A Mini Roundabout Stand Off 

One problem with roundabouts is that you wait like a dummy for approaching vehicles from the right only for them take first left without signalling.

I wish I had a pound for every time I've arrived at a mini-roundabout with three other cars all stopped and looking at one other. Your closing comment "Try not arrive at mini-roundabouts and then start working them out" hit the nail on the head.

Roundabouts - Plan to Stop, but prepare to Go. That also applies to minis. What Ash is demonstrating here is a great example of that technique.

The opening frame makes it look like Ashley's about to drop the most fire mixtape of the year so far

A big problem that I have found with mini roundabouts is when they have replaced a 'T' junction, especially when the building line obstructs the view of vehicles coming from what was the minor road and you have to nudge forward to get a clear view. The traffic travelling along the 'A' road with the T junction to their left have a clear view of oncoming traffic, even for some distance, so they hardly slow down at the approach to the island and if another vehicle approaches from the left, then there is no time to stop.

I find theres usually more confusion when the road is busy and traffic is queuing at the mini roundabout. So no ability to assess speed and distance as everyone is already there. Personally if others are dithering then I go - decision made lol (gets the ditherers moving anyway)

How to resolve a stalemate: Pin the accelerator, drop the clutch, and do a few celebratory donuts

I was involved in a stand-off at a mini roundabout this very morning. It would have been helpful if some of the drivers used their indicators. We're not all graduates of the Mystic Meg school of motoring.

Did you all notice just how many other drivers drove OVER the middle of each mini roundabout, including the police car?

Watching your videos makes me feel like a mature, sensible road user, many of the things you advise/recommend I’ve been doing/thinking since before I even started watching your channel. You also point out and advise on things I hadn’t thought of before but I’m able to take them on board and work on them to help further improve my road use

The police car used the roundabout improperly. They went across the circle when they should have gone round it and there was enough room to go around so there was no excuse.

I've seen three vehicles go onto a mini like that, all go around and leave in perfect unison with hesitating and without stopping. It was quite surreal.

I did the all three go at once dance and a supermarket delivery van was one of the other vehicles! Worked just fine!

Arriving slower is a good point. There is a channel on here that shows motorcycle riders cams. There are a lot where the riders get angry at drivers pulling out on them. In a lot of cases the car to the left enters the roundabout first but the bike is moving much faster, doesn't change speed and catches up to them.

Yes, I’ve seen that happen twice in only seventeen years of driving, and both times it resolved itself as you said, the wider track eases pressure on the eye of the “knot” of cars, and everyone goes on their merry, slightly embarrassed way…

Even more tricky are double mini-roundabouts, as you have to gauge two sets of priorities one immediately after the other. Also I would say that a large artic going through a mini-roundabout should be given extra consideration, which might conflict with the priorities presented here.

The second video is in Knaresborough, and whilst learning to drive and cycling I regularly use these mini roundabouts(one behind the viewer), and the number of times this sort of shenanigans occurs, is quite frankly mind blowing, so few people indicate here and it is very dangerous, especially as there are zebra crossings straight after the roundabouts, which adds to the mayhem. They were brought in to stop pollution from traffic lights which were terrible, causing 45+ minute queues on any nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

You said exactly what I was thinking- if you go around the roundabout rather than across it, most problems are solved.

Good video, but if you do somehow end up with the stand-off, then one of the drivers has to start moving to show intention to go but using a 'creep' to be able to adapt if another goes. Fast enough to show intent, but slow enough to easily stop if needed. With this method, even if everyone goes, they just fit in behind the other. It shouldn't be harsh or stressful.

This happened to me once at a mini roundabout in worthing... Three cars (including the one I was driving) all stopped politely at the mini roundabout to give way to the right, we sat there for a few seconds then realised somebody had to move... the thing is we all moved at once and the three of us all met in the middle! Result was three drivers laughing their heads off at a blocked roundabout, I can't remember how we got out of it, but we did, it was so funny at the time.

Its commonly believed mini roundabouts are there to speed up traffic flow. In many cases they are designed to add a little hesitation/ confusion to slow down or calm a junction down.

3 at same time on mini -rdbt - yes, I have actually been in that situation when all 3 of us took the simultaneous initiative to negotiate the roundabout (not cutting over central marking) permitting all of us to traverse safely at the same time...none of the following vehicles from any direction behind any of us sucessfully did this and a jam ensued behind us !!!

I thoroughly enjoy these short useful videos. Thanks Ashley. Even as an experienced driver I treat these as refreshers and always strive to keep learning.

A very good example of how to plan ahead and deal with the unexpected at roundabouts, my instructors taught me this, even months after I passed my test, I’ve yet to master it, it’s just one of those things that comes with experience. But first you need to have the right mind set and try to look for clues as explained in this video, and can’t just assume that everything will go according to plan.

I've seen four cars stopped staring at each other prior to entering a mini-roundabout but never three or four creating their own gridlock - except in Paris, and they can be very ingenious at solving that, usually with liberal use of the horn and wild gesturing. If I'm caught up in a 'you go, no you go', I will creep to take the lead.

I was once told to look at the give way lines at the entrance to the roundabout. With some you will notice that 2 entrances have the double give way line and one has a single line. In the case of a stand off the person with the single line has priority and can go first. Not all mini roundabouts seem to be set up like this.

This used to happen in France on major roundabouts when I first moved there in the 70s. The rule at the time was "priority from the right" so cars coming onto a roundabout had priority over those already on it. This led to massive traffic jams at rush hour. One lunchtime I saw a cop, who was directing traffic from a pulpit in the middle of a roundabout, take off his képi, stamp on it and walk off, leaving the drivers to sort out the mess themselves. The rule was so imbedded in the French psyche that drivers emerging from side streets would shut their eyes and hope for the best. It has now been largely abandonned except in small towns and villages with little traffic.

There's a dual lane double mini roundabout by me. The main reason for a standoff is the fact that so many people don't indicate!

Another thing to watch out for is pillocks coming from the left and using it as an overabout or just cutting directly in front of you to go right. I've always said instead of the roundabout being a smooth raised disc, it should be a low pyramid or even a flat topped cone shape.

A funny situation I had was approaching a mini roundabout with a car approaching on the opposite side. We both started slowing significantly on the approach to let the other person go first, then both stopped at the same time. After about 2 seconds, I made my move as they were clearly not going to move. Turned out we were both going straight anyway, but I didn't want to enter at the same time as them and risk then making a turn without indicating. 🙂

Positive driving is a excellent thing, Slow and Hold back or accelerating slightly to match your speed to meet a gap, then don’t dither or delay when you arrive at that gap. Be at the right speed at the right time to safely filter or join or go through. Creep and use your vehicle’s body language and position on the road to give no doubt about what you intend to do and when you are going to do it.

Hi Ashley, good work as per usual!. This all reminds me of something that I have not thought about for many years and relates to the fact that once you are stationary at any junction it takes much more time to start off again!. The trick is all about good sensible observation and appropriate adjustment of approach speed, it should be possible to avoid actual coming to a complete halt most of the time if the traffic is moving reasonably well. Of course if there are vehicles in front of you that are stationary then you will have to stop, but when they move off you do not have to follow all that quickly, in fact if you can see the other traffic clearly you can adjust your take off to fit into the flow at the junction. On those rare occasions when the traffic from the right is too persistent and you do have to stop it is always better to stop well before the junction threshold, again allowing a few feet of take off space to ent=er the junction at a better speed when the opportunity arises. Once I had come to terms with these dynamics and familiar with the practise I started suggesting that anyone who comes to a complete stop right on the line should be fined for driving without due care because the delay they cause slows everybody down!. Cheers, Richard.

there is a mini round-a-bout right next to my home and i hate it, it's in a built up area next to a school and cars just come speeding through it without looking, i have dash cam proof of this

I hold my hands up, my judgement when it comes to mini roundabouts isn’t the best. But the way Ashley explained it makes me think that I can change the way I employ judgement on the approach to mini roundabouts, as well as passing through them

An interesting exercise is trying to only stop at your intended destination.i once drove from central Buckinghamshire down to Croydon Surrey via the M25 and A23 without ever coming to a standstill. Not easy but an exercise in flowing with traffic, timing your approach so that when you arrive you can go etc

2:41 Don't forget that unwritten rule that you always have to give way to, bow down to, acknowledge, and stick your middle finger up to BMWs.

