Advice on dealing with crazy roundabouts?

justinguitar

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A few days back I had to get around the Hogarth Roundabout in Chiswick... been there loads of times in a car and knew in advance to expect plenty of morons changing lanes fast and without indicating... but still found it pretty scary...

Roundabout without many cars don't bother me in the slightest, in fact they can be kinda fun...

I'm thinking particularly ones that are not familiar - you find yourself about to enter a washing machine of blind lemmings all charging about trying to get where they are going as fast as possible without consideration for other road users... arc de triomphe anyone??

Advice or tips on dealing with typical busy roundabouts?
 
No dark secrets - keep your head on a stalk, don't let anyone else get parallel to you - keep them on a diagonal either in front or behind you - and expect them to do something really stupid, at any time!

:)
 
Eyes on stalks, keep in the centre of your lane, watch for the 'pinch points', watch every other fecker ....or just shut your eyes and hope (like many drivers around you will be doing).
 
Drive to Swindon and do the magic roundabout. Drive home safe in the knowledge you have successfully (hopefully) negotiated the most confusing roundabout in the country and therefore all others are easy peasy :D
 
Drive to Swindon and do the magic roundabout. Drive home safe in the knowledge you have successfully (hopefully) negotiated the most confusing roundabout in the country and therefore all others are easy peasy :D


You should come and try the ones in Essex then...we have several :blast


Colchester:
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Sadler's farm near Basildon, currently 3x as bad because it's all having roadworks so it changes daily :eek:

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Salders+Farm+Roundabout&sll=51.567,0.544746&sspn=0.006162,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Salders+Farm+Roundabout,+SS13+2,+United+Kingdom&t=h&ll=51.566794,0.541978&spn=0.003201,0.006866&z=17&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" width="640"></iframe>
<small>View Larger Map</small>
 
Have you thought about doing some advanced training.

If you live in West London why don,t you have a look at the Middlesex advanced motorcyclists website .

www.middlesexam.org.uk

Our next course starts on March 28th and you can speak to Karen our membership secretary on 07961 586670

Cliff
 
Always have it in your head that on a big roundabout where the lanes are clearly marked for turning left or going straight on... the chances are the buffoon to your left in the straight on lane will be turning right ;)

Especially true with foreign HGV's :augie
 
Always have it in your head that on a big roundabout where the lanes are clearly marked for turning left or going straight on... the chances are the buffoon to your left in the straight on lane will be turning right ;)

Especially true with foreign HGV's :augie

Always assume that the guy in front will cut so close to the roundabout centre itself that you won't have any space there either, no matter which lane he starts out in.

Dealing with a busy roundabout actually starts well before you reach it....you need to dominate your space on the road so that all the cars in the area that could affect you KNOW you're there and respect your space.
This then carries on as you enter the roundabout and go round it.....you need to take control of your space, whilst also presuming that others will do stupid things.

It's hard to explain TBH, and there's a fine line between aggressive riding (bad) and assertive riding (good, and necessary) but you'll get that through experience.

You are on a bike bike with big road presence though, so you start off with some advantages.....it's the little things that you will end up doing subconsciously that will make the difference though....making sure you are in the mirror space of anything in front of you (IE making sure you keep out of the blind spots) , pulling into a space in a way that claims it as 'YOURS' without being aggressive, not allowing tempting gaps to appear that some chancer in a car will try and fill, making sure you are in a gear that allows you the best control and chance to accelerate out of trouble etc.


I don't think it's possible to write up a set of instructions to be honest, as every roundabout is different and every set of conditions when you arrive at the roundabout you've done a hundred times will be different, all you can do really is learn through experience, don't be scared of them and learn that all vehicles on the road have a form of 'body language', including your own bike, and you can read that body language instinctively once you've picked up on it.

Sometimes, you'll 'know' that a car is going to do something before it does it.......it's not precognition, its just that you have picked up on the body language of the car.....the way the driver is sitting, the way his head moves (is he watching mirrors etc) the way his wheels move, how steady he is on his line and how smoothly he brakes/accelerates, even what the car looks like (flat cap and cushions on the back shelf, plastic box with gold patterns containing tissues on the back shelf, three oiks smoking and jiggling boisterously around in the back seat etc etc etc)

I can't explain it, it does only come with experience, and although it does sound odd, I truly think that most vehicles have a form of body language that you can tune into and give yourself a headstart in dealing with them, if that makes sense :nenau
 
{serious mode on}
Some excellent advice here and knowing the posters - they DO know their subject. :thumb2
{serious mode off/}
... I can't explain it, it does only come with experience, and although it does sound odd, I truly think that most vehicles have a form of body language that you can tune into and give yourself a headstart in dealing with them, if that makes sense :nenau

This is very true.
Only last March i was following a Honda C90 and to begin with it went o.k.
but after a while i came to the conclusion the bloke on it was a Twat of the first order. :augie
 
Always have it in your head that on a big roundabout where the lanes are clearly marked for turning left or going straight on... the chances are the buffoon to your left in the straight on lane will be turning right ;)

Especially true with foreign HGV's :augie


:thumb The number of accidents I've been to where a vehicle in lane one has tried to take the third exit, and the vehicle in lane two has tried to take the second.

Never leave a roundabout from lane two without knowing 100% that the vehicle on your inside is exiting too .... :thumb2
 
:thumb The number of accidents I've been to where a vehicle in lane one has tried to take the third exit, and the vehicle in lane two has tried to take the second.

Never leave a roundabout from lane two without knowing 100% that the vehicle on your inside is exiting too .... :thumb2

And as you hang back to be sure that man in left is going left check your 6 as the impatient bastard behind will only be looking at his exit and won't even see you right in front of him!!!!!
 
You should come and try the ones in Essex then...we have several :blast


Sadler's farm near Basildon, currently 3x as bad because it's all having roadworks so it changes daily :eek:

<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Salders+Farm+Roundabout&sll=51.567,0.544746&sspn=0.006162,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Salders+Farm+Roundabout,+SS13+2,+United+Kingdom&t=h&ll=51.566794,0.541978&spn=0.003201,0.006866&z=17&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="480" scrolling="no" width="640"></iframe>
<small>View Larger Map</small>

Is that to keep all the Pikey people from moving back in?
 
Is that to keep all the Pikey people from moving back in?

Surprised that they aren't already in the middle. If one of them had an IQ over 80 they'd know that H&S would ensure that they couldn't be evicted onto such a lethal junction. Someone may get hurt.
 
No dark secrets - keep your head on a stalk, don't let anyone else get parallel to you - keep them on a diagonal either in front or behind you - and expect them to do something really stupid, at any time!

:)

Jeez...

That should be applied to any road/motorway!
 


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