Awareness and planning

On the DL25 marking sheet there are a couple of section you need to be aware off called JUNCTIONS and PROGRESS (highlighted in the picture below). At roundabout and junction and you can be marked down with a minor, serious or dangerous fault APPROPRIATE SPEEP AND UNDUE HESITATION, hers the breakdown what the marking sheet states

Progress

You were marked on:

Appropriate speed - your ability to drive at an appropriate speed for the road and traffic conditions

Undue hesitation - your ability to maintain progress, and not hesitate and slow down when you did not need to

You should have driven at a speed appropriate for the road and traffic conditions, without holding up other road users. Your examiner will have monitored this throughout the test.

Examples of faults

Some of the most common faults for this area include:

• Not emerging from a junction when it is safe to do so
• Driving too slow unnecessarily, holding up following traffic
• Driving well below the speed limit on clear roads
• Waiting unnecessarily for another road user to pass who has clearly given way to you

Your examiner will explain the specific details of any faults you made.

How you can improve in this area

If you made faults in this area during your test, or if you want to improve in this area, you should:

• Check rule 146 of The Highway Code
• Read pages 254 to 261 of ‘The Official DVSA Guide to Driving: the Essential Skills’ (2022 edition)

If you need to rebook the test, spend time practising this skill with your driving instructor or supervising driver. You could work on:

• Keeping up with the flow of traffic and making confident decisions when emerging
• Driving in different weather conditions

Who do you give-way to at a roundabout? 

Single lane roundabout brief gave a lot information on priority and planning so to recap click on the link below to the lesson brief.

Open and closed view

Early observations when approaching (all junctions and) roundabout will enable you to plan, slow and flow into a potential gap (walking pace 10/12MPH) and continue on your journey.

The diagrams below shows you the difference between an open and a closed roundabout with the restriction of the view on the approach to roundabouts.

Open view on the approach to a roundabout

Closed view on the approach to a roundabout

Finding a safety gap using the coloured areas

When teaching this topic it hard for student to know if they have a safe gap to proceed, they also  struggle (to start with) with other vehicles lane position

Think about gaps like a ripple effect when you throw a pebble into the water. Then think of it like zones (1, 2 and 3)

All zones are 2 white hazard warning lanes apart.

Red zone - Is at the give-way line, Amber zone - 2 white lines from the give-way line, Green zone - 4 white lines from the give-way line.

So technically, if your in zone 1 or zone 2 and the vehicle on your immediate right is in zone 3 or further back it will be safe to continue.

Giving way to your immediate right

Safe to proceed

In this diagram you are 2 lines (amber zone) from the give-way line of the roundabout.

The vehicle to your immediate right (amber vehicle) is before the green zone, making the amber vehicle 5/6 white give-way lines away from you so it will be safe to proceed and make progress.

Not safe to proceed

In this diagram you are again at 2 lines (amber zone) from the give-way line of the roundabout.

The vehicle to your immediate right (amber vehicle) is coming out of the amber zone, so due to the amber vehicle is more advanced to the roundabout you will need to slow down and give-way line as it is not safe to proceed. 

Slow down, give way to your immediate right and let it past (slow and flow not stop and start).

Giving way to your to ahead once your immediate right is clear

In the next two diagrams (below) you can see their is a red highlighted area from your 6 0' clock to your 3 0'clock position (immediate right) going back 2 white hazard warning lines.

We have discussed as you are just exiting the amber area (2 white lines) and their is nothing coming from your immediate right as you approach a roundabout it will be safe to continue.

When to give way to ahead when your immediate right is clear?

In the next two diagram's you can see the roundabout picture is now split into four sections and once you get close to the roundabout (2 lines) and their is nothing in your immediate quarter from the left and ahead you are safe to proceed and enter the roundabout.

Unsafe to proceed

Once you are two white hazard warning lines from the give-way lane their is now a (Blue) vehicle in your immediate quarter.

You will now need to give way to that vehicle and then once the Blue vehicle has passed you and safe to do so follow them and make progress.

Choosing the correct lane & lanes to give way too?

Road markings and signs

You will always have to pay attention to road marking (white direction arrows) and signs as roundabout lanes are marked differently.  You may ask why cant all roundabout be marked up the same way?????? Simply this is done to reduce congestion on certain areas.

Immediate right

As your approaching a roundabout and assessing to see if it is safe to go, look ahead and to the immediate right and see how busy the lanes are as a rule of thumb

1. Lane 1 will normally turn left and straight ahead
2. Lane 2 will turn right

Question time

On the diagram below I've put a number representing lane 1 and lane 2 so by looking at the white arrows and vehicles indicators you can see who's going where.  You are approaching from 6 o'clock which vehicle do you have to give way too? (answer below)

Who to give way too?

The answer is the grey vehicle as it is passing you.

However if you was going straight ahead at the roundabout you would have to give way to the grey and orange vehicle.

Looking at vehicles coming from ahead (12 o'clock)

As your approaching a roundabout and assessing to see if it is safe to go, look to your immediate right and ahead to see how busy the lanes are as a rule of thumb

Immediate right

1. Lane 1 will normally turn left and go straight ahead (Green and grey vehicles)
2. Lane 2 will turn right (orange vehicle)

Ahead (12 0'clock)

1. Lane 1 turns left only
2. Lane 2 dictates ahead and right

I've put at the 12 o'clock side number 1 and number 2 representing lane 1 and lane 2 so by looking at the white arrows and vehicles indicators you can see who's going where.  You are again approaching from 6 o'clock, so the question is, what vehicle from ahead can allow you to keep going as you have a mechanical shield? (answer below)

The answer is the Blue vehicle as your immediate right (the green, grey and orange vehicles) has to give way to their immediate right.

However if the blue vehicle was indicating to turn right (past your exit road), you could still potentially go until the blue vehicle gets into your immediate quarter.

Understanding the roundabout sign

When approaching any roundabout you always approach from the bottom of the sign (6 o'clock). Lets look at the use of signals when approaching and leaving.

Three exit roundabout (Toothill)

On this roundabout sign there is a 9 o'clock (M180, A180, Immingham and great coats) exit and a 2 o'clock position (ind estates dock) exit.

1. If you are taking the 1st exit (9 o'clock) you signal left at the roundabout sign on the approach to the roundabout.
2. If you are taking the 2nd exit you signal right at the roundabout sign on the approach to the roundabout and once you get to the 9 o'clock you signal left to leave.

Three exit round abouts

When approaching this type of roundabout and if there are two lane one each side all you need to be aware off on your immediate right (lane 2).  The only other issue that could happen is that the white vehicle could do a full circle and go back the way they came from, look for clues like the indicator staying on, the white vehicle hugs the roundabout for longer than it should will tell you its going further around.

Risk assessment

Look, assess, decide and act on the busyness and openness when approaching roundabouts, so ensure you start the slowing down routine at the correct point and ensure you have the correct speed and gear to the volume of traffic on or approaching the roundabout.

Open round about - walking pace - 2nd gear - 10/12MPH

Closed or busy roundabout - crawling pace - 1st gear -under 6/8MPH or slower to match a gap of an oncoming vehicle to follow to keep the roundabout flowing.

Observations on the approach

Unfortunately some drivers approach roundabouts as though they were approaching a give-way or stop line and only take observations at the very last minute. Consequently vehicles behind may end up running into the back of them as they wouldn’t expect them to stop if the way was clear. 

Therefore don’t make this mistake and do not assume that the vehicle in front will proceed even if the way is clear. 

Keep observing ahead and right (at least three times) also know how close the vehicle is behind you. Nobody knows how skilful the driver is in front of you so always maintain your 2 second safety gap.

Lane positioning on a two lane roundabout

The main dangers on a roundabout is the driver error :-

• Appropriate speed
• Undue hesitation
• Not keeping correct lane discipline

Also keeping a good positioning when going ahead at the roundabout and keeping in the lane you started in.

Lane discipline remedy

Best way of keeping in the outside lane is to have a walking pace on the approach this will a good positioning and safer that you follow the curve of the Kerb on the nearside of your vehicle.

As you can clearly see in the below pictures not keeping in lanes will potentially cause a near miss or crash or even worse if it was a motor cyclist or cyclist.  So always have a safe approaching speed and maintain lane discipline at all times.

Correct lane position

Incorrect position

Colour of signs

Roundabout and traffic light signs represent your location they are categorised in the highway code

Non-primary (Town roads)



Signs on non-primary and local routes - black borders

Green panels indicate that the primary route starts at the junction ahead. Route numbers on a blue background show the direction to a motorway. 

Route numbers on a green background show the direction to a primary route

Primary routes

Green backgrounds

Blue panels indicate that the motorway starts at the junction ahead. Motorways shown in brackets can also be reached along the route indicated. White panels indicate local or non-primary routes leading from the junction ahead. Brown panels show the route to tourist attractions. The name of the junction may be shown at the top of the sign. The aircraft symbol indicates the route to an airport. A symbol may be included to warn of a hazard or restriction along that route.

Teaching & Learning Strategies

Like mentioned earlier every student is induvial and each and everyone of you will progress at different rates so driving will adapt their lesson plan to help you achieve your driving goals.

• Your driving instructor will adapt their teaching style to suite your ability and ability
• Your driving instructor will continue to encourage you on your lesson and analyse any problems made and allow you to take responsibility for your own learning goals by giving you technical information to improve your techniques. Your technical feed back from your instructor will be ether given on the move or if feel needed by pulling you up on the side of the road somewhere safe, legal and convenient.

Rote learning (WikipediA)

Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, associative learning, spaced repetition and active learning.

At the end of your lesson 

At the end of your lesson you will have a debrief with your instructor giving you the opportunity to reflect on your performance on your lesson then you can set up new goals for your next driving lesson.

This will also give you the opportunity to research any new topics that will be brought into on your next agreed lesson. So remember your instructor is there to HELP you, so on your driving lesson if you have any uncertainties or need anything rewording or recapping to make things any clearer, just ask.