1)Any vehicle in the roundabout before you are has right of way, to go left, right, or straight ahead, from any lane.
2)Never pass or overtake a vehicle in a roundabout (see rule 1 for reason why)
3)Assume all other drivers are demented homicidal lunatics, and drive defensively.

Real simple. Vehicle on your left always has the right of way. Expect them to exit at anytime and give them space to do it. If you hit them you would be at fault.

If you look at the white lines in the round-abouts, the right lane will have a solid white line leading to a dotted line going into the double lane gate entrance. The dotted line means the car in the left lane has the right of way, because you are changing lanes by going straight. Those lanes are only at exits that have double lanes. Make sure you are in front of the car in the left lane when you cross over the dotted line and have your turn signal on. The best thing to do is if you are going straight is to drive in the left lane.

Not if both cars enter at the same time from 6. The car to your left is not supposed to exit at 3. He can exit at 12, 9, and 6 (if making a U turn).

Simply expect the vehicle in the inside lane to exit (cross in front of you in the outside lane) at any point. Therefore, never ride beside a vehicle on the inside lane. Stagger your car.

I use my right blinker to let people know I’m turning right, but I also make sure that I am either well forward of, or to the rear of anyone to my right. If in doubt, I go around again. The problem usually stems from someone entering immediately before my right exit. The blinker always seems to delay their entry.

No. 1 is completely wrong. A driver in the inside, No. 1 lane, is NOT allowed to turn out of the roundabout at his first exit. A driver in the inside, No. 1 lane can only turn out of the roundabout at his 2nd or 3rd exit.

No.'s 2 and 3 are advice to live by.

The whole thread is absolutely hilarious!
So far 297 different ways to navigate a roundabout.
Still waiting for the first, " I find it easier to go round clockwise!"

Even though you can, you are not supposed to drive around the circle. It can cause accidents.

Before coming to a roundabout, you need to get into the correct lane. Just like when you are approaching any intersection.

If you want to take the right side street exit, you must be in the right lane.

If you want to take the left side exit or make a u turn, you must be in the left lane.

If you are in the correct lane before approaching the roundabout, there is no need to drive in circles. If you are driving in circles, you run the risk of being hit.

That happens more than you think, we see it once a week. Reason, why would I go all the way around when I can just turn left quicker.:girlneener:

I have not seen anyone driving clockwise in the roundabouts. Thanks to you, I will expect it!

Is it really that much shorter than doing it correctly? I really don't see the point.

Believe that was meant to be a defense strategy: assume the other guy feels entitled to take the right of way and “don’t try to stop me!!”

The rule I use is Inside lane - be in front of the next car outside lane - be behind the next car....works like a charm

Sorry, but consider ALL traffic and then discover the problem with the driving diagrams and the faulty advice and criticism G.E. gives.

Let me demonstrate how cars crash.

Let's start with no other vehicles anywhere except for 2 cars arriving at a RAB. Each one wants to travel half way through the RAB and exit. Red car comes in at 6:00 and exits at 12:00. Blue car comes in at 3:00 and exits at 9:00.

Red car is in the left lane and they are the first car to enter RAB, and goes into the inner lane of the RAB. Starts going around. (driving diagrams show driving line allowing a "straight through" route)
Blue car arrives next, and sees red car, and waits until red car is passing. Blue enters the outer lane of the RAB. (driving diagrams show driving line allowing a "straight through" route)

At 12:00 spot, red car attempts to exit. Directly in front of path of blue car. Crash happens.

Both cars are following the routes shown on published diagrams for lane use.
Cars entered when lanes were 100% clear.
Neither car is next to each other.
Neither crossed any white lines.
Both cars followed every sign diagram.
Both cars followed every lane marking arrows.

Yet, they crash.
Those diagrams fail to account for traffic entering and exiting from all 4 roads. Blindly assuming that following those travel paths is foolish. That is the problem most people fail to comprehend.
This example is for just two cars. Expand that to a lot of cars, each person following their own version of what to do.

So never be next to another car. Always expect them to turn in front of your path and leave a lot of space to stop.
Oddly, that effectively reduces lane usage to one lane. Exactly the same thing I said by mandating outside lane must exit at the next road after they enter - no going to the second road. Only one lane is allowed to go past side roads. By forcing one lane, crash potentials are drastically reduced. Since the "expert" advice spaces cars into the equivalent of one lane, it's not going to slow anything down.

And once again, that is WRONG!!!! My advice is NOT faulty and my criticism of bad drivers is valid. Once again, this thread demonstrates that probably 1/2 of the drivers are clueless as to the proper method of navigating a RB, the post I'm responding to is a perfect example.

In the scenario he describes, the only way a crash happens at 12:00 is if the car entering the RB at 3:00 does not allow the car in the inner lane to pass far enough ahead, or enters and speeds around faster than the car in the inner lane. The fault is entirely upon the driver entering the RB at 3:00, NOT the design of the RB and NOT the car in the inner lane. Once again, this is not rocket science

And 285 ways are wrong. :22yikes:

Exactly.

You’re just adding to count. :pepper2:

Your point is correct, your comedians, not so much-----Abbott and Costello

No. 1 is completely RIGHT.

While a car in the left lane cannot leave at his first exit, you have no idea where the car entered the RB or what his first exit was. All you know is there is a car in the RB and it has the right of way to go left, straight, or right.

If two cars are traveling side by side but one reaches the RB a half second before the other, that is NOT what No. 1 is referring to. Those two cars entered at the same time, the half second faster car was not in the RB before you.

If you are the only car traveling towards a RB and you see a car already in the RB when you reach it, that car has the right of way and you must yield. If you cannot enter the RB before that car reaches you then you must wait for it to pass.

If that car happens to be in the inner/left lane of the RB it can exit towards you, it can continue straight and exit at what would be your first exit, or it can continue around to what you would call the second exit.

You are 100% correct. Now let's sit back and watch about 1/2 of the subsequent posters make a fool of themselves by contradicting that.

It’s possible you were in the wrong lane.
The Florida Drivers Handbook clearly shows with diagrams the lanes you should use and when.
It’s also possible that the other driver entered the roundabout too early. Again set out in the handbook.
Unless you were going straight over/thru the roundabout you should have been in the left lane.
I leave you to decide if that’s smart or safe.
Personally, seen too many accidents because people get this wrong.

The one thing I have learned is that a significant minority of drivers don’t know how to navigate roundabouts - and more importantly, they refuse to learn. There have been numerous explanations and several people have posted the Sumter County Board of County Commissioners guide to navigating roundabouts - and still a minority of people refuse to accept the rules.

After reading all of these posts, I recommend that everyone be extremely careful in roundabouts. At some point, you are going to be in a roundabout with someone who doesn’t know how to drive - but think they do!

Turns
 

When people finally realize you don’t make a right hand turn from the left lane! Wouldn’t do that on a regular road so not sure why people think they can do that on a round about! If you can’t get over then go around again and get in the proper lane to turn! The same for a left hand turn…can’t turn left from a right hand lane!

Huh? This is a Question and Answer format forum. I asked a question and 140 responses shows a wide interest in the subject matter. Why would you take time engage in this topic if it is of no interest to you- when your only motivation was to criticize everyone who considers it worthwhile?

So, Bill, it didn't take long---we have our first customer of the day.

So, when will people finally realize that you are not turning right from a left lane, you are exiting from an inner lane as per the correct procedure

Maybe the problem that people have trouble understanding is the analogy to a regular intersection explaining to enter from the left lane to go "left", the right lane to go "right" and either lane to go "straight". That's OK as a guide as to which lane to enter the RB, but the analogy ends there. The procedure for exiting a RB is different from a regular intersection, which has been pointed out 100x in this thread.

:1rotfl:

But, but I didn’t include “never change lanes”, which is repeated over & over.:wave:

:censored:, thanks for the correction.

And yet, as the previous posts show, there are those for which it will never sink in. The correct procedure has been laid out dozens of times in this thread alone, yet people go on posting wrong info. The lack of understanding of navigating the RBs is frightening just on the computer screen----the actions of these posters in the RBs are just plain dangerous

readership
 

Looks like at least a couple of them are. :-)

I was going to stay out of this, but I can no longer restrain myself. Everything about this post is wrong. Please go to the first sticky on roundabouts and study the PDF there.

This thread is one reason why car insurance is so high in Florida!

That pdf helped me out. I've not been down there much yet, but I was a bit confused. The rotaries here in MA don't usually have lanes. It's a free for all. :D

But the pdf explains it perfectly. Plus it explains why the exit for going straight has arrows from both the left and right lane (IIRC) in some roundabouts.

Kinda obvious you do not understand the definition of yield.

Definition: Allow other road users to GO FIRST.

In your scenario, if you understand a driver must yield, an accident would not happen.The driver would know a car needs to cross their path and they would slow down allowing them to do so.

The roundabouts in the villages are small. The blue car should not have entered the roundabout until the red car exited. It only takes a few seconds to YIELD!

Rule of a roundabout: Yield to other vehicles. If you believe this is incorrect, Please post any literature or video that states you do not have to yield in a roundabout.

One will see it further north, I find older drivers just find roundabout too confusing.

Yesterday while driving to VA clinic, watched someone make a left out of their street into the wrong lanes, instead of going down to roundabout.
Traveled wrong way, to light, then crossing over to correct lanes. Guesstimate that’s not the first time, won’t be the last.

Got that one beat:

About 2 months ago my wife and I were driving north on BV to go to a show at Savannah. The car ahead of us took the Rainey Trail bypass, as did I. At the merge back into BV, the car ahead came to a dead stop even though no one was coming, waited about 5 seconds, then proceeded to make a 150-degree left turn into the northbound lanes against traffic.

That being said, based on previous posts on this thread, someone will post that is the correct procedure :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

When we have visitors I always tell them not to stay next to another vehicle. A few years ago I was in the car with my daughter in law who was driving. So I tell her: “be careful in the circle, if you are right next to another vehicle they may cut you off to exit.” Well you guessed it…a truck towing a trailer cut off our car. Daughter in law says: “They can’t do that.” Ha…we just barely avoided getting hit.

Of course, while it should be clear after 157 posts, apparently not. No one "cut you off" (unless the truck entered with you from the left lane and tried to take the first exit.) Otherwise, either you illegally entered the RB when he was coming around, or you were illegally trying to take the third exit in the outer lane. YOU can't do that.

I look into my left rearview mirror and if I see some driver accelerating to get in front of me and exit - I simply hit the brakes and let them.