The few, the brave - those of us taking driving lessons right now!

I feel the bile rise in my gorge when I hear about flighty young things passing their tests...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrr.
I know what you mean about learning to pass the damn test and driving to know how to drive reasonably safely in the UK. *&%^%~@** (you may quote me on that!) 

Midnight, that makes very good sense to me.  I think if I didn't have to worry about changing lanes it would reduce my panic too.  Except for the roundabouts where you can't start in the left lane (because it exits immediately), probably it would work fine.  As long as the examiner doesn't fail you for choosing the 'wrong' lane then it might work for me too.  Definitely I feel safer sticking to the left lane even if there are cars in the right lanes.  I'm ok starting in the right or center lanes on roundabouts with traffic lights.  There it's just keeping to the lane markings.  I think I may just find out which roundabouts restrict the left lane to the first exit so I know ahead of time where I can't get away with starting out in the left lane.   

You might "feel" safer keeping in the left hand lane even if you're taking an exit to your right. But assuredly you won't be safer, and just as assuredly it's likely to cause you to fail the test. Even on roundabouts where lanes don't disappear at an exit, there is usually - and deliberately - a break in the lane markings where people can and do change lanes. Sooner or later your strategy will lead to a potential accident because its not what other drivers are expecting and its not what the highway code tells you to do. From the highway code:

When taking the last exit or going full circle

- signal right and approach in the right-hand lane
- keep to the right on the roundabout until you need to change lanes to exit the roundabout
- signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want.

There are some nice pretty pictures explaing all this as well.

Well, I decided to pull the plug.  Just can't overcome the stress/anxiety/panic when in busy roundabouts or heavy fast moving traffic in general.  I've given it as much of a try as I'm capable of and realize I just am never going to want to drive here, even if I get my license.  I'm retired, have a bus pass and enjoy public transportation (catch up with my New Yorkers).  When I got pains up and down my arms last time out which lasted even into the next day, I figured nothing's worth this.  So, I'm at peace with my decision.  I can still drive in the US (and everywhere else in the world).  Now my very patient husband and I can have a stress free life.   YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

Best of good luck to all the rest of the few and still brave who soldier on.  Thanks for all your support and good advice.

Cheerio,
Nancy

You might "feel" safer keeping in the left hand lane even if you're taking an exit to your right. But assuredly you won't be safer, and just as assuredly it's likely to cause you to fail the test. Even on roundabouts where lanes don't disappear at an exit, there is usually - and deliberately - a break in the lane markings where people can and do change lanes. Sooner or later your strategy will lead to a potential accident because its not what other drivers are expecting and its not what the highway code tells you to do. From the highway code:

When taking the last exit or going full circle

- signal right and approach in the right-hand lane
- keep to the right on the roundabout until you need to change lanes to exit the roundabout
- signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want.

There are some nice pretty pictures explaing all this as well.

No argument from me, this is indeed exactly what the Highway Code instructs, as do driving instructors, and in theory I can agree it would be the correct thing to do.

But in practice --- it can be confusion and hell because in my observation, now that I've been negotiating very large and busy roundabouts by myself "my way," so many other drivers, like me, are not in fact doing this either, and we all seem to get by with no consequences. I've now built more experience with roundabouts since my test than I received before my test, and things have been smoother using the way I've adopted than the way the venerable highway code dictates. In practice, that lane changing necessary from the inside right lane to the outside left lane can sometimes be more hair-raisingly and ridulously dangerous than trying to take a middle lane and then make your change part way around the roundabout.

But it all depends on the roundabout and each one is different (another thing that complicates the whole thing for those of us unused to them in general).

By no means do I treat every roundabout the same or stubbornly stick to my left lane like a lunatic -- I size up what's going on if there are multiple lanes, I observe any signage ahead of time that tells me the lay of the land and the lanes in my options, and I make a compromise between the possibilities that feel the sfest for me depending on how busy or aggressive the traffic is.

A roundabout filled with aggression and people who won't let you even change your lane has to be dealt with in a manner that may have to bend some rules, and sometimes that IS a safer option than the text book option. (EDIT: applying that to "real life" driving and not the test, naturally.)

A roundabout filled with aggression and people who won't let you even change your lane has to be dealt with in a manner that may have to bend some rules, and sometimes that IS a safer option than the text book option.

This becomes pretty clear when you're confronted with a large multi-lane roundabout like the Hardwick Roundabout (now replaced) or the South Mimms roundabout with a confusing array of multiple lanes and markings.  Even when you become familiar with them it can be difficult to follow the suggested lane markings for which exit you require while simultaneously trying to switch lanes and watch for other cars and the traffic lights which are located on the circle.   Somebody approaching one of those roundabouts for the first time doesn't have a hope of following the suggested lanes all the way around.

One other thing I would clarify though is that the Highway Code's description of which lanes to use on a roundabout are merely suggestions; they are not mandatory rules.

Well, I decided to pull the plug.  Just can't overcome the stress/anxiety/panic when in busy roundabouts or heavy fast moving traffic in general.  I've given it as much of a try as I'm capable of and realize I just am never going to want to drive here, even if I get my license.  I'm retired, have a bus pass and enjoy public transportation (catch up with my New Yorkers).  When I got pains up and down my arms last time out which lasted even into the next day, I figured nothing's worth this.  So, I'm at peace with my decision.  I can still drive in the US (and everywhere else in the world).  Now my very patient husband and I can have a stress free life.   YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

Best of good luck to all the rest of the few and still brave who soldier on.  Thanks for all your support and good advice.

Cheerio,
Nancy

Ahh Nancy -- I can totally understand your decision and respect it  -- good for you!

The attempt to switch to driving over here and to get one's mitts on that diabolical holy grail that is the UK licence is certainly no picnic, and for some of us it is indeed just not worth the time, money, stress and mind-freak.

I'm taking a break but I know I'll probably be trying again at some point.......ugh. :\\\'(

Very best wishes to you, and I envy you the joy and peace there certainly is in making a decision to just leave the infernal process well alone, lol!!

NHow, as long as you're happy & comfortable with that decision! 

I've been away on holiday so haven't had a lesson for a couple of weeks - next one is Friday the 24th.  I'm glad we don't have really any too-crazy roundabouts up here whereabouts I'll be taking my test - hooray for the north! 

NHow, as long as you're happy & comfortable with that decision!  

I've been away on holiday so haven't had a lesson for a couple of weeks - next one is Friday the 24th.  I'm glad we don't have really any too-crazy roundabouts up here whereabouts I'll be taking my test - hooray for the north!  

Mrs Robinson, I'm on the next train up to yours to take my test!!! (Not really, but then again.....!!)

Seriously I did say to my instructor something along the lines of dammit I want to take a test in a spot that happens to have either NO roundabouts or just the mini-ones, so that there is no way I can get in the same trouble again on my test.

He of course chided me that realistically I just need to deal with it and retest again, wherever, roundabouts or no roundabouts -- and I know of course that's true. The test areas are even figured out to include as many of all the given challenges as possible, so that theoretically there will always be one no matter where one tests, and he told me that too.

But I still fantasize about my idea of feverishly seeking out the "easiest" goddamn test area in the United Kingdom if I have to....

PS -- wow you have a Christina Rossetti poem in your sig -- she's very significant to me, as my father's mother, who died long before I was born, was a devotee of her work, and one of the few things I have that belonged to her and in turn my late father, is a "complete works" published in I think 1900, and I treasure it.

Hugs to you Midnight and Mrs R and best of good luck on your day.

N

One other thing I would clarify though is that the Highway Code's description of which lanes to use on a roundabout are merely suggestions; they are not mandatory rules.

That's true, but they are a "code" that a large majority of drivers usually follow. This is the most important thing here imo: you are obviously sharing the road with fellow drivers, and safe driving includes avoiding doing things that are unpredictable or unexpected to those drivers. Using the left lane to take on exit to your right is not an expected action in the UK, and it's one that will get you in trouble sooner or later imo (as well as likely failing one's test as others have mentioned). A contrary example is that if I drove US freeways and rotaries in a manner that I feel is a safe way to do so, I know that my chances of being in an accident would multiply considerably. So I drive them in the manner that fellow drivers expect them to be driven. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, I guess...

That's true, but they are a "code" that a large majority of drivers usually follow. This is the most important thing here imo: you are obviously sharing the road with fellow drivers, and safe driving includes avoiding doing things that are unpredictable or unexpected to those drivers. Using the left lane to take on exit to your right is not an expected action in the UK, and it's one that will get you in trouble sooner or later imo (as well as likely failing one's test as others have mentioned). A contrary example is that if I drove US freeways and rotaries in a manner that I feel is a safe way to do so, I know that my chances of being in an accident would multiply considerably. So I drive them in the manner that fellow drivers expect them to be driven. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, I guess...

Okay, first of all, when you say "Using the left lane to take an exit to your right" -- you make that sound like a regular junction, in which case it would be complete madness.

But we're talking about very, very large roundabouts, in which your "right turn" is not a straighforward one, like driving at 90 degrees across a normal four way junction, but instead is going to actually become quite literally a left turn by the time you have entered the roundabout, driven all the way around it, and need to be in actually the left lane OF the roundabout by the time you are right next to your turn.....which you then turn left on.....

We're talking about a giant merry go round, not a regular right turn in which you can only be in the right lane to take it without an accident.

On a large roundabout with multiple lanes and even traffic light on it at several intervals, unless a left lane does indeed abort very quickly into it's own dedicated exit, as long as it or a middle lane goes all the way around, there IS NO danger of that confusing other drivers because ---- they're usually on that lane too, doing exactly what you're doing.

