A driving question - roundabouts

[thebeatofthedrum]

If someone said to you, "use the outside lane" at a roundabout would you think they were talking about the left hand lane or the right hand lane?

@Jojobar and neither do some garages!

No wonder there are so many bad drivers on the road.

In the U.K., the right hand lane is always the outside lane.

Quite concerning how many people don’t seem to understand this!

@Sadie789 that was a good driving instructor's motto then. I think everyone needs to learn it!

As PPs have said ypu either stick to the inside outside rule advised for the road (by sadie above), or use left and right lane on roundabouts. Left and right is far more useful and much less ambiguous. I think you should stick to this in your house @thebeatofthedrum it will be safer and less stressful!😉

@Tippexy exactly what I thought! Its terrifying!
I often wonder if about 65%of the residents near me actually even have driving licences though they are so bad! (In London)!!

How extraordinary that people are so evenly balanced on this. I agree with those who say that the outside lane is on the right hand side

Left.

It’s the Left hand lane, surely?

The roundabout is a circle and the right hand lane would be nearest the INside of the circle. That makes the left hand lane the OUTside.

I do know that technically it's the right hand lane. However I can see the argument for it being the left hand one too.

I know that on a motorway or dual carriageway, the outside lane is the right hand one, so logic should dictate it would be the same on a roundabout.

BUT... a roundabout is not the same as a dual carriageway/motorway. You don't overtake on a roundabout. You don't drive straight ahead on a roundabout. And if you were to draw a circle with lines and ask people to point at the outside line, it would be the outermost one.

So yeah, I can see the other side.

It reminds me of a massive argument that ensued when I was driving with a couple of friends to class one night. One person said that if you were going round a roundabout, you were driving to the right. The other two said you were driving to the left.

It got very heated (and never resolved either)

I'd actually wonder why they couldn't just speak clearly and think they must be having a bad day. Right or left lane is what they should say.

The way I see it, is that if you are driving on a dual carriageway and you (correctly) refer to the left hand lane as the inside lane, and the outside lane is the one by the central reservation, you can't then switch what you are calling those lanes when you arrive at a roundabout.

Maybe use nearside (left) and offside (right) instead.

Left

Left. It's the one on the outside of the roundabout.

Think about it logically...when you're driving along the road, the nearside lane is the left. The nearside of your car is the one closest to the kerb. The offside lane is the right hand lane.

But what is offside bears absolutely no relationship to what is inside. You can't possibly contend that the two terms are interchangeable.

Oh god the inside/outside lane thing in the UK is totally mad, illogical and unnecessary.

I spent my first few years here assuming that when people said ‘inside lane‘ they meant the one closest to the inside of the road - so the right hand lane. The LH lane (and beyond it the kerb) is on the outside of the road.

I have trained myself to the opposite but still don’t know why on Earth you do it when the terms ‘right’ and ‘left’ exist.

Maybe use nearside (left) and offside (right) instead.

Why invent new terms? Why not just say left lane or right lane?

Why invent new terms? Why not just say left lane or right lane?

It’s not a new term - my Dad was a trained police response driver In the 1970s and used those terms all the time.

@Tippexy

No wonder there are so many bad drivers on the road.

In the U.K., the right hand lane is always the outside lane.

Quite concerning how many people don’t seem to understand this!

I've never known which was which but that has zero impact on my ability to drive. I've managed 25 years driving and I've never had the need for these terms. 🤷‍♂️

I do feel like a bit of an idiot when my car is the the garage and they refer to 'nearside' though. S

Oh my god. I’ve always thought ‘outside’ meant left. ‘Inside’ meaning near the middle of the road/roundabout. My driving instructor never used those terms and when DH is navigating he says left and right, so thankfully it’s never caused me any problems!

It’s not a new term - my Dad was a trained police response driver In the 1970s and used those terms all the time.

You’re right, ‘invent’ was the wrong word. ‘Introduce to this situation’ would have been better. Either way, it doesn’t answer the question - why do people use any of these terms, which are obviously open to confusion and misinterpretation, when the much clearer ‘right’ and ‘left’ exist?

I’ve never even thought about this. Roundabout lanes to me are left/right not inside/outside. With a middle or 2 thrown in if it’s a big roundabout!

On a roundabout the inside lane is on the right. On a motorway the inside lane is on the left.

I have never heard these terms used in relation to a roundabout. Who does that, rather than use left hand lane and right hand lane - clear and unambiguous!

FWIW, I would have taken the left hand lane if someone told me to use the outside lane on a roundabout if I didn't have time to say "What the fuck are you talking about?"

I assumed the words inside/outside or nearside/offside are used instead of left and right because then the rules apply irrespective of whether you are driving in the UK, where the inside is on the left, or most of Europe, where obviously the inside lane is on the right.

Of course, you do then need to know which is nearside and which is offside. I spent years having to think twice about that one - "now, is it near the KERB or near the DRIVER?"

Outside lane is left and inside lane is right
Offside lane is right and nearside lane is left.