General Discussion
Is it just me? Coming into Dawlish from Exeter and going straight across (i.e. not into Sainsburys), I use the left hand lane. Some people insist on using the right hand lane and then glare at you when there isn't enough room for both to get round. There are no road markings on the lanes and I would've thought the right hand lane was only for turning right round and going back in Exeter direction. I await being shot down in flames by the right hand lane brigade.
Coming down from Exeter the road sign before the roundabout showes which lane you should be in.
Yes the road should have lane marking before the roundabout.
Have a look at the photo of the sign.
Is it not just common sense to use the right hand lane for straight across leaving the left hand for Sainsburys.
Maybe they thought about the new link round for the new housing it will then be a right turn for the new developments.
If you were taught to drive using the highway code you would know that unless clearly marked on the ground by arrows the left hand lane when approaching a roundabout is for traffic taking the first turn off, i.e Sainsbury's. One day you will find yourself up the inside of a 40 ft arctic being dragged along the footpath and realise why thats how it is. On that roundabout in question unless you drive a smart car its not wide enough to support two lanes of mixed traffic all the way around in any case.
A friend of mine is a motorcycle instructor and on this point he says when teaching look at a roundabout like a 12hr clock, any turn off between 12 and 6 you would normaly use the right hand land and from 6 to 12 the left unless lanes are marked other wise.
FredBassett is so right, if you do try and use the right hand lane you find you are at the wong angle to go around it. What DCC need to do is create a slip road like at Alphington Sainsbury's and put a bollard in a triangle to force vehicles into the correct position to actually use the roundabout safely, at present it is badly designed.
Rule 186 of the Highway Code is quite ambiguous when it comes to the scenario of going straight on at this roundabout (towards Dawlish). The problem is that theres no signage (roadside or on the road) to indicate which lane is the appropriate one. Merlins advice is what I always follow unless signage indicates otherwise.
The Highway code clearly says for the Sainsbury's roundabout turning left and straight ahead keep in the left lane. There is a video demonstration to show this. However, I do not think you would get 2 cars side by side going around our roundabout, or anything larger! So maybe the roundabout lanes need increasing for safety reasons.
http://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/news-and-safety-tips/-highway-code-for-roundabouts
Oh no .....you don't mean.........it couldn't possily be........that...........the Sainsbury's roundabout won't be of the correct size when (when!) that link road gets built and traffic will want to filter off from it onto said link road when coming from the Exeter direction.
I really can't see what is confusing people about this. From the Exeter direction there are 2 usual options - left into Sainsbury's approach road, or straight on towards Dawlish. So to turn left you would sit in the left hand lane, which then logically leaves you to sit in the right hand lane if you want to go straight on. Simple! And of course if you do want to go all the way round and back towards Exeter then again you would sit in the right hand lane. For those like the OP wanting to use 2 lanes around the roundabout and wondering why people give them looks about it, then look at the logic. The road from the roundabout towards Dawlish is only 1 lane so why would you go from the 1 lane all the way up to the roundabout from Exeter, then create 2 lanes around it, only to have to go straight back into 1 lane again after it? Doing that would make no sense at all.
The drivers who are confused are those that use the right hand lane to go straight on. As it stands, according to the Highway Code, that lanes only for those turning back on themselves to head back to Cofton.
I'm sorry but I don't agree. The Highway Codes gives clear rules for left turn, right turn and full circle. For intermediate turns which includes straight on in this case it states that unless signs or markings indicate otherwise then "select the appropriate lane on approach to and on the roundabout" and logically with only 2 exits from the roundabout then the left lane is the appropriate one for turning left and the right hand lane is the appropriate one for going straight on or full circle. In the same way that from the Dawlish direction TOWARDS Exeter you would do the right hand lane for Sainsbury's or full circle and the left hand lane for straight on. It's just common sense otherwise from the Exeter direction you'd just be leaving the right hand lane empty on the off chance that someone wants to go full circle around the roundabout.
I would think that non-locals and holiday-makers, plus through traffic just heading for 'Dawlish' at this roundabout, are not going to notice when they see the sign for the roundabout that there is no right turn off the roundabout, and would therefore use the left-hand lane to go straight on. You really shouldn't need expert local knowledge to make a snap decision on which lane to pick. I may take a pot of white paint down there and paint my own arrows on the road.
It is a sad fact these days, in this country, that unless there are while lines and arrows painted on the road telling motorists what to do then too many do not know what to do or which lane to use! But............worse than that, virtually nobody uses their indicators to let other motorists know their intentions. I have to say this is a particular feature of driving in the SW and one which drives me mad! Indicators are there to be used, not ornaments to be switched on once a year at Christmas!
I'm on a moan Sunday. Apologies. Another place that annoys me is driving down from the Leisure Centre. The amount of people that zoom down that road, don't pause at the junction, don't look and just carrying on zooming irregardless of whether there's a car coming round the corner. There's going to be a serious accident there, in fact I've already witnessed one old man causing an accident by not indicating and stopping when trying to turn into the Leisure Centre road and hitting another car coming around the corner.
Based on what DJ is saying then, if your travelling towards Exeter you could use the right hand lane and go straight on? That won't work.
Normally, if there are 2 lanes going into a roundabout and only one lane on each exit, there will be signage and arrows on the road to indicate the lane. There aren't any on this roundabout.
No HuwMatthew2, I didn't say that at all. In fact if you reread my post of 22 Oct at 23.04 you will see that I mention travelling TOWARDS Exeter and said left hand lane for straight on and right hand lane for turning into Sainsbury's or going full circle. So you may have misread that.
On Saturday I followed a Nissan Micra from Dawlish all the way to the large roundabout at the far end of the Exminster by-pass. The 3 lanes on that are very clearly marked on the road. I wanted to turn left towards Marsh Barton so sat behind the Micra in the left hand lane. There were other cars in the other two lanes indicating right towards Countess Wear. So despite all that and the signs and road markings, the Micra then turned right instead of left and nearly caused an accident as it tried to cut in to the other cars also turning right. So it just goes to show some drivers will just ignore it all anyway and just do their own thing.