Which lane should you be in? Diagram!

[CactusUmbrella]

If you were driving from where the red arrow is towards the roundabout, and going straight ahead to where the green arrow is, which lane should you be in?

Context is that I had a collision on this roundabout over 2 years ago, still hasn't been resolved and is now likely to go to court! Other driver claiming they were in correct lane, I believe I was...

Roundabout collisions very often go 50:50, everyone has to be careful and even if the lanes are fully marked it tends to never be cut and dried. Who was going how fast, who was there first, who hooted, are there good witnesses on anyone's side, was it dark, slippery, raining, poor visibility.

The signage shows the roads to the left and the right to be minor roads relative to the straight route. In the absence of road markings or a sign designating lanes, then it does look like its either lane for straight ahead.

OP, was the coming together on the exit as the road narrowed?

He was wrong for not indicating his intention to exit irrespective of which lane he was in.

The problem is even though its only one lane on the exit, its easily 2 cars wide, so some drivers are going to make use of that road space and take the right on entry and use that space to cut in.

You can't just sail in and crash into another vehicle, whatever lane they are in.

If you were ahead of him or alongside and he drove into your side, he would be found at fault. Even if he had a genuine belief that he was in the right lane and you the wrong lane, even if you were actually in the wrong lane, drivers must give way to avoid a collision and your "incorrect" positioning does not excuse him from driving with due care and attention, nor does it mean he does not have the liability for the accident.

If he was positioned ahead of you on the roundabout and you could see what he was doing and you did not give way when you had the opportunity to do so, then even if he is wrong and you are right you would have the liability as you did not give way to avoid a collision.

Unless either of you have dashcam footage(?) or unless one party admits to fault, then this is probably going to go 50-50.

I think the lane is a red herring here as you can be in either one to go straight on. The fault lies with the person who did not indicate or check their mirror before exiting.

Having seen the sign, I'd use the left-hand lane.

I think a reasonable person using the right hand lane to go straight over in this instance would anticipate that drivers would likely be using the left-hand lane to go straight over too, so he should have been wary of having another car beside him trying to use the same exit.

I also wonder if he/his passenger changed their mind about the route to take at the last minute.

That said, because two lanes merge into one for that exit, it would probably help if there were some road markings directing drivers to use a specific lane as it looks like a bit of a free-for-all.

Left lane.

Though we have two roundabouts near us and one has road markings saying left is for left only and right is straight on or right turn.

The other is like the above two lanes all the exits just have one lane. I always use the left lane to go straight on and regularly get beeped at for being in the wrong lane - I’m not but it does seem to have some confusion about the rules. One man has told me I’m wrong it’s in the Highway Code…..

Though we have two roundabouts near us and one has road markings saying left is for left only and right is straight on or right turn.

I have an even better one, we have a local roundabout where the lefthand lane is for left, straight and right, and the righthand lane is for right only!

@Pinkbits Just a note to say the exit is definitely not easily 2 cars wide. Here is a photo - annoyingly the road is closed on Google maps but you can see that there's no way 2 cars are fitting comfortably into this exit.

Strangely on street view it looks a lot narrower on the exit than on the aerial view. It's left lane for straight on here in so the taxi was in the wrong if he entered in the right and cut into you.

I presume he was behind or alongside you exiting the roundabout OP, not in front?

I would say alongside, very slightly behind me. We exited at almost the exact same time.

Technically I think either is fine but I would tend to stay in the left lane unless I had a reason not to be.

I know that area. I would definitely be in the left lane.
I bet this ends up at 50:50 though.

Left lane

I believe that is the case IF there are two lines for the 'exit' which from the diagram there doesn’t appear to be, so left lane.

How could that be the case if you don't know how many exit lanes there are until you reach the exit?

I'd be in the left lane. I think the highway code's a bit of a cop out with its "appropriate lane" for intermediate exit thing. I think most people are taught right hand lane if you're going further than 12 o'clock.

Thing is, he'd also have potentially hit someone who was coming out of the minor road and turning left. He was in the right lane and not indicating so they would have every reason to think he was going further round. Good luck anyway.

Given that there's nothing anywhere to indicate that the right lane should be used, he is in the wrong as he changed lanes into you.

If you don't know the road layout use caution and default to the left lane.

@DogInATent isn’t that where road markings on the lanes come into play. So there would be arrows on the right hand lane where OP was exiting to indicate you could use right hand lane to go straight across or right

I would say alongside, very slightly behind me. We exited at almost the exact same time.

Well then he would have known you were exiting or should have been prepared for you to be in the wrong lane and going right.

The question here is "where did he think you were going if on his left and a turn to left or continuing around the roundabout were your only 2 options"

I was taught either was fine. More recent teaching says left unless told otherwise.

Where he entered the roundabout will influence his lane choice.

He won’t have been able to see your indicator.

All teaching says don’t drive into other vehicles!

I really think we should emphasise merging when we teach driving. Who is right is less important than people accommodating each other.