going to pay until they found the cost of my expensive bike (£175) and decided to go through their insurance company. They probably paid more in raised premiums.

 

[MichaelW2]

Pick a route to avoid big rounderbouts if possible. The ones that connect to fast A roads with 60mph approach speeds are horrible and I will often cross each road separately.
Im OK on urban rounderbouts where approach speeds are lower. You have to place yourself where drivers are looking, be very assertive and take the lane.

 

[simongt]

Up to two or three years ago, at a roundabout I used almost daily commuting to work, it wasn't unusual for me to be cut up by drivers coming onto the roundabout from my left. Oddly, over the more recent times, it hasn't happened for ages. I wonder why - ?

 

[Solocle]

Traffic light control makes it safer than it may look at first as joining traffic is a bit more predictable. I cross a similar M25 junction without concern, but not all riders feel able to be sufficiently assertive. That's not a criticism of them, more a reflection that such junctions are not designed with vulnerable road users in mind.

True, but there's also this, my first ever bike ride over 30 miles...

Come to London and enjoy the challenge of Hanger Lane Gyratory then! It's chaotic and requires a ballsy approach to navigate at busy times even in a motor vehicle never mind on a bike. I see very, very few riders venture onto it. Some of the roundabouts where major A roads intersect with the M25 on the periphery of London aren't the sort of places any sane person would choose to ride around either.

First time riding a bike in London, I got.... quite lost.

 

[Lovacott]

Pick a route to avoid big rounderbouts if possible. The ones that connect to fast A roads with 60mph approach speeds are horrible and I will often cross each road separately.
Im OK on urban rounderbouts where approach speeds are lower. You have to place yourself where drivers are looking, be very assertive and take the lane.

The worst thing I ever did at a roundabout was give way to a lorry.

It was at Northwick Park in 1992 and I was heading up from Sudbury into Harrow.

I was on the roundabout approach and there was this bloody great artic right alongside me so I let it pass.

It was turning left at the roundabout and as it made the turn, its rear wheels took a straight line up over the pavement towards me.

I managed to get out of the way but it was a close run thing.

It still gives me the quivers 28 years later.

 

[mjr]

[...] so hairy that I would not advise riding them, regardless of experience.
Trafalgar Square from The Mall to Northumberland Avenue springs to mind (although I find it OK in the other direction)

Really? Curious! I'm OK that direction because not much comes out from the Mall at the same time and it's usually going pretty slowly. In the opposite direction, I've had a few near misses with idiots taking innovative and creative lines to turn down Whitehall!