Cyclists and roundabouts

[King Damager]

Ok, so question for all, hence I kept it out of Sports arena or Motors....

Friends and myself have been debating this....

If you're on a bike, going round a roundabout, you have two options it seems:

Stay on the outside of the roundabout all the way around, and risk getting hit as you go across an exit, and someone pulls into you, but with the benefit that cars can go inside you at their own pace
OR
Act as a car, and risk someone not letting you onto your exit as such.

kd

 

[King Damager]

There is no good and safe way TBH. No level of cycling competence could reduce the danger to nice levels. Even if you are an experienced cyclist I would recommend taking the pavement and crossings if available. Otherwise act like a car and communicate clearly. As a cyclist I ALWAYS hog the road and annoy drivers, as safety is more important than their journey time.

Major issue with 'hogging the road' as such makes people more likely to make stupid, rash decisions....

kd

 

[King Damager]

The biggest problem with roundabouts (multilane ones mainly, small ones are usually fine) is that signalling means taking one hand off the handlebar at a time when you really don't want to.

Exactly this. Only major accident I've had on my bike was on a roundabout. Acting as a car, I stuck my left hand out as I hit a slippery patch on the road (think it was oil, but didn't stick around to check) Bike just went from under me. Massively grazed my elbow. Trust me, being in the middle of a roundabout on the floor in front of an entrance, is not where you want to find yourself sprawled around a bike...

kd

 

[King Damager]

Dismount, wait for roundabout to be deserted then use the pavement.

Is there a problem with the above?

Yeah. If I waited for the roundabout to be deserted I'd be there all day...

I could use the pedestrian crossings, but they take ages...

kd

 

[King Damager]

I only have one roundabout on my cycle to and from work and after so many bad experiences of inconsiderate drivers I've decided to dismount and go through an underpass at the side.
I've only been cycling for about 3 months but it's made me realise what a bunch of ******* some drivers are.
Today I've had a woman overtake me and she was head on with another car so had to brake hard and she starts beeping at me, a driver turning left out of a road but didn't even look left towards me who is turning down the road he's coming out of so I had to swing out of his way and (the common one) a driver who just had to get past me to do an immediate left turn.

Yeah, this is what I'm thinking I might be doing... Only a five minute cycle into Uni, but five exits... So yeah, not the greatest roundabout. The road itself is manageable. There's a cycle oath for half the journey that I normally try and get on, but people seem to have made a habit out of smashing bottles over the pavement -.-

You can make the time back up by just riding through red lights.

Trolling is supposed to be subtle...

kd