Large Roundabout such as Ringroads

Rulebritania

Like many other towns Basingstoke has some large roundabouts on dual carraigeways, now getting on them I position myself like a car would in the correct lane according to the road markings. The problem I have is exiting them at second, third or forth exit. As these are usually fast roads I find even when hand signals are used I end up cringing at what the drivers think I'm doing and cut up on the inside when I'm exiting. I've even tried going all the round the outside lane which is worse for those who are exiting when I go across their path. The correct way is the first but I'm still at a loss as to which method is best?

Monty Dog

I avoid Basingstoke precisely for this reason but have ended up on the ringroad a few times in my haste to get home. You're right about taking prime position in the correct lane as though you were driving - consider it to be a good interval training session!

adr82

I never stay on the left unless I'm either taking the first exit or the road markings indicate that the left lane is appropriate for whatever exit I'm taking. I feel that the risk of someone cutting across in front of you as you pass an exit is way too high to stay on the left. I get into the middle of the correct lane, use hand signals and try to remain aware of the position of the traffic behind me in case someone does something stupid. There's not a lot else you can do - if you've not been riding through these roundabouts for long you'll probably find it does get a bit easier over time though.

tiredofwhiners

Monty Dog wrote:

I avoid Basingstoke precisely for this reason but have ended up on the ringroad a few times in my haste to get home. You're right about taking prime position in the correct lane as though you were driving - consider it to be a good interval training session!

I too avoid Basingstoke roundabouts. There are alternatives either side of the big ones which might involve a slightly more circuitous route, but are much safer.

pardonthewait

I try to act just as I would in a car and go absolutely as fast as I possibly can and try to 'fit in' with the rest of traffic, as I find it eases the problem of people just not knowing what to do with a cyclist on a roundabout.

There's only a couple of really big roundabouts that I have to go over around here but they are quite big and are at an intersection of roads of varying but generally NSL speed limits so I just have at it.