Roundabout slingshot legality?

[cootuk]

Articles today about, when your roundabout left turn is congested on a multiple entrance roundabout, if you can you swap to the right hand m then slingshot around, thus beating the queue.
I'm pretty sure I read of someone being prosecuted for doing this several years ago, on a minor charge when the roads were heavily congested. It might have been driving without due care and attention which includes reasonable behaviour towards other road users?

[Alex Z]

“ The offence of driving without due care and attention (careless driving) is committed when your driving falls below the minimum standard expected of a competent and careful driver, and includes driving without reasonable consideration for other road users.”

That’s your most likely offence though it's a bit of a stretch and unless you're driving like a knob it's very unlikely you'd get stopped.

Edited by Alex Z on Thursday 6th April 19:13

[akirk]

Dear Judge, I saw the congestion and rather than add to it thought I would take a different route home, so decided to turn right, however as I did so I suddenly remembered that I needed to:
- pick up a prescription for my ailing mother
- collect my child from nursery
- pop in to the supermarket to buy dinner
- beat the others in the queue to get home 30 seconds early
so realised I had no choice but to take the original route, I therefore carefully circled the roundabout and considerately rejoined the queue (from the roundabout having defeated at least 3 old grannies and managed to get ahead of them!)

In reality there is no law to stop you as long as you are considerate - you are allowed to change your mind, and you can legally circle a roundabout all day if you genuinely have a reason and don't upset everyone else however I rarely see any point unless of course you feel that your time is more valuable that that of everyone else in the queue, in which case perhaps there are other issues at play?!

[Earthdweller]

If you enter the roundabout from the right hand lane and go completely around the roundabout and then take an exit you have not committed any offence at all

If you enter the roundabout from the right hand lane and then cut across traffic to the left and take the first exit then likely you have committed more than one offence

[Super Sonic]

People do this all the time at a r'about near me. There's a busy two lane road leading to the r'about, then the first exit is one of the busiest railway crossings in the country. tbf if no-one did, the roundabout further back on the two lane road would also get blocked.

[swisstoni]

The police can’t be bothered with perfectly obvious offences.
It a bit of a stretch to think they’d be interested in this sort of thing.
Especially as there doesn’t seem to be an actual offence.

[Bestle]

What would the offence be if you went into the right lane and then cut across to go straight on? I do it quite often when there's something that's going to pull away slowly in the left lane, never once impeding their progress.

Edited by Bestle on Thursday 6th April 19:35

[paintman]

akirk said:

Dear Judge, I saw the congestion and rather than add to it thought I would take a different route home, so decided to turn right, however as I did so I suddenly remembered that I needed to:
- pick up a prescription for my ailing mother
- collect my child from nursery
- pop in to the supermarket to buy dinner
- beat the others in the queue to get home 30 seconds early
so realised I had no choice but to take the original route, I therefore carefully circled the roundabout and considerately rejoined the queue (from the roundabout having defeated at least 3 old grannies and managed to get ahead of them!)

In reality there is no law to stop you as long as you are considerate - you are allowed to change your mind, and you can legally circle a roundabout all day if you genuinely have a reason and don't upset everyone else however I rarely see any point unless of course you feel that your time is more valuable that that of everyone else in the queue, in which case perhaps there are other issues at play?!

You forgot the sudden onset of a 'bowel urgency' as you started the right turn so were forced to resume your original heading.

[irc]

If the queue is because of a constant stream of traffic from the road on the right then you are in fact doing the queue a favour by creating a break in the flow as you go round.

[LukeBrown66]

The problem an often be that people will happily block the roundabout while waiting for traffic to clear on their exit, thereby stopping the damn thing working properly for those that want to not go down the popular exit.

I have never understood this, as it is utterly selfish.

[dundarach]

It's a move for the s

You're not a are you

Only s do that

Don't be a

[Super Sonic]

Bestle said:

What would the offence be if you went into the right lane and then cut across to go straight on? I do it quite often when there's something that's going to pull away slowly in the left lane, never once impeding their progress.

Edited by Bestle on Thursday 6th April 19:35

If there's two lanes straight on, your ok to use the Rh lane. If there's only one, you should stay left. Unless markings or signs say otherwise. I have actually been pulled for this!

[PF62]

Many, many years ago there used to be a roundabout in Bristol that actually instructed you to do that - for those who might recall, it was at the end of the ‘fun’ flyover and there wasn’t sufficient distance between leaving the flyover and getting into the left hand lane to turn left at the roundabout.

[Terminator X]

cootuk said:

Articles today about, when your roundabout left turn is congested on a multiple entrance roundabout, if you can you swap to the right hand m then slingshot around, thus beating the queue.
I'm pretty sure I read of someone being prosecuted for doing this several years ago, on a minor charge when the roads were heavily congested. It might have been driving without due care and attention which includes reasonable behaviour towards other road users?

This is what i would do. Surprised if there is anything "against the law" about it.

TX.

[joropug]

I do it every day, although not to jump a queue - left lane is always congested with people going straight ahead, I need to turn left but it’s faster to do a loop instead of queuing.

[donkmeister]

Earthdweller said:

If you enter the roundabout from the right hand lane and then cut across traffic to the left and take the first exit then likely you have committed more than one offence

There's one I used regularly where all entries and exits are two lane DCs. Absolute throbbers would get in the right-hand lane then turn left, causing frequent near-misses and plenty of road rage both with cars going straight AND cars turning left (as a lot of the cars turning left needed lane 2 on the new road).

The council painted arrows on the road clarifying that the right lane was straight and right only, the problem abated for a while, then the throbbers started throbbing again.

I wonder if the council should "legitimise" turning left from the right lane there... Stops the near misses and also means the throbbers lose their little wheeze

[HocusPocus]

paintman said:

You forgot the sudden onset of a 'bowel urgency' as you started the right turn so were forced to resume your original heading.

That card already played by Fergie when stopped for driving down the motorway emergency lane many years ago.

[littleredrooster]

dundarach said:

It's a move for the s

You're not a are you

Only s do that

Don't be a

I do it where necessary as it's not against any law. I've done it for forty years and more. Ergo, I am a . How is your indigestion?

[Boosted LS1]

It's his head I'd be more concerned about.

[0ddball]

It's a scumbag move, hence you'll see plenty of it in the UK.