Blocking signalled roundabouts
Discussion
Hi,
Not posted here for a while but due to a back injury have been forced to commute to work a lot in city traffic (in the car rather than as usual on the pushbike). I consider myself to be a pretty courteous driver in town traffic, only "making progress" in appropriate situations - pointless in busy city traffic surely...
However, driving in the city is not what I would call my strong AD point and I wonder about this issue. There are a few traffic-light controlled roundabouts on my way in, none of which have box junction markings. The issue is that there is often a queue on the roundabout from the exit road that I wish to take. If I was to enter the roundabout and end up stopped on the roundabout when it turns red on my approach route the traffic to my left permitted onto the roundabout with a green light could not advance forward to their desired exit, which may be a clear exit after the one that I would be blocking. Of course, this happens all the time and is a common cause of unnecessary horn usage, aggressive manoeuvres and accidents.
This morning, as I would normally do, I was in this position at the front of my queue and seeing my exit and the portion of the roundabout lane from the exit to my left was blocked I stopped and the lights then turned to red. The woman behind me clearly took exception to this, gesticulating and generally looking like a complete mentalist. When the lights went green and I moved off slowly to match the speed of the traffic exiting the roundabout she actually tried to cut around me by nearly glancing the waiting traffic and mounting the curb on the left. All this with traffic ahead moving at my speed (around 3-4mph). I took avoiding action and didn't react but got a blast of horn from her. I rarely come across anything quite so silly and generally don't provoke it.
This isn't really a post just to say that I came across an idiot, which in my mind I clearly did. However, the questions are:
- Is there a highway code or legal stance on blocking signalled multi-lane roundabouts by entering them when the exit is not clear (or likely to clear during the manoeuvre), assuming no yellow box? I am prepared to admit that I don't know the answer to this but recognise it's a common issue.
- Did I cause unnecessary annoyance to another motorist i.e. should I have just advanced forward as the lesser of two evils, potentially preventing someone else from going "straight on" when their lights changed to green?
Hope this post is clear and doesn't sound too ridiculous!
Steve
Not posted here for a while but due to a back injury have been forced to commute to work a lot in city traffic (in the car rather than as usual on the pushbike). I consider myself to be a pretty courteous driver in town traffic, only "making progress" in appropriate situations - pointless in busy city traffic surely...
However, driving in the city is not what I would call my strong AD point and I wonder about this issue. There are a few traffic-light controlled roundabouts on my way in, none of which have box junction markings. The issue is that there is often a queue on the roundabout from the exit road that I wish to take. If I was to enter the roundabout and end up stopped on the roundabout when it turns red on my approach route the traffic to my left permitted onto the roundabout with a green light could not advance forward to their desired exit, which may be a clear exit after the one that I would be blocking. Of course, this happens all the time and is a common cause of unnecessary horn usage, aggressive manoeuvres and accidents.
This morning, as I would normally do, I was in this position at the front of my queue and seeing my exit and the portion of the roundabout lane from the exit to my left was blocked I stopped and the lights then turned to red. The woman behind me clearly took exception to this, gesticulating and generally looking like a complete mentalist. When the lights went green and I moved off slowly to match the speed of the traffic exiting the roundabout she actually tried to cut around me by nearly glancing the waiting traffic and mounting the curb on the left. All this with traffic ahead moving at my speed (around 3-4mph). I took avoiding action and didn't react but got a blast of horn from her. I rarely come across anything quite so silly and generally don't provoke it.
This isn't really a post just to say that I came across an idiot, which in my mind I clearly did. However, the questions are:
- Is there a highway code or legal stance on blocking signalled multi-lane roundabouts by entering them when the exit is not clear (or likely to clear during the manoeuvre), assuming no yellow box? I am prepared to admit that I don't know the answer to this but recognise it's a common issue.
- Did I cause unnecessary annoyance to another motorist i.e. should I have just advanced forward as the lesser of two evils, potentially preventing someone else from going "straight on" when their lights changed to green?
Hope this post is clear and doesn't sound too ridiculous!
Steve
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