Help, I’m Stuck in a Roundabout, Part 2

Ok, so we have our rental all checked out. But before you fire it up, do a thorough checkout so you know how to operate it—handbrake, cruise controls, gearing, instruments, fuel filling locations (and what type fuel it takes), options on the dashboard, heater, etc. Driving is going to take a lot of your attention, so having to figure out how to get the cabin temperature where you want it while trying to figure out how to survive your first roundabout is not a good thing.  If you need it, ask the rental agent to walk you through things. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Now for a couple of phrases to use to help figure out how to get around. The first is “put your body in the center of the road.” As a driver, if you are close to the center of the highway, the rest of the car will be on the proper side (left) of the road or lane (mostly). And remember that a right turn is, in the UK, the same complexity as a left turn in the US—you have to cross an oncoming lane or lanes of traffic and enter the new road on the left (body to the center of the road, remember?).

The second phrase is “stay left, look right.” What that means is that you should, generally, stay to the left, particularly entering roundabouts, and be looking to the right for traffic approaching and in the roundabout. You’ll need to look left, too, for traffic from that side once you are in the roundabout, but the approaching traffic currently in the roundabout as you try to enter it will be coming from the right. And on the highway, approaching traffic going the opposite way will be in the right-hand lane. Traffic coming from the right at a roundabout has the right-of-way over you as the one trying to enter. You enter the roundabout when it is safe to do so, but don’t have to stop unless there is a stop sign or traffic light. Most roundabouts have neither and use the “right has the right of way” as the rule. Common sense and safety apply. Oh, and on those traffic lights—they show yellow between red and green, and the local drivers will start moving on the shift from red to yellow. So, if you see the light go from green to yellow, stop. The cross traffic will be moving on that yellow.

There is a terrific website in the UK that is designed for folks who want to learn how to drive there and to pass the driving test. That site is 2pass and they have a host of videos at 2pass videos.

Go watch some of those videos to get a good feel for how to maneuver in the UK traffic by seeing how other cars maneuver. Of particular interest is an interactive site that shows you how to negotiate a large roundabout (two divided highways meeting at the roundabout).Two more excellent sites for roundabout navigation are here and here. The first one is interactive where you can click on buttons step-by-step to see how to navigate across a roundabout, including where and how to use turn signals. The second has a video of a busy roundabout, with vehicles going in all directions. Follow each of them in turn to see how to navigate through the traffic.

Why all this talk about roundabouts? Because in the UK the roundabout is by far the most common design for intersections. Very seldom will you see a traffic-light intersection outside of the major cities, and even in the major cities roundabouts will be commonplace on side streets. So learning how to safely traverse the roundabout is key to safe driving in UK.

Spend some time watching and listening to how the experts say to do it and you won’t be terrified (as much) when you see it for yourself. The one thing about roundabouts is that, if you are going to turn left or go straight across you should, in general, be in the left lane in the roundabout. If you are turning right, be in the right lane signaling your plan to turn right as you approach the roundabout and then half way around, change to a left turn signal and move left, looking first for any other traffic in that left lane, and then exit to the left.  Sometimes, you will see two lanes entering, crossing over, and exiting the roundabout together. Be on the lookout and follow what you see others doing. And some roundabouts have a dedicated left turn lane on the far left that can ONLY go left, so watch the signs approaching the roundabout to see what is going to be in front of you.

Basically, use your turn signals to make sure other drivers know what you intend to do. In Britain, they teach new drivers “mirror, signal, maneuver” as the technique. Look first to see if it’s safe to move, signal your intention to move, then move. Avoid sudden changes. For example, if you are in the right lane of a roundabout and miss your turn, don’t suddenly dart to the left to get to where you wanted to go or slam on your brakes to try to make the turn. There is a good chance that you will cut someone off, or even cause a collision, because someone was in the left lane planning to go straight or behind you expecting you to continue around the roundabout. If you miss your exit, just go around again, moving to the left in advance of your exit and signaling your intention to leave the roundabout. One tip is to note carefully the roundabout map signs as you approach the roundabout and have your passenger (navigator) help count the exits as you go. Not all GPS/SatNav systems indicate the proper number of roads in a roundabout because they may not show blind alleys, service roads, or driveways that come off the roundabout, but the signs before the roundabout will show what to expect and where to expect it if the roundabout isn’t actually round (some are oval, some square-ish). So, if the GPS/SatNav says to exit at the third exit, but the road signs show your exit as the fourth, follow the signs and the GPS/SatNav will be happy.

Watch the video of the mini roundabout at the website above because that represents the majority of roundabouts you will see. Frankly, the beauty of all of the videos is to prepare you for what you will see as you drive. Again, when you first set out on the “wrong” side of the road, you are unlikely to panic if you’ve watched the videos and have a visual memory of them.

More later.

Photograph credit: By Andy F [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons