Learn / Roundabouts decoded

The guide

Roundabouts decoded

Five things that make a roundabout easy: read the sign, pick your lane, signal, follow the paint, and know what goes wrong.

Video coming.This page is a placeholder for a guide of about three minutes. The text below is a first draft: before it is published as advice, each point will be traced to a rule in the Highway Code (rules 184 to 190 cover roundabouts) and written in our own words.
  1. A green roundabout sign beside the road, seen from behind a car on the approach
    Video coming

    Read the sign

    The map-type sign on the approach shows the roundabout's shape and where each exit goes. Find your exit on it before you get there.

  2. A car in its lane on the approach to a roundabout, with lane markings ahead
    Video coming

    Pick your lane

    The sign and the arrows painted on the road tell you which lane leads to your exit. Be in it before the give-way line.

  3. A car entering a roundabout, seen from above and behind
    Video coming

    Signal

    What to signal, and when, depends on which exit you take. This chapter will show it on a 3D road.

  4. A roundabout seen from straight above, with a car on the ring and its path trailing behind
    Video coming

    Follow the paint

    On many big roundabouts the lane markings lead you round and out. This chapter will show how to follow them.

  5. A car on the roundabout with a red trail showing a mistaken path, and a van beside it
    Video coming

    What goes wrong

    The mistakes people make most, shown as runs on a 3D road, with why they go wrong.

Until the guide is ready, the example junction shows how a run looks, the lessons list each rule, and real roundabouts appear as they are checked.

The Highway Code is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This site is not affiliated with the DVSA.