Roundabouts

[Pip in a Poke]

Most people disagree but I loathe the darn things.

I ride a motorcycle. It's a full dresser meaning not only do I have to be wary of the normal attendant hazards of roundabouts, such as patches of spilled oil but also the laws of physics vis a vis the dimensions of my bike and the tightness of the curve I have to negotiate in order to get across the roundabout.

You see, it's very heavy & when I'm in the inside lane to turn right and the traffic is chugging along at a snail's pace, the bike has a sudden desire to fall over & foot has to swiftly meet tarmac (sometimes painfully) to prevent this from happening.

There's one roundabout where the lane I'm in suddenly splits into 2 half way across & I always get a brief panic attack wondering whether the 20 ton artic in my blind spot is going to cut me enough slack to let me cross into the other lane or will I disappear under his wheels.

As for mini roundabouts, the work of the devil in my opinion no matter what mode of transport I'm using.

You see, when a car coming from the opposite direction wants to turn right on one of these stupid things, it just doesn't register with my brain that he has right of way because ostensibly he's cutting right across my path. Even though there's a poxy white circle in the road.

What about you - love 'em or loathe 'em?

[xoggoth]

I gave up motorcycling after 2 minor accidents in a short space of time. I was fine turning left but lost my confidence turning right, made things a bit difficult. Maybe they should have a different system, two lanes on each roundabout so you can go clockwise on the inner lane and anti-clockwise on the outer lane. Make it easy for foreign drivers too.

[xoggoth]

You see, it's very heavy

Gradually worked my way up from a moped to a 450. Moped handling was awful, 450 started to be a bit heavy. Best was 100cc, very light, adequate speed and fantastic handling, you could sling it around and never fall off.

[Pip in a Poke]

I gave up motorcycling after 2 minor accidents in a short space of time. I was fine turning left but lost my confidence turning right, made things a bit difficult. Maybe they should have a different system, two lanes on each roundabout so you can go clockwise on the inner lane and anti-clockwise on the outer lane. Make it easy for foreign drivers too.

again, turning right on a roundabout means you start off in the inner lane & at some point you have to change lanes in order to exit.

You're depending on other people's lane discipline here. Yes, I always throw a quick look over my shoulder but with some of the performance cars people drive these day, a blip on the accelerator from an impatient driver in a Beemer & it all happens in a split second.

And believe me, on the A4174 there's drivers like that aplenty.

[VectraMan]

I had a 125, then a 250, then a 500cc in my yoof. Can't say I ever needed to use my foot to keep myself upright. It's one of those things I'm glad that I experienced, but also happy to never do again.

I always give lorries a wide berth at roundabouts even in my nice safe car. But I still have loads of near misses with the people that don't understand the concept of lanes and try to straight line it, or for that matter the use-the-left-lane-to-turn-right-without-indicating brigade.

[ladymuck]

.... use-the-left-lane-to-turn-right-without-indicating brigade.

That is my biggest bug bear. I hate that with a passion. I tend to drift over wide when coming to my exit to cut those ******* off, while making sure I maintain decent lane discipline.

[I just need to test it]

When I first lived in the USA their four-way stops used to exasperate me, but over time I saw the advantages of them (at least during busy periods).

[WTFH]

You see, it's very heavy & when I'm in the inside lane to turn right and the traffic is chugging along at a snail's pace, the bike has a sudden desire to fall over & foot has to swiftly meet tarmac (sometimes painfully) to prevent this from happening.

Maybe you need one of these:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2...ycle-ces-2017/

[Paddy]

Most people disagree but I loathe the darn things.

I ride a motorcycle. It's a full dresser meaning not only do I have to be wary of the normal attendant hazards of roundabouts, such as patches of spilled oil but also the laws of physics vis a vis the dimensions of my bike and the tightness of the curve I have to negotiate in order to get across the roundabout.

You see, it's very heavy & when I'm in the inside lane to turn right and the traffic is chugging along at a snail's pace, the bike has a sudden desire to fall over & foot has to swiftly meet tarmac (sometimes painfully) to prevent this from happening.

There's one roundabout where the lane I'm in suddenly splits into 2 half way across & I always get a brief panic attack wondering whether the 20 ton artic in my blind spot is going to cut me enough slack to let me cross into the other lane or will I disappear under his wheels.

As for mini roundabouts, the work of the devil in my opinion no matter what mode of transport I'm using.

You see, when a car coming from the opposite direction wants to turn right on one of these stupid things, it just doesn't register with my brain that he has right of way because ostensibly he's cutting right across my path. Even though there's a poxy white circle in the road.

What about you - love 'em or loathe 'em?

I never ever get along side with an artic on a roundabout. I have seen too many accidents caused by them crossing lanes.

[vetran]

Maybe you need to ride a bike that you can control?