Two-lane roundabout: who has right of way?

[NE2]

The blue guy is not using the roundabout correctly, but there are no signs at this one telling you which lane to use.

[vdeane]

Normally the striping would say which lane to use; maybe they're waiting for that other road to be finished to fix it.

[BrianP]

I hate multi-lane roundabouts because of this.  They should be illegal.  And I would say the red guy is wrong.  But that's just my opinion.  I think you can exit the roundabout from the inner lane here but you have to make sure that the outer lane is clear for you to make the move. 

[theline]

I don't see the problem. In the absence of striping or signage to clarify, the rules of the road apply.

The rotary part must be treated as a two-lane, one-way road. Each driver is entitled to his lane. When a driver wants to turn off, which is of course always a right turn, he should do so from the right lane. If he's in the left lane, he needs to yield to right-lane traffic when leaving his lane.

[DaBigE]

This is a prime example of why you do not use concentric circles to mark the circulatory roadway or do not stripe the circulatory roadway whatsoever. So many design flaws...path overlap, long tangents connecting approaches and exits, no truck apron...must have been the first multilane roundabout of someone's design career.

[agentsteel53]

The rotary part must be treated as a two-lane, one-way road. Each driver is entitled to his lane. When a driver wants to turn off, which is of course always a right turn, he should do so from the right lane. If he's in the left lane, he needs to yield to right-lane traffic when leaving his lane.

in the case of certain rotaries (roundabouts? traffic circles? who gives a shit) in one or two states, exiting traffic has the right of way, regardless of lane.

I think it's Rhode Island and maybe Massachusetts.

the blue guy might not be using the rotary in a manner which maximizes traffic throughput, but he isn't doing anything which is made illegal by any regulatory signage or striping.  the fact that one or two states have an obscure 1930s law on the books which contradicts every other law in the US with regard to right of way - namely, that staying within the stripes give you right of way, is one for the personal injury lawyers to be gleeful about... no one else benefits.

[agentsteel53]

the Dutch "turbo roundabout" solves most of these lane issues.  I think I've seen these in the US - Colorado comes to mind.



(I don't know why there are yield stripes on the exit splits... I think that may be a design error in the diagram.)

[agentsteel53]

here's a diagram of a well-striped roundabout. 



it eliminates the perceived "within the roundabout, traffic in right lane must yield to traffic in left lane".  no, it's actually "traffic in right lane must exit, otherwise he is swept into changing into the left lane, and thus must yield to traffic already within the left lane".

[1995hoo]

In some jurisdictions neither driver "has" the right of way and instead it's a question of who is required to yield the right of way.

Hypertechnical distinction, I know.

[agentsteel53]

In some jurisdictions neither driver "has" the right of way and instead it's a question of who is required to yield the right of way.

Hypertechnical distinction, I know.

and essentially meaningless, no?  one driver "has", the other is "required to yield". 

I don't think there is any legitimate situation where both drivers are "required to yield" (deadlock), or when both drivers "have" (disaster).

[theline]

This is a prime example of why you do not use concentric circles to mark the circulatory roadway or do not stripe the circulatory roadway whatsoever. So many design flaws...path overlap, long tangents connecting approaches and exits, no truck apron...must have been the first multilane roundabout of someone's design career.

Here's one near the Notre Dame campus with lane markings. It works pretty well: http://goo.gl/maps/vXn4D. There are also guide signs on the approaches: http://goo.gl/maps/ZzSO8.

[agentsteel53]

Here's one near the Notre Dame campus with lane markings. It works pretty well: http://goo.gl/maps/vXn4D. There are also guide signs on the approaches: http://goo.gl/maps/ZzSO8.

now that's fun.  at 45 degree view, there are lane markings.  at straight overhead view, there are not.  the overhead must be older, and they realized that it was a problem to not stripe the lanes as a "turbine".

[NE2]

I don't see the problem. In the absence of striping or signage to clarify, the rules of the road apply.

The rotary part must be treated as a two-lane, one-way road. Each driver is entitled to his lane. When a driver wants to turn off, which is of course always a right turn, he should do so from the right lane. If he's in the left lane, he needs to yield to right-lane traffic when leaving his lane.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/safety/roundabouts/#multi

[agentsteel53]

I don't see the problem. In the absence of striping or signage to clarify, the rules of the road apply.

The rotary part must be treated as a two-lane, one-way road. Each driver is entitled to his lane. When a driver wants to turn off, which is of course always a right turn, he should do so from the right lane. If he's in the left lane, he needs to yield to right-lane traffic when leaving his lane.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/safety/roundabouts/#multi

the diagram shows a roundabout in need of some explicit turbine striping.

I think Mister Line has a very valid point - mis-striping a roundabout seems to be giving rise to contradictory laws.  don't all states have a law on the books that staying in one's lane gives one right of way, and those who change lanes (i.e. cross a set of stripes) have to yield?

[kj3400]

The Dutch got it right with their turboroundabouts:



No question whatsoever about what lane goes where.

Edit: and now I see they were already mentioned. Oh well.

[jeffandnicole]

Using the original example, both are incorrect. If everyone followed the red line, then what use is the outer lane? If everyone followed the blue line, what use is the inner lane? I'd say the red line's path is especially dangerous, because it would either force cutting off vehicles in the right lane, or holding up continuing traffic in the left lane while they wait to exit.

I've seen pamphlets in the Villages, FL, a large retirement community which uses a lot of dual lane roundabouts.  The pamphlets start by stating the rules have changed from whatever they were previously. Even then, the roundabouts will have varying lane designations, based on the flow of traffic.

[agentsteel53]

The Dutch got it right with their turboroundabouts:

indeed.  generally speaking, a two-lane roundabout should be striped so that for every rotation (from one intersecting road to the next), the lanes "sweep right" one.  so that the left lane is given the option to exit unimpeded, and the right lane is a forced exit.  therefore, anyone rotating along in the right lane would have his conflict explicitly marked, and - as mentioned before - it would not be a "yield to traffic on left (very odd)" as much as a "change lanes as usual, or exit as usual".

my intuition is, for lane quantities greater than two, a sweep right of exactly one per rotation is sufficient.  this as opposed to a "sweep two" for three lanes, a "sweep three" for four, etc.

but I am currently too lazy to draw this out. 

again, I think any roundabout which is legally defined as a "turbine", but is striped as concentric (i.e. Rhode Island), benefits only the ambulance chasers.

[johndoe]

This is a prime example of why you do not use concentric circles to mark the circulatory roadway or do not stripe the circulatory roadway whatsoever. So many design flaws...path overlap, long tangents connecting approaches and exits, no truck apron...must have been the first multilane roundabout of someone's design career.

Spoken like someone who has designed a few in his day?   

(I don't know why there are yield stripes on the exit splits... I think that may be a design error in the diagram.)

I'm guessing those aren't yielding indications, they're puppy tracks (guiding drivers around).  That isn't how the US typically stripes exits, as far as I know.

A bunch of examples can be found here (my computer is going really slow but if I remember right there are many lane variations in the back):
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_672.pdf

P.S.  Where is this (originally posted) roundabout?

[NE2]

Using the original example, both are incorrect. If everyone followed the red line, then what use is the outer lane?

Going straight... (which can also be done from the left lane if the entrance and exit are both two lanes)

P.S.  Where is this (originally posted) roundabout?

West of Orlando in a new development called Horizon West. The red path will soon become the main route for Disney workers to reach the area north of the Magic Kingdom from the southeast.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=28.444129,-81.55956&spn=0.006084,0.008256&gl=us&t=k&z=18

[Alps]

When I navigate the Bear Mountain Bridge roundabout (2 lanes), I take whichever approach lane has a shorter queue, enter the roundabout, and then figure out where I fit between vehicles in the right lane if I happen to have ended up on the left.

[Kacie Jane]

I don't see the problem. In the absence of striping or signage to clarify, the rules of the road apply.

The rotary part must be treated as a two-lane, one-way road. Each driver is entitled to his lane. When a driver wants to turn off, which is of course always a right turn, he should do so from the right lane. If he's in the left lane, he needs to yield to right-lane traffic when leaving his lane.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/safety/roundabouts/#multi

And that page gives the answer, at least here in Washington.  The answer isn't red or blue, it's whoever arrived at the roundabout first.

[NE2]

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/safety/roundabouts/#multi

And that page gives the answer, at least here in Washington.  The answer isn't red or blue, it's whoever arrived at the roundabout first.

Huh? So when you enter a roundabout, you need to keep track of all the vehicles already in it, in case one of them decides to cut you off? Where is this written on the WSDOT page (which says blue is not the correct way to turn left)?

[johndoe]

This is a very bad roundabout to use as an example for those familiarizing themselves with roundabout rules     Check out the previous link I posted for many logical lane configurations.  Remember...no lane changes within circulating roadway should occur!

I think another funny situation in the original roundabout is if you wanted to make a left from the main road...

You're "better off" doing so from the right lane (assuming no one is going to proceed through in the left lane)!   

[DaBigE]

This is a prime example of why you do not use concentric circles to mark the circulatory roadway or do not stripe the circulatory roadway whatsoever. So many design flaws...path overlap, long tangents connecting approaches and exits, no truck apron...must have been the first multilane roundabout of someone's design career.

Spoken like someone who has designed a few in his day?   

I've had my hands in a couple dozen now...basic 1x1 single-laners to 2x3 multilaners, some with spirals and partial &/or full right turn bypass lanes.

Base on this image alone, it should have been designed as a 1x2 (one lane circulating in front of the NW/SE approaches; two lanes circulating in front of the SW approach and empty NE side) + truck apron. Something very similar to this one: http://goo.gl/maps/23VcB

[KEK Inc.]

Vancouver, WA, has a really well marked roundabout.

http://goo.gl/maps/sbq9v