Mini roundabout - right of way

Phonesis said:
Bit harsh? I've acknowledged it as a lesson learnt. Just wondering what people here make of it. I am indeed learning from it...




rub it in :( I honestly believed I was robbed on my second test (major for undue hesitation which I questioned). This one was just bad luck and poor judgement by me.

In all honesty, I am not sure my instructor is that great any more but I was so nervous at first and he's brought me a long way. Just taken me ages to master roundabouts and it's partially due to his lack of guidance I think.
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If you're struggling with roundabouts then you need an instructor who will spend an hour chucking you through every roundabout possible until you're confident through them.

It sounds like you shouldn't book your 4th test until you have mastered roundabouts otherwise you'll go and have an accident on one..

How many lessons have you had?
 
pepsilol said:
If you're struggling with roundabouts then you need an instructor who will spend an hour chucking you through every roundabout possible until you're confident through them.

It sounds like you shouldn't book your 4th test until you have mastered roundabouts otherwise you'll go and have an accident on one..

How many lessons have you had?
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Probably around 30 or so now (starting about this time last year). To be fair to the instructor, I was a total bag of nerves for the first 10 or so but def just need to focus on roundabout observation basically. Got a double lesson in 2 weeks and the aim will be to focus on it. I think the lesson I have now learnt about mini roundabouts combined with a few more hours practice should hopefully be enough.

If I fail again though I will take a few months with a new instructor until I re book a test I think.
 
Keep learning OP. You will pass and you become a more confident and safer driver that the typical 17 year old who passes first attempt and does a mini gumball rally with his mates the next day. At least now you wouldn't cut through a mini roundabout as it's inconsiderate.
 
Weird things driving tests. One day, you'd pass, another fail, depending on other drivers and the mood of the examiner. I took my test on a Saturday morning. There's a longer waiting list, but statistically, you're more likely to pass.

I passed with a completely clean test, but was told I was lucky to do so by the examiner at the end. He asked me to turn right back into the test centre and I misunderstood, thinking we'd not finished the test. I stopped in time to turn, but came from the left lane of dual carriageway and stopped blocking both lanes, a gap appeared and I took it. All fine, but would have failed if a car behind me had to stop due to my road position.

I knew someone who failed because a bus crashed into her. So count yourself lucky ;)
 
The stuff about being statistically more likely to pass on x or y day is fluff. Either you're good enough or you're not. As for the above, you should have got a minor for lane discipline, at least. Examiner didn't do their job. Test isn't over until you return to the centre.
 
Right of way on mini-roundabouts is the same as for larger roundabouts. Being small though, the difference between "being on the roundabout" and waiting to be on it are very small, and the distances involved can put you into a crash situation very quickly.

The best advice is to make sure you know what people are doing, not try to make guesses on what you think they might do, or what their indicators say they are going to do. Most people do not know how to use indicators or roundabouts properly, so you need to make sure you have the space and time you need to get on it and go round it safely. You do need to be a bit confident and once you have your opening, get on and off quickly without messing about.

I personally prefer to slow down a car length or two early, you can look at what's going on, make sure you're in the right gear so you can pull onto and through the roundabout without bogging down or having to change gear in the middle of getting onto the roundabout, and then decide to go straight onto the roundabout or stop as necessary.

Also make sure you don't get distracted by looking at what's going on to your right, without checking what's in front of you before you drive onto the roundabout. My wife's been rear-ended twice now by people who assumed she was going onto a roundabout, when in fact she'd stopped. The driver(s) behind simply didn't look where they were going and barrelled onto the roundabout only to find there was a car stopped in front of them who hadn't done what they'd assumed.
 
MooMoo444 said:
The stuff about being statistically more likely to pass on x or y day is fluff. Either you're good enough or you're not. As for the above, you should have got a minor for lane discipline, at least. Examiner didn't do their job. Test isn't over until you return to the centre.
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It's not fluff, it's stats. Borne out over millions of tests.

I also took my test in an area 5 miles away from where I lived due to a significantly higher pass rate. Which is why I misunderstood "turn right" to mean turn right at the next junction, not into the test centre. I didn't really know the road that well to know that's where the centre was.

"Either you're good enough or not" is also statistically (generally) true, but is nonsense on an individual basis. Better drivers fail on tests. Poorer drivers pass. There's so many variables that are out of a driver's control on a test. Some of it is pure luck.
 
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Just wait until you hit a set of double mini roundabouts, they're a great example of people just closing their eyes and hoping!
 
Remember op. you are not learning to drive. you are learning how to pass the test.

but in all seriousness the guy that cut over the roundabout is indeed a turd. although i admit i have done it myself.

oddly enough there is one exactly the same up the road from me that the police loved to sit in at the doctors surgery and pull people for doing that. The council have removed the "blob". don't know if its a roundabout or what it is now.
 
Regardless of anything else, if you had to do an emergency stop then that in itself is a failure IIRC. It means you failed to anticipate the actions of other drivers around you
 
ci_newman said:
Regardless of anything else, if you had to do an emergency stop then that in itself is a failure IIRC. It means you failed to anticipate the actions of other drivers around you
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Nope. But if you have to do an emergency stop during your test then they wont ask you to do another.

What he failed on was the examiner taking control of the vehicle.
 
mattyg said:
Blah Double mini roundabouts. Try the magic roundabout in swindon

https://othmarstrombone.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/rotatoriamagica.jpg
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lol, that's actually double stupid. If they had filled in the middle like a proper roundabout it would be the same as this one in Colchester:

colch.png


Yet they have tried to make it easier to navigate and made it worse due to over-complication lol.
 
cheesyboy said:
I don't see that it makes a difference - if the guy opposite was indicating, you give way. Whether or not the guy navigates the roundabout correctly is irrelevant.
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This.

You approach all roundabouts prepared to cede right of way to traffic already on the roundabout.

Even if the "Turd" was indicating a left turn, if he/she was was already on the roundabout before the OP reached the roundabout, the OP should have been ready to give way and wait for the "Turd" to clear the roundabout.
 
ubersonic said:
lol, that's actually double stupid. If they had filled in the middle like a proper roundabout it would be the same as this one in Colchester:

colch.png


Yet they have tried to make it easier to navigate and made it worse due to over-complication lol.
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Why in the hell dont they just make it one big ass roundabout and have everyone turn left to get on as per normal.... :confused:
 
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