I am fed up of people taking the wrong lane onto the Robinhood from the London Road from the direction of the Clocktower. You know where the fire station is on the left.
I appreciate that the road markings were changed quite a while after the 'improvement' went live but even so! They now clearly show that you must take the left-hand lane for A4 and B4009, the white lines even show this as you enter the roundabout. So why do people still use the right hand lane (meant for A34 North only) and then cause those of us in the correct lane to look like we are trying to side swipe and cut up those who are in the wrong lane.

Obviously having met this situation on a daily basis as I work in the town I anticipate the situation and take extra care but more agressive drivers may force the wrong doer up the A34 ramp or even into the side/path of an innocent driver going up the ramp. It really is an accident waiting to happen as many people are making the same mistake.

Today this happened again and two drivers were giving me evils when in fact they were in the wrong.

Do you think the council would put a sign up if I worte them; perhaps saying something like 'choose correct lane' or 'new road layout'? or is it too late?

Drivers getting in the wrong lane - don't get me started.

All goes along with not indicating, following too close (especially in icy weather), jumping traffic lights, members of CLODS (Centre Lane Owners & Drivers Society), no lights in fog or heavy rain, using a mobile while driving, parking on the pavement, the list is almost endless.

However, I appreciate that nobody's perfect and I should imagine the markings on the Robin Hood could be confusing for a stranger.

This all gets a bit dodgy though when you are on a motorcycle and have to deal with it.

Oh well, we all make mistakes.

Hoorah...exactly what I was thinking.

And if we do, according to the pro bollarders we deserve a huge pole through the chassis.

The markings on that particular junction are terrible. I've been in the right hand lane a couple of times as it is labelled A339, also the white lines follow round into right hand lane to go under the underpass, then there are seperate lines which take you up the ramp, but they are not connected.

Good point, but some (not all) in my view deserve it.

Yes, the Robin Hood 'Confusery' is bound to find people in the wrong lane.

I have just come to light of this, after all this time with the road markings being changed, i have recently noticed that on the left lane that you were talking about, the little lines go accross onto the second lane which meens (as you was saying) that u can either decide to take the A4 or continue round towards thatcham, the right handlane, as you said, meens you have to take the A34.

I will admit, i have always used the left lane to take just the A4 and the right handlane to take either thatcham or the A34, it's very difficult i think for all drivers, unexperienced and experienced to get this right. I have seen all drivers do my mistake! So i wouldn't be suprised if there are bumps because of this.

I personaly think that the lines going accross onto the second lane is crap, it looks terrible and just makes drivers confused. No one is going to drive on those lanes properly because they know other drivers will get it wrong, like me So i will continue using the wrong lanes due to the worry of other vehicles and i will not damage my car just to prove a point!

I do appreciate that it is pretty confusing, I also used to take the right hand lane until my passenger pointed out I was in the wrong lane. To be fair the right hand lane is probably the more logical to take. Given the posts here it seems all agree it is a confusing layout so I will have to learn to be more forgiving and carry on being ultra vigilant.

The lines you refer to are 'after the event'. Prior to the junction there are TWO advance direction signs showing which lane drivers should get into depending on where they're headed. The road markings (TWO sets of them) ALSO show the destination including in one lane A339(N) and the other A339(S). It couldn't be too much clearer really. It's just that drivers are creatures of habit when they are on a familiar route. People new to the town are probably more likely to be looking out for direction signs and a bit more wary (unless they're near the bollards ) Locals continue to use the right hand lane to get to Thatcham or the town centre 'coz they always use that one'

If you pull up alongside me pal expect a shock and some damage. I have an old motor and if I'm in the right I carry on driving. I'm on the lookout for numbnuts like you to help get me a new car.....

Ah, another one of those drivers who have no courtesy and will not concede to someone who makes an error of judgement.

According to the majority on this thread they certainly could be.

Most of the contributors on here are in agreement on driving standards so where do the bad ones come from ? Assuming this forum attracts a cross section of society then there must be an awful lot of intellectually challenged motorists out there .
Be under no illusion they are bad ,even if you a visitor from the planet Zog common sense dictates that it is simpler to ease into traffic from the inside out than from the outside in , but no its "my cars in front of yours so there " syndrome .

Even when the road markings are clearly laid out there is an element who totally ignore and take the line of minimum distance .

Incidentally back in the autumn I witnessed one individual on the inside lane cut straight across to the A34 link...........and he came out unscathed .

No that's the thing about forums like this, they don't attract a cross section of society.

On the whole we're all literate, middle class and able to work a computer reasonably well.

Someone did that right in front of me when we had the first day of heavy snow. They are out there. I've just been down that way and had a good look around on the approach. The sign on the left is clear but in my opinion should be further up towards the clock tower, it allows no thinking time or time for correction if you are in the wrong lane. The lines that you follow round in the left hand lane keep you in the left hand lane and then suddenly lurch across. I don't think this is wrong, but as seems to be becoming more and more frequent in Newbury is just different to standard road layouts, and therefore difficult to figure out. By the time people do they'll just change it anyway.