Very useful, thanks Ash. There’s roundabout near me where this happens all the time, and it’s useful to get your take on it.

I've come up to these mini roundabouts countless times when even people approaching the roundabout on the road to my right stop all the time without emerging when they can and I just breeze through. It seems many drivers just don't know or get who has right of way to emerge.

Great Video! It's so difficult to find mini roundabout videos that are as useful as this one. Thank you

Have you ever come across The Magic Roundabout, in Swindon? It's one big roundabout, made up of four or five mini roundabouts, all with three or four lanes approaching each one. You really need to be switched on to forward planning when approaching it, especially at rush hour.

Informative and some useful advice, thank you. Where the mini roundabout has been designing into the road layout they are easy to use, but part of the problem is that a lot of these mini roundabouts are just placed in old junctions with very poor visibility and no thought given to how they would work. In my local town we have 2 staggered junctions within a stone's throw each other that were controlled by traffic lights or T-junctions but been replaced by mini roundabouts with pelican and zebra crossing liberally scattered around them. At busy times there is always confusion, queues over the islands and blockages resulting in horn usage etc.

Disappointing to see the marked police car (apparently not on an emergency call) driving over the middle of the mini roundabout. Edit: though on looking again it seems the "middle" isn't really in the middle and doesn't really leave adequate room for two lanes of traffic from that direction.

Dear Ashley, I passed my driving test today at the first attempt with only two minors, and wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for creating such informative videos that certainly helped to pass. The content you create with live examples is highly commendable, the examiner complimented me at the end of the test for excellent driving and I must thank you for it!

I recently was approaching a 4 way mini roundabout indicating right. Approaching from the opposite direction, a Range Rover with the intention of going straight on. I arrived first and started to make the turn. Anticipated the fact the the RR had not understood that I was about to cross their path, and halted my car mid-turn. Sure enough, RR barrelled straight on, completely clueless. My passenger was fuming. I just smiled to myself that I'd seen the whole thing coming and avoided the crash. I suspect the RR driver will have worked it out about five minutes later.

A trick I sometimes use to unlock a stand-off is to give permission to go to the driver to my left by pointing at him/her and making eye contact. They go, I go, and then the driver to my right. Only works if they are proactively scanning the situation. And it's daylight.

There's a mini roundabout where I live where nobody ever seems to want to go first. It's a simple two roads crossing each other and everyone stands off and look at each other like the final scene in the good, the bad and the ugly. Eventually someone gestures someone else and they go and everyone goes in clockwise order. Everyone does this at this roundabout and nobody knows why !

There is a pair of mini roundabouts together in Chippenham. Two major dangerous behaviours are; motorists either drive the wrong side of the circle or ignore the roundabout completely 🤷‍♂️

the big problem as i see it is when they put a mini roundabout on a main road replacing a t junction but then you tend to get those traveling along what would of been the main road and they don't even slow down as they think its their right of way and this also tends to be the reason for the crashes on them.

I’m amazed by the number of drivers who don’t take in the whole picture on the approach to a mini roundabout and become fixated on the vehicles coming from their right. Even when that vehicle has stopped because of a vehicle coming from their right. By taking a look at the whole picture will as Ashley said allow you to fit in and keep the traffic flowing.

I feel like this little lesson could have a part 2 for double mini roundabouts. I see too many people treating them like crossroads and not preparing to stop at all, or thinking they have right of way because they have already entered the first mini roundabout. I was always taught to treat them like separate mini roundabouts.

You make a great point about positive driving. One thing that came to mind as we watched all of the various vehicles involved was that it reminded me that even for a potentially half-decent driver, that something like a new or different pair of shoes can take away confidence and ability in the car. I think this could be a big factor in how people drive, whether people drive with those ideas of 'competence at the wheel' or whether it is a case of 'I hope I look good in my dress shoes for the interview' etc. I gues what I'm saying is that even a 'good' driver can face challenges in the everyday that can affect driving performance and safety. Extrapolate that into all the people who aren't even wearing reasonable driving footwear and 'positive driving' becomes something of a pipe dream. Does that suggest there's room in the market for a driving shoe or something, or heightened awareness of it??, maybe.

0:15 in and my answer is just wait for the road to clear and for your exit to clear before entering the roundabout, lets see if I am right.

The other one that causes problems is either or both of a) not using any indicators at the roundabout b) cutting across the top of the roundabout rather than going round it.

I think it was in the Simpsons where Homer is asked what you should do at a ‘4 way stop’ and nobody is moving? They said to him ‘so who goes first?’ I think I was still instructing then back in Leicester. Homer’s answer was I think the best ‘the Guy with the biggest car!’ Ashley like me you sensibly teach about what we both call ‘Road hierarchy’ It’s even more pronounced when I am on my bike and the car waiting behind another that is parked starts pulling out on me when I am about two bike lengths away. In hierarchy she has a car, I have an ebike and she has ‘right of way’ because she is driving her car.

When I could still drive, I had to stop because of uncontrollable epilepsy I really disked mini roundabouts, I had no problem with full sized ones. I partically disliked double mini-roundabouts near my home was a trible miniaroudabout where they kind of formed a around-atriangle thankfully it's a roundabout now, I'd go a way aways to avoid it.

I am of the opinion that mini roundabouts should be scrapped altogether..only designed for bike,car and van...HGV can never use these safely....just my humble opinion for what it's worth...thank you ashley for another excellent video.

TBH, 'the roundabout incident' was all very civilised and worked as a traffic calming measure!

My city (in the US) recently made a mini-roundabout to replace a four way stop. It is one of the first, if not the first, in our state. The local residents have positively lost their minds on how to use it. Basically, either everyone always stops, or people plow dangerously through without yielding to oncoming traffic. Funny enough though, just north of it is full size roundabout that has been there for eight years and no one seems to have a problem with. SMH.

Hi Ashley. Please look up Wilson's corner on the approach into Brentwood high street in Essex. It is one roundabout right after another. Standoff's with people constantly being too positive/cautious is simply the order of each day. I wish I had a dash cam to show how much of a farce it is especially when it comes to around the time when the Essex mums in their range rovers head off to pick up their kids from school.

This presenter is so funny. Has the screen intensity of an ex SAS guy or cage fighter, staring into the camera when talking about roundabouts.

I think it’s worse when the first person to arrive is the most timid to go, as that then leaves the other 2 not knowing what to do and have to work it out themselves

I have seen so many stands offs you wouldn't believe it. Most people in the UK (especially in North England) don't know how to reverse and when they meet on a narrow road they will just stare at each other as more traffic builds up behind them.

These are very common here in Ireland too and the amount of people I see using them incorrectly and causing a standoff or worse an accident. When I was learning to drive I had an amazing instructor who hammered into me about extreme vigilance and reading the road and anticipating issues well in advance.

As usual, great video. At 01:25 I was surprised at the Police car driving over the white spot in the centre. That's illegal. HC 188 (NI): "All vehicles MUST pass round the central markings except large vehicles which are physically incapable of doing so." I think the driver of the White Audi saw this, thought the Police car might be doing a U-Turn and hesitated. That left the mini-gap for the Peugeot to pull out. Hence the problem.

I find this happens more at 3-way roundabouts. My usual fix is to signal to the person who is waiting for me (the person to my left) to go. That way, they’ll block the person to my right, and I can go 2nd

I've been party to a three-way stand-off where all three of us decided to go at the exact same time after waiting for a few moments, only for all of us to stop again. It was quite comical at the time.

Haha! I love scenario 2. I've not seen this before, but I have seen the opposite where everyone creeps and then everyone ends up stopping at the line regardless!

I'm astonished at how many drivers go all the way round a roundabout using the left hand lane, preventing others from exiting the roundabout and being forced to go all the way around again. Can you cover this in detail?? As a motorcyclist, it is extremely alarming at how many cars enter the roundabout as I'm exiting and they scream at me!! Driving standards in UK are appalling.

It actually helps if all drivers indicate, I often arrive at a roundabout and need to sit their wondering if the idiot not indicating will be going left, right, straight on.

When I was in Jersey years ago, they have a different way of doing mini roundabout. When you enter the roundabout, you have to stop and let 1 car from your left enter. They then have to do the same and the roundabout keeps flowing and is fair to everyone. It does not apply if you are tuning left other than the car to your right has to let you through. I think it's a great idea and would like to see it in the UK.

Fine, up to a point. And that point is when the roads are busy, and traffic is queueing onto the RA from each of 3 directions. Then what?

My town has two mini roundabouts like this which are joined together. A stand off happens like this several times each morning, often with an HGV or coach involved. Causes absolute gridlock but hey the council says it's our fault because really we should be cycling.

Your vids are getting better, Lad!

@2:09 - "I've never seen this happen in 30 years of driving" - I've been driving for like a month and saw this scenario play out yesterday :D

Excellent Video as always.

Funnily enough I mentioned this business of mini roundabout "reverse standoff" and resolving it by a slow forward creep when I commented in Ashley's previous video.

1:32 Copper drives *over* solid painted circle…Only large vehicles are supposed to do this because they need to. Technically that copper broke the law and might as easily pull you for doing the exact same thing!

Note how in these clips even the ADI (Ashley) and the Police drive over the painted circle on the mini-roundabout and also note the state of all the circles where it is clear that many, many vehicles have done the same. When mini-roundabouts were first introduced back in 1970's I asked a very senior Highways Engineer how they were to be used, as after all they initiated them. i was told that they were to be treated as defining priority only and not to be considered as an obstruction in the road. Cutting across the circle is therefore legitimate, so long as you don't encroach on the approaching lane and treating them as an obstruction to drive around merely wastes fuel due to extra deceleration and acceleration as well as scrubbing tyres unnecessarily. You will find that many new housing developments now include mini-roundabouts where the primary distributor road and the main estate road meet, which in essence is not a problem, it gives equal weight to the estate road as the primary distributor road as well as creating a traffic calming feature. However, often the existing features and buildings create blind spots such that to safely see any approaching vehicle from the right the car has to virtually stop. In the majority of these clips visibility to the right is relatively good meaning that a reasonable speed through the roundabout can be maintained. Many of our local mini-roundabout junctions are a stop/go or too often a chancy and risky progress, where speed is desirable because of this poor visibility.

Great video ,thanks for the help.

I once had that with 2 T-junctions that were about 50 meters apart and facing into opposite direction. On both lanes someone wanted to turn left ( or right if you are in UK ) and there was traffic behind both vehicles. So the whole situation grid-locked

There's a mini roundabout where I used to live that used to be a T junction (in the 80's) this one has a clear marker who goes in a stalemate, the road that used to have the giveway markings and sign kept the giveway sign but has a solid white line whereas the other two have the broken lines you see on most mini-roundabouts. This may have changed now, I haven't been there in a few years but in the late 90's that was the case.

Ahh Knaresborough's Bond End junction. Knew it soon as I saw thumbnail. Used to have traffic lights there, but was a good move having the mini roundabouts instead. Used to have real bad air pollution with static cars queuing.

Clip 2 definitely gave me a chuckle... in over 40 years of driving I've never seen that happen (though I was aware the possibility existed)

The worse thing is people not slowing down and coming into roundabouts too fast, so you think you have time to go but they speed up and beep as if I'm in the wrong

Problem with these is sometimes "local" rules evolve. One I used to cross on my way to work was a Y junction with a main road from the bottom of the Y forking right and a lesser road straight on. People on the main road expected and took priority, with much horn blowing if someone on the lesser road took their turn following Highway Code rules and didn't wait for the Main road lot to drive up and clear first! Another one was a T junction at which you could go straight ahead or turn left. It had two lanes in but almost everyone used the left lane when going straight ahead and got confused if I used the right hand lane!! I learned, as you say, it was best to gauge speed on approach to avoid other cars from other directions arriving at the same time.

I’ve found myself in a stand off or two, which I see is part fault of mine. How awkward is it when you and the car to your left go to go at the same time (because the other 2 cars aren’t moving), then you both brake.. then you both go, then you both brake.. then you both completely stop to see what the other person does.. Then the car that’s straight ahead sees this opportunity and goes, freeing us all. not my proudest moment driving, but that is something that happened a few years back

I've had situations where all three are at a mini roundabout and wonder who should go first.

what annoys me is when a vehicle don't indicate and your left waiting !

A point about approaching the roundabout and been positive is to be in the best gear, even in an automatic. I've found that in an auto, the car can be in 2nd gear at the entrance to the roundabout and cause a delay when you need to accelerate on, so causing hesitation, and in turn someone else misreading that and moving forward themselves. ... then the auto kicks down and you 'jump' ahead or break harder than expected. I tend to knock an auto down manually (flappy paddles) to control my gears that way... especially those situations where watching for incoming traffic from the right is not easy

What I love about these is that if people really do arrive at the same time, then everyone should give way to everyone else. If I arrive at this situation, it seems that I'm the one to break the cycle because I'm in a PHV.

Always amazes me how people can plan so far ahead for appointments, parties, xmas etc but can’t plan what to do at a mini roundabout until they have stopped at the white line.

As much as I can these days I try not to stop at a roundabout. Often it can't be helped, but I always try to conserve a good pace to time my emerge so I can safely but quickly slot in. Mainly just better for fuel economy to not have to stop at roundabouts constantly, but it's much better for flow as well because gaps which you couldn't take from a stopped position are perfectly safe to take if you aren't having to accelerate much. Always be ready to stop, but it's a very useful skill

When it comes to a clog up with mini roundabouts, at least in my area I've noticed a trend where folk will just sort of treat it a bit like a T-Junction when it gets clogged because in my area most of the Mini Roundabouts are on T-Junctions. It's a quick and easy fix because the majority of the traffic flow is crossing the T and so if someone is coming along the T but wants to go down the T the person coming up the T will just give way to their left while the person coming along the T From the other direction gives way to the right as per usual, the roundabout clears and traffic flows. We all have to just pay attention and do what's best for the flow of traffic. Even if it means we get stopped for a few minutes because some roads if we don't help traffic flow in both directions it can spill back onto other roads and create grid lock.

I’ve had somewhat of a mini roundabout stand off. I approached and wanted to turn right (I was driving a 60ft artic) and a woman in a Range Rover approached from the right and wanted to go straight over. She then stopped for some reason and so did I. I sat for a solid 30 seconds for her to move but when she didn’t I assumed she was letting me out and decided to go, and as soon as I did she then entered the roundabout and drove right up the side of my trailer and blasted her horn. Don’t know what goes through these peoples heads

As a small van driver, I want to point out that not once do you actively check the left wing mirror or look over your shoulder to see if a cyclist is in your blind spot. Or there at all or a pedestrian or a an unknown. If it is not a conscious part of your routine then how can you teach it. The weirdest things happen people pop up from gates, doors, even other vehicles.

Biggest problem here in Bognor,is lack of signals,so we can't guess what the other's intention are.This leads to a lot of shouting.but in Selsey,no one sees the mini rondabout,and this leads to shouting and screaming(and punching)

Leckhampton Rd.Cheltenham has two mini roundabouts 20 feet apart but in the middle of them is a co op supermarket which people want to turn in to and out of. This causes so many problems for reading traffic and also blocks both mini roundabouts. And just near the roundabouts is a children's nursery when mothers and fathers just stop feet away from the pavement then try to run across the road in front of confused drivers with toddlers and children in pushchairs.. Thank God I'm retired and never in a rush. Unfortunately this is a main road in to town . Often very amusing.

We teach "look to stop, plan to go", "give way to the right, keep the car moving if you can". You've also failed to mention that you shouldn't enter the roundabout until your exit is clear.

Nice video and great advice 👍

We have an ongoing problem where I live in New Zealand of people not stopping at stop signs but stopping at give way signs, including roundabouts.