Driving expert shares roundabout mistake that ‘everyone is making’

It’s not unusual to see people in community Facebook groups moaning about how other drivers can’t use roundabouts properly.

But why is it that many drivers see a roundabout and just don’t know how to use them?

The woman behind TikTok account @theorytestpractice has posed the same question, asking in her recent video: “Why do I see everyone get this wrong at roundabouts when it’s so so simple?”

She explained: “Signalling roundabouts is the easiest thing to do. So if you’re going to go left and you’re in this yellow car [in the left lane] you’re going to signal left and keep the left signal on. Easy, isn’t it?

“If you’re going to go right, which is any exit past straight ahead, you’re going to signal right as you’re driving towards the roundabout and you’ll be in this right-hand lane.

“When you go onto the roundabout, you’ll go into the right-hand lane. If you’re going to exit up here [third exit] when you get to the second exit, you’ll start to signal to tell people you’re going down the third exit.”

She then shared that if you don’t signal either left or right it means you’re “going straight ahead” and people will be able to assume that.

The driving expert added: “So don’t signal to tell people you’re going straight ahead, but as you get to here [first exit] you’re going to signal to tell people you’re leaving the roundabout. You always signal left to leave.

“So start to signal as you pass the exit, before the one you want to take. So, to tell people you’re going straight ahead, you don’t signal.

“When you’re on the roundabout, you always signal left to leave”.

Many people used the comments section to signal their personal frustrations about people driving on roundabouts.

One wrote: “Nobody signals left when exiting a roundabout anymore? It’s so frustrating. Most drivers just leave their right indicator on, and we’re supposed to be mind readers, knowing where they have come from and when they want to exit!”

Another fumed: “Not only getting it wrong, but some drivers just don’t signal at roundabouts at all; they expect you to read their minds.” Someone else added: “If people don’t know how to take a roundabout they shouldn’t be driving”.

While another frustrated driver penned: “God I totally agree with you, I’m sick of drivers going around the roundabouts on the outside lane then cutting me off when I need to exit the roundabout”.