So you want to enter a roundabout but the entry to your right comes off the M65 and everyone hoofs it down there and straight onto the roundabout like there’s no roundabout there at all. They have good visibility to their right so I get why they do, but it makes it tough to get on, especially on the bike.

I understand giving way to people already on the roundabout but am I ‘right’ that I should be able to move onto the roundabout if there’s nothing actually on the roundabout already – and that they should be going a at speed which means they can avoid rear-ending/flattening me?

I understand the need to be pragmatic, dead but right is no fun at all, but what’s the official line?

You give way to people already on the round about. But you do what’s safe. If they’re giving it loads then use your common.

You are technically correct, but I’d rather be technically incorrect and alive than technically correct and dead.

https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/roundabouts-184-to-190
Doesn’t get any more official than the Highway Code.

Wanmankylung +1000000

..so the highway code could do with updating, maybe add “& watch out for lunatics hoofing it down the slip-road. Cyclist may want to choose a different route to work”

Agree with all, no point being right but flattened

There’s a law here where a group of cyclists counts as one “vehicle” at red lights and roundabouts, so if the first rider in the group enters a clear roundabout, then traffic already on the roundabout has to give way to the last riders in the group. The scary thing is trusting the driver knows this… Most do but some younger guys I talk to have never heard of it. Better to be cautious than insist on right of way!

You give way to people already on the round about.

You give way to the right on approaching a roundabout. People already on the roundabout happen to be on your right, which is why you give way to them.

It’s a distinction which makes little practical difference most of the time but is pretty critical at mini-roundabouts or where two entry points are close together.

the entry to your right comes off the M65

Which junction, out of interest?

if its a persistent problem might be worth flagging it with the council (or whoever manages that stretch or road)

Sometimes structures get built on the approach to roundabouts to deny vehicles that clear view to their right as they approach and force them to slow as they so that other traffic has a better chance to get on.

I know the feeling only too well. It can also happen on RABs without sliproads, e.g. stationary motorbikes taking off like its moto Gp time and catching up your rear end in about 1.5sec…. 😯

As above,if in doubt just take the safest option…

Roundabouts are unnecessarily complicated on account of the lack of observance of Wheaton’s Law.

The scary suicidal thing is trusting the driver knows this.

ftfy

I don’t know if you’ve missed what the OP is getting at. You’re approaching the Give Way line, you look to your right, there’s a car approaching the Give Way line at the entrance on your right. It is still some way off though. If you cross your line first, you are already on the roundabout so you shouldn’t have to Give Way to that car. However, if it’s going fast enough, it will catch you up before you’ve exited the roundabout.

Which roundabout are we talking about ?

Which roundabout are we talking about ?

M65, Junction 3, I approach from Bolton Road and head down the A674 exit up the (bugger of a) hill into Higher Wheelton.

Have taken to using another route because of this, had a nasty experience. It’s not just getting on that’s the problem, need nerves of steel to go straight on, cars really hammer round it and it’s easy to get caught when they’re exiting too.

You are technically correct, but I’d rather be technically incorrect and alive than technically correct and dead.

THIS I used to walk Junction 3 at times as folk did that at serious speeds and i was forced down the slip road more than onc. I have not ridden the R/bout nr Preston /the start either on the bike. Too fast and dangerous. Which Junction 8??

Not sure I would fancy the Burnley one either tbh

Sometimes structures get built on the approach to roundabouts to deny vehicles that clear view

That’s definitely the issue I think, too much visibility can be a bad thing. They just don’t need to slow down and it’s a really big roundabout so they can get round comfortably at really high speeds.

Abbey village one?

I don’t know if you’ve missed what the OP is getting at. You’re approaching the Give Way line, you look to your right, there’s a car approaching the Give Way line at the entrance on your right. It is still some way off though. If you cross your line first, you are already on the roundabout so you shouldn’t have to Give Way to that car. However, if it’s going fast enough, it will catch you up before you’ve exited the roundabout.

For clarity, take the other driver’s Give Way line out of the equation; say you’re pulling out onto a regular road, or, the other driver is already on the roundabout with the same speed and trajectory. Would you pull out or give way?

Who arrived first is neither here nor there, the only rule is that you give way to the right on a roundabout. If you arrived a microsecond before the other driver and thought “I’m here first, I have right of way” and pulled out to find yourself T-boned, you’d be 100% in the wrong. This “already on the roundabout” concept is a myth, it’s a lies-to-children oversimplification (which handily is what I was getting at in the first place).

I had an idea you were referring to this junction , I commute into Blackburn in the summer and it’s just as bad going the other way

I try and use the canal towpath instead but its the wrong way for you

Start a campaign to get that disused railway line turned into a cycle path. Problem solved and nice level route to work 🙂

So long as they tarmac it.

Junction 4 at Darwen is just as bad. It’s improved slightly with the traffic lights on though . By far the worst is junction 6 even with traffic lights, no buggers in the correct lane.

Motorway mindset still rush rush = any roundabout attached or near one can be seen as faster flowing so more dangerous to slow vunerable users.

Avoid. Like certain A roads it may be your right but it ain’t safe to use.

New roundabout opened on commute to work.Morning,no problem I turn off it in left lane no worries. Night run Arghhhh!, I am now turning right onto the main A-road traffic coming at me at speed onto a two-lane roundabout. Most cars don’t slow or lift off and hammer-on in the left hand lane (no indicators natch!)as I come at the indicating right on the inside lane. Last Friday,to my amazement,two cars approching from my left actually stopped!. The favourite trick from the non-stopping vehicles is to then cut into my (right hand lane),on the exit!!. Plod could catch a lot of drivers out here but don’t sit on this part of the road anymore. 🙁