Which Lane?

[RaulDuke]

Hi, I was always taught - left hand land for turning left at a roundabout. Simple enough. But my commute brings by across this roundabout daily which has got me questioning it a little.

As you approach this roundabout off the slip-road (heading in the direction of the blue arrow) there’s no signs or lane markings to tell you which lane to use.

You need to be going left ie: the first exit, but, the road immediately turns left and branches off, so to stay in the correct lane you have to force your way out the left hand lane and into the right hand lane as you exit.

So what is the proper procedure here?

Yellow - right hand all the way (there’s no signs or markings to the contrary)

Red - Left hand (which is more intuitive) but then you’re in the wrong way and have to force your way over the the right hand lane sharpish while people come zooming up behind you at close to NSL.

Thank you!

[col711]

I have looked at the junction on Google Maps and I would say that how you approach this junction depends whether you know the area.

I imagine strangers to the area would be in the left lane and would then have to move into lane 2. This could be awkward if there is a lot of traffic in that lane.

I expect drivers who know the area would choose lane 2. However, they would have to be mindful that someone may have left the A38 by mistake and will be going straight over the roundabout to rejoin the dual carriageway.

If there is a high demand to turn left at the traffic signals on the A61, lane 2 on the approach to the roundabout would be the better option imo.

[stogbandard]

Perhaps there should be lane direction markings on the slip approaching the roundabout to make this less ambiguous.