The Student Room Group

Large roundabouts (Especially in bigger cities like London)

So I've been driving now for around half a year quite regularly though and I feel pretty confident with most things. The one thing I am still struggling with though however is Large Roundabouts. My town is quite small so there aren't many of these here so I'm able to avoid them usually and when I go past them on the motorway they tend to be not too full so it's usually not too bad if I end up in the wrong lane or make a little mistake. However, I have some family in London so I want to be able to drive up there more frequently. The only problem is it seems to be full of these larger multi lane roundabouts and I have no idea how to navigate. Ik ofcourse they tell you to just follow your lane towards your exit, however, I always struggle to figure out which lane I should be in. My satnav will usually only tell me the name of the exit I need to take but the road markings tend to tell me the name. Of the road and usually they're quite worn out aswell. So I usually end up getting in the wrong lane and either having to quickly switch or take the wrong exit. Does anyone have any advice for me to know quickly which lane to be in when using a large multi lane roundabout, perhaps without relying on too many road markinga if they're worn out. Thanks
Reply 1
Original post by gggggg4
So I've been driving now for around half a year quite regularly though and I feel pretty confident with most things. The one thing I am still struggling with though however is Large Roundabouts. My town is quite small so there aren't many of these here so I'm able to avoid them usually and when I go past them on the motorway they tend to be not too full so it's usually not too bad if I end up in the wrong lane or make a little mistake. However, I have some family in London so I want to be able to drive up there more frequently. The only problem is it seems to be full of these larger multi lane roundabouts and I have no idea how to navigate. Ik ofcourse they tell you to just follow your lane towards your exit, however, I always struggle to figure out which lane I should be in. My satnav will usually only tell me the name of the exit I need to take but the road markings tend to tell me the name. Of the road and usually they're quite worn out aswell. So I usually end up getting in the wrong lane and either having to quickly switch or take the wrong exit. Does anyone have any advice for me to know quickly which lane to be in when using a large multi lane roundabout, perhaps without relying on too many road markinga if they're worn out. Thanks

Don’t think about it too much, just follow the road markings and signs saying which lane to be in, it doesn’t matter if you have to change lane halfway through, so long as it’s safe.
Reply 2
I don’t think there’s an answer for this. I have to drive from Uxbridge to Ealing occasionally and encounter lots of large weird shaped ‘roundabouts’ while surrounded by aggressive fast paced drivers with local knowledge. The signage, road markings and sat nav as you say only give an indication and are fall from foolproof. All I can suggest is to stay calm (not always easy), try to keep good all round observation so you know if you can change lane at any time and accept that from time to time you’re going to end up filtered the wrong way, this is not a disaster. Also local knowledge and familiarity if you can build it up really does help.
Reply 3
As others have said don't overthink it. If you are struggling to read the road and figure out the right lane it could be a case of you not paying proper attention while on approach. Especially if you get right to the line and go "oh **** where do I go?"



It's okay to switch lanes as long as you do so safely (i.e: have room to do so, signal and do so without getting in other people's way)



If anything, if you end up in the right hand lane you can always just go back round on yourself and fix your mistake

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