A mini roundabout driving question ...

[GeorgeSpeaks]

I was honked at the other day for dithering/giving way on a mini roundabout. Was I wrong?

I was approaching the roundabout and signalling right, opposite me another car was not signalling, so going straight on. I slowed down to let him go because I would have to cross his path to get to my exit and therefore he has right of way. Obviously if he were on my right he'd also have right of way. Anyway, car behind me honked because I hesitated to let opposite car across before I turned right. Who is correct, me or honker?

I think I'd say there wasn't really a need for you to wait.

If you arrived at the roundabout first and drove onto it, you would then be on the roundabout and so have priority regardless of directions.

And if he arrived first, he would have been clear of the centre circle before you began to turn right. So no need to stop either way.

The person behind you was entirely wrong to beep in any case, though.

The honker. You give way to cars coming from the right, like any other roundabout.

That is very basic. I think you may need to at least read a highway code if you are going to continue driving in the UK because there may be other areas you don't know.

The honker was right, sorry.
No-one was on your right so you could go (the person opposite you has YOU on their right, so had to give way to you unless of course there were 4 exits)

The person behind you was entirely wrong to beep in any case, though.

Genuine question: why? From their point of view OP was just stationary in the middle of the road for no reason. OP wouldn't have even realised their mistake without them honking.

Was the non signalling car already on the roundabout? If he was, he had right of way. If he wasn't, you definitely could have gone.

That's not what beeping your horn is for. It's to alert others of your presence, for safety, not to hurry people along because you're impatient or you think they made a mistake.

That's what the other driver was doing- alerting the OP to the fact there was traffic behind them that they were blocking. They don't know why the OP has stopped. Have you never missed the fact a traffic light has changed and been woken from your reverie by drivers behind you honking?

You had right of way and could have entered the roundabout. However, honking purely because you're impatient is pathetic.

Who had entered the roundabout first?

The only legitimate use of the horn is to alert another driver to a hazard they seem to not have noticed. It is not to be used a way to admonish other drivers or express frustration or impatience. The arsehole in this scenario was the honker. You did fine. You can't have paused for long and it's better to be sure that it's safe than to assume.

Technically honker was right, but you were right to wait imo. Never know what some plonker will do at a roundabout, always best to wait if in doubt.

The way I picture it (might be wrong) is that the opposite car would have sailed across pretty quick once OP didn't go. I don't visualise them both sitting there for ages until the honker graciously assists in their decision-making.

And anyway, even if there was a misunderstanding or someone was in the wrong, the safest thing is for the two involved cars to sort it out through eye contact and gestures. Honking doesn't add anything except potentially jolting OP into moving forward too soon.

Plus just my general observation that honking is rarely done for a constructive reason. It's usually just very impatient and self-righteous people who are absolutely desperate to tell someone off, and they'll use the briefest hesitation or most minor infraction to justify doing so. So Occam's razor says honker is a twat who needs to grow up!

The car opposite wasn’t signaling as was going straight, therefore not crossing your way, you didn’t need to stop and give way. You only give way to the right side, they were going straight.

The car opposite wasn’t signaling as was going straight, therefore not crossing your way, you didn’t need to stop and give way.

Round here a signal or lack of one should never be used as indication of what another driver will do! 😆

I have a mini roundabout like this near me. It used to be a straight road, with an off-shoot, now a roundabout has been added to allocate priority. But the amount of drivers who cannot grasp that the oncoming straight road has priority is staggering. It's like their brains cannot compute that 'directly opposite' on a roundabout is actually 'traffic coming from right'. There are plenty of near misses, so many people do pause, particularly because people don't always bother indicating when they should.

If your roundabout is like this op, then I can understand why you'd pause even if you technically have priority.

Really the honker is being an asshole, as long as it only was a pause, and you weren't there ages dithering.

If nothing was coming from the right, then yes I have no problem with honking.

This. Half the time a non-signalling driver will in fact be turning. You can't assume so if their front wheels have crossed the line it's best to pause until its completely clear that they aren't turning right in front of you.

Isn't the point of the horn not to alert people to your presence if they look like they're going to hit you, rather than to use in frustration...

From your description, you were in the wrong. You give way to your right at a mini island, the same as any other sort of island. Your having to cross his path is irrelevant.

If he were already established on the island then it's different but that's not how I have taken your post.

You wouldn’t have crossed his path as you were coming from his right, so he would need to give way to you. How do you not know that?

I have a mini roundabout like this near me. It used to be a straight road, with an off-shoot, now a roundabout has been added to allocate priority. But the amount of drivers who cannot grasp that the oncoming straight road has priority is staggering. It's like their brains cannot compute that 'directly opposite' on a roundabout is actually 'traffic coming from right'. There are plenty of near misses, so many people do pause, particularly because people don't always bother indicating when they should.

Yep, same near me. It depends on how mini the mini roundabout is because it some cases traffic from straight across will have priority.

It's like their brains cannot compute that 'directly opposite' on a roundabout is actually 'traffic coming from right'

That's not correct. If you're directly opposite each other, you can't both be coming from each others right. No one would ever move.

I'm going to go against the grain OP and say you were in the right.

He was to your right, and you were to his, so you each needed to give way to the other. This happens a lot at mini roundabouts because they're so small. I would have let the other car go first if I was turning too.

My driving instructor covered this - he said you often get multiple cars arriving together at a mini roundabout, and they all have equal right of way. His advice was that it's better to just go, because once one person goes then that sorts it as everyone else can give way in turn.

I'm going to go against the grain OP and say you were in the right.

He was to your right, and you were to his, so you each needed to give way to the other. This happens a lot at mini roundabouts because they're so small. I would have let the other car go first if I was turning too.

My driving instructor covered this - he said you often get multiple cars arriving together at a mini roundabout, and they all have equal right of way. His advice was that it's better to just go, because once one person goes then that sorts it as everyone else can give way in turn.

It was your right of way.