Error of judgement or deliberate act? Good Boy Racer stated that even though he knows it's the wrong lane he'll deliberately keep using it just to prove a point......
I've said that this strategy may come unstuck if he's on the right hand lane when I'm in the left (correct) lane and we happen to meet. My old banger can take a few knocks ... it's been parked at Sainsbury's more than 20 times in the last few months so is covered in dents from people banging thier doors into the sides anyway.....

It's not like you're in fast moving dual carriageway traffic at this point. Should be plenty of time in relatively slow moving traffic to slip into the correct lane....

The trouble with this new layout it is not very cyclist friendly. You have to cut across a lane to get to the right lane if you want to go to Thatcham etc. The old lane/ system took cyclists into consideration.

It's about 15m from the junction. Plus if I tried to come across and you were there you've already stated that you would block the way. Incidentally if you did try that with me I wouldn'd stop either, difference is I suspect I'm bigger than you and if you put my health into jeopardy I'd do the same to you.

Right then, I'll be on the lookout for this vehicle. But i'm sure mines faster to get infront before you even turn to the next lane

I do agree with you here, I think if I was on a bike, especially with Spartacus and Strafin fighting it out, I might forgo cycling round though and instead, use the underpass from outside the Catholic Church and come up by the Robin Hood. Discretion being the better part of valour.

The lane markings have not in fact changed at all. Previously the right hand lane was marked A339, (A34), (M4).

The routes in brackets are arrived at by following the unbracketed route, ie the A339, so the right hand lane always required motorists to head North over the ramp.

However, many people did not seem to understand this instruction. The addition of the (N) and (S) designation to the A339 marking and the advance warning sign appears to be to help clarify the situation.

Not surprising, if it just said A339, since that's ambiguous. The fact that the right hand lane also leads to the A34 and the M4 didn't make it any less so.

But there are so many idiots who don't read road markings anyway that it's academic. A case in point is the roundabout at the A339 junction with Thornford Road past Greenham Common just before you get to Headley. The left hand lane is clearly marked with a left-turn arrow, but I've been cut up loads of times by cars going straight across - and they think it's your fault!

I don't know why in Newbury there are so many non standard road layouts. It does make it tough for visitors. I'd like to cite another one, coming from Monks Lane the roundabout by the college, left hand lane for turning left and straight on, right hand lane for turning right as per the highway code. Not for most some though.

Does the requirement for which lane you are on change depending on how many lanes there are on the carriageway on t'other side?

No. Not unless it's marked out.

Your not the tosser person with the Blue Subaru are you Good Boy Racer !!!!

The problem is, in a two lane situation, the left lane is traditionally the straight ahead lane as well. Also, often the 'left only' arrow is only visible when one is already commited to the particular lane.

Agreed, this is how i remember being taught. When approaching roundabout intending to turn Left or go straight on stay in Left Hand Lane. If turning Right or turning back from where you came, stay in Right Hand Lane. Simples, why have they had to change it !!!

Yes, and like I said, once one has read the arrow on the road, it is often after you are committed to the lane you anticipated.

Unless there's no right hand turn in which case left lane is for left only and right for ahead and turning round

Is this fact, or opinion? If so, I cannot see the point in an arrow being painted on the road.

Which means that assuming you have read the arrow and realised your mistake, you are going to take extra care to give way to a vehicle that got it right, aren't you? Unless you haven't taken a blind bit of notice as I was suggesting in my earlier post! (That 'you' is general, by the way, not you personally )


Which is the case with the Thornford Road/A339 roundabout. And it's marked in the road for good measure.

Edit: clash with Iommi - point being "not many people know that", so a re-inforcement if you like.

It a fact on a couple I know. Along Bury's Bank Road at the Faraday turning, it's clearly marked with a straight ahead arrow on the right lane and left only on the left lane. There is another on the A4 coming from Reading too.

I realise that, but like I said, I'm trying to suggest why people appear sometimes to get in the wrong lane.

BTW - I'm not convinced yet that two lanes approaching a roundabout with no right exit is as andy described.

Yes, but I am on about a road with no markings (road markings and signposts usually override default rules). The Faraday roundabout were only fairly recently painted.

Dunno what the legal situation is, but common sense tells me that actual road markings over-ride any perceived default.

Agreed, and that is my point.

I was taught right hand lane when no right exit and have no reason to believe that instruction is incorrect.

scroll down for examples of no left and no right....

Learner's Guide

That is what a police officer told me. However, I don't see why I should. The government and the councils are wanting more and more people to use such transport (cycles) so therefore they should make sure the conditions are good for cyclists. When the snow came their priority should have been the cycle lanes/ paths and foot paths but didn't. Their priority was the road.

While the diagram is clear, there is no supporting text. Even more fustrating is that there is no advice in this regard on the http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTrans...ycode/DG_070338 site.

Doing some Googling suggests there isn't an actual right or wrong; opinion is divided.

How irritating.

The diagram is over-simplistic.

Since there are two lanes entering and two lanes leaving, either lane can be used to go straight ahead.

They one that regularly annoys me is approaching Tesco past the back of the car dealers. Left is for Tesco, right lane is for straight ahead. The number of vehicles who go straight ahead from the left lane is remarkable.

This is the one I was on about. There was a discussion on this a while ago. I remember that then, there were no road markings. A short while after, some materialised. Who said this forum doