Mini roundabouts! Whose right of way? Diagram included!

[Rocketlady]

Not my finest artwork, but if vehicle A is is indicating to turn to their right (left in pic!) and vehicle B wants to go straight on, whose right of way is it?

Thank you. I thought I was going nuts.

Agree that A has right of way on the roundabout: If A and B arrive at the same time, I might make a judgement, as B, as to whether or not I had time to pass A’s exit before I obstructed A as I went straight on. That would depend how big the roundabout was, but A would be right to beep me if I judged it wrong and was in her way.

It is true (though incorrect) that if a mini roundabout has been plonked into what would otherwise be a T junction, some people unconsciously treat the cross bar of the T as the major road.

So let's look at this in another way. If both cars assume they get to go first, car A will hit the rear right of car B. In a roundabout. You try telling your insurer that hitting a car in a roundabout either on its right side or at its rear makes you the innocent party 🤣

Are you the driver who nearly killed me, my passenger and the animals I was transporting, by failing to give way at a mini roundabout? I was established on the roundabout, indicating right, but you didn't care and carried on to drive into the side of my vehicle at 35mph.

You were driver B and I was driver A.

You then went on to also collide with a second vehicle.

Exactly A is crossing B's path from their right on a roundabout therefore B has to give way. There is no reason A should need to give way to B

By that logic roundabouts don’t work

A has priority. Mini or not, roundabout rules are the same

Doesn’t matter what is in your eyes! If there is a car approaching from the right you MUST give way if you cannot complete your manoeuvre without making the car to your right slow down or stop. Who gets there first has absolutely no bearing on the matter. If you don’t give way you will be held totally responsible if there is an accident. There is no such thing as who gets there first has priority. I’m amazed how many people have no idea of the basic rules of the road.

But A would have been approaching from the right of vehicle B, and fully already on the roundabout, for a collision to happen? B should be giving way to vehicles approaching from the right, so surely if they are hit from the right, they haven't given way to the right?

Driving instructor here: I think there’s not much doubt about this situation.

A definitely has priority, as by the time B reaches the roundabout, A will probably have got there as well. B could only go if they were confident about completing the roundabout before A got there.

I often had to train learners to look beyond the roundabout, at the speed and indicators of other cars. In some places, drivers do u-turns at mini roundabouts, which can be unexpected.

What can cause confusion is if there are three exits, and drivers arrive all at the same moment, then it can be confusing who goes first,

Thank you 🙏

If there is dash cam footage of your scenario then car B will be held totally responsible, it will certainly not be 50/50. It is not up for debate on who gets there first. If you see a car approaching from the right you MUST give way if your manoeuvre will cause them to slow down or stop.

The “simpler function” reasoning applies to crossroads, not roundabouts.

Mind you, when roundabouts were a novelty in the 1950s, a vintage copy of the Highway Code says “there are no rules of priority at roundabouts”.

So if there was a vehicle C at the other junction, who has stopped to give way to B, then B could continue straight if confident to be out of A's way. A could begin to enter the roundabout as B would be clear of their exit by the time they are round, and expecting the vehicle behind B (B2) to be the next to give way? It's B2 who beeped at me when I did this, and usually B3 and 4 and 5 try to carry on if you stop to avoid a collision!

It might be similar to when a car on the other side has to go around an obstacle so you slow down to allow this, but then 4 cars follow. It's wrong, but you sit there to avoid a crash, and sometimes you have to slowly move forwards to assert your right of way so another car doesn't come through.

Is there anything unusual about this roundabout that would mean people coming from B have priority? That's all I can think of.

Otherwise people beeping are just idiots. It happens sometimes, you'll use the correct lane on a roundabout, they get it wrong but beep at you.

There is exactly this mini roundabout setting where I live. I am B and I most definitely give way to A. I had to wait for ages the other day as around 10 A cars were turning right whereas the usual flow for A cars is straight on.

Good grief! Please send your licence back to DVLA.

A has priority.

You give way to the right.

I don’t what is so difficult about this. It’s just a roundabout.

You really need to read it (for the first time, I imagine!).

would it help if I point out that I'm also a driving instructor? I repeat, read your Highway Code. In the approach to any roundabout priority goes to any car approaching from the right, that is, either already in the roundabout or about to enter at a point below 12 and above 6 (B's entry point) on the clockface in OP's diagram.
For two cars already in the roundabout, the car on the right does not have priority any more. (This is why, in a larger roundabout, if you fail to get into the correct lane, you cannot turn off in a rush and force a car to your left off the roundabout with you; you have to go all the way around and try again from the correct lane.)
If both cars reach a roundabout directly opposite each other at the same time, neither has priority but there is no conflict unless one car wishes to turn across traffic, in which case, as always, the car turning across traffic must yield:/ so A yields to B in Op's post. Technically, in fact, if A and B entered at the same time then A will reach the third exit after B reaches the second exit , especially since the highway code also instructs that you must go round even in mini roundabouts; you cannot start to turn right immediately.
I teach driving in London, and what I always tell my students, a lot of these mini roundabouts are put in as traffic slowing measures. The confusion is deliberate to remind drivers to slow down and be aware of other drivers. (This was also the thinking in the redesign of Exhibition Road.) Of course, you were taught to slow down and proceed with caution on the approach to any intersection.
But again: you try telling an insurer that car A will have been in the right if it rear ends car B or hits the right nose of car A to the right flank of car B. Car A will be unambiguously liable.

Of course they are coming from the right. It's a roundabout. It's not a junction.

A
However I've spent decades in insurance claims. If people kept their eyes on the road, speed down and were prepared to brake, roundabout accidents would be minimal.

A!

B should give way. I’m not sure what you are complaining about. Everyone is saying A has the right of way

B should never give way as the only time B would have to give way is if A has gone into the roundabout in front of them. And as B is approaching from the right this should never happen