AIBU to a 450 degree turn at a roundabout to take 1st exit more quickly?

[Scrumple]

I think i've got those calculations right - basically a circle and a quarter.

My usual roundabout home from work has been extremely busy all week because of road works and diversions nearby . Two lane roundabout with 4 exits.

I normally take the first exit, and have been sitting in the left lane for up to twenty minutes each evening because of a big queue of traffic all the way up the street towards the roundabout. Right lane maybe has the odd few cars in it - 3rd exit only leads to a small car park for some shops.

So yesterday i just went right into the right lane, did a full circle round and then left at my usual 1st exit. Only three cars were in front of me. I waited less than a minute.

Roadworks are expected to last all next week too. I'm wondering if I can carry on doing this or if I'm technically doing something wrong. If it's perfectly legal - why isn't anybody else doing the same?

Have also done it in a new area when the sign showing lane usage was far away in the distance by the time the queue formed, and entirely unexpected. Noone was willing to let me in to the lane I needed (once I'd passed the bloody sign) thinking I was a cheeky queue jumper, rather than just not a local. I stayed in the right lane, went all the way round and then off at the exit I needed.

If everyone did this, no-one else would be able to get on the roundabout from other entrances

Viviennewestwood - you must live near(ish) me, I also do this occasionally to avoid the queue on the M27!!
I come off on the M271 exit heading towards Romsey then rejoin as on the other side there is a lane which is separated which no-one uses. So much fun whizzing past everyone! Suckers!

😂 and I got an A in A-level maths.

The roundabout (Brummie: Island ) I do this at most has the left hand lane signed for left and straight, and the right hand lane signed right only.

When busy 90% of the traffic queuing in the LD lane is going straight, so taking the RH lane, and doing a 5/4 turn is just a more efficient use of road space.

Of course the real solution would be to re-sign the approach so the LH lane is just for left turn, and the RH lane is straight and right. But that would reduce traffic, which isn't really the idea of traffic management.

Mykingdom - did you never wonder why you didn't see policemen with clipboards standing at roundabouts ticking off how many times people were going round

I guess this is like coming off a veeeeery slow M25, up the slip road, straight over the roundabout and back on - queue jumping about 100 vehicles.

DH ... looking at you.

I have something similar that knocks around 10 minutes off my journey time. It's a cross roads where you can only go straight ahead or right (or straight ahead or left if you come from the other djrection). So I turn right which takes me along a road into the back entrance of my workplace. There's a roundabout there that I go right around and come back up the road, go straight over at the cross roads and knock a full 10-15 minutes off my journey by not getting caught up in a congested one way system. It's not illegal and the traffic stays free flowing.

I've gone round a whole roundabout a few times before, it leads on to a bit of motorwzy that gets particularly congested so many people do a circuit before deciding whether to join the motorway or take a different route (there are 3 alternatives to the motorway). As long as everyone stays in the right lane and isn't a dick about things then it's safe and legal.

you can't really be annoyed with someone doing something perfectly legal

This has made me laugh. Perhaps I'm too easily annoyed....

sandy, I just thought there would be big bolt of lightening from the traffic gods.