Sorry, but in my personal observation very complicated roundabouts usually have everyone just doing their best and the Highway Code is not exactly spread out on everyone's knees, being read religiously in real life situations like this.

I wound up dealing with THREE of these doozies for weeks on end, for what must have been dozens of times by now, and I'm glad to inform you, I never caused one moment of confusion to other drivers. I learned which lanes are good to go for all purposes and I used them. And none of them happened to be the right hand lane.

I've been driving for twenty years in the US and I'm not in the habit of continuing with anything I quickly learn is a dumb move, no matter which country.

But we're talking about very, very large roundabouts, in which your "right turn" is not a straighforward one, like driving at 90 degrees across a normal four way junction, but instead is going to actually become quite literally a left turn by the time you have entered the roundabout, driven all the way around it, and need to be in actually the left lane OF the roundabout by the time you are right next to your turn.....which you then turn left on.....

By this kind of "logic" all lanes bar the leftmost are superflous, because by definition every exit from a roundabout is on the left. I guess the other lanes in a roundabout are merely for people who wish to go round in circles in perpetuity.

On a large roundabout with multiple lanes and even traffic light on it at several intervals, unless a left lane does indeed abort very quickly into it's own dedicated exit, as long as it or a middle lane goes all the way around, there IS NO danger of that confusing other drivers because ---- they're usually on that lane too, doing exactly what you're doing.

There is a danger because this is contrary to what the highway code advises you to do and contrary to what most other drivers in actuality do. And what about roundabouts you are unfamiliar with? You're certainly not going to know that that left lane doesn't disappear under your nose into an exit. As for roundabouts controlled with lights, they usually have a multitude of exits and usually have road markings indicating which lane is to be used for which exit. And those markings almost certainly won't indicate the left most lane is to be used for an exit to the right of where you enter (until you get in the vicinity of the exit prior to your exit).

Sorry, but in my personal observation very complicated roundabouts usually have everyone just doing their best and the Highway Code is not exactly spread out on everyone's knees, being read religiously in real life situations like this.

Funnily enough, most drivers are familiar with the code's more significant provisions without having to carry it around with them.

Sorry, but in my personal observation very complicated roundabouts usually have everyone just doing their best

I would agree.  Drivers who are familiar with the roundabout in question might be able to follow the suggested route through that giant merry-go-round because they're prepared for which lane is marked for which direction at any given point.  But anyone approaching the roundabout for the first time doesn't have a hope of being in the "correct" lane all the way around, because he has no prior knowledge of the layout.   

The approach signs on these larger roundabouts might give time to be in the suggested lane upon entering the roundabout, but once you are on the circle trying to dodge other traffic and watch the lane markings, it becomes very difficult.  In some cases by the time you've managed to pull left into a lane nearer the outside you're approaching another stop light, only to realize that "your" lane has already moved another position to the left, and there's now a line of cars stopped in that lane which will delay your move when the light turns green.    There are occasions when it's simply impossible to get over in time, and the only option is to miss your exit and go around again.

Many British roundabouts are simply very badly designed, trying to cram far too many lane changes into a short space of circular road. 

On the other hand, you could just go to some testing centre in some remote Scottish town where they have no roundabouts and no traffic, and doubtless you'd pass on the first try. There must be such a place.

Oh, there are, and I myself (a British person) demonstrated nearly 20 years ago that it was far easier to pass in this kind of place than a busy large town.  But you still need to learn to drive a manual car on British roads.  If you don't look in the right directions when reversing round a corner, or you overshoot a give way line on the quietest narrowest street around because you didn't know there was going to be a give way line there, you're going to fail (yes, I'm talking about real things that happened to an American in a small Scottish town, but could just as easily happen to a British person).  The UK test is not very easy to pass, it's expensive to take lessons, and expensive to take a test.  But you just have to, or take the bus, or a taxi.  I think between 1/4 and 1/3 of all households in our county (former county) don't have regular access to a car.

Well, we "did" roundabouts AND reversing around a corner. And they both went great. Phew. So, now to practice on my own! (That had to be delayed slightly as the rear-view mirror FELL OFF the car we're borrowing, so DH had to stick it back on).
I must say, the more I learn, the better I feel. It helps that I've always LIKED driving--so a bit of that is coming back now that the terror is fading.  I'm still not a fan of "meeting situations" or, really, some of the Manchester test routes, but I'm not despairing anymore.

Yesterday, while I was practicing my "many point turn" w/ the instructor, there was another BSM car on the same road reversing around the corner (I think)-- the other student gave me a thumbs up when I finished and I almost leaped out of the car to ask her to be my friend! (So I could have someone in the same situation to hang out with!). My theory test is late next week--and I hope to pass that and book the practical immediately--fingers crossed this is all done by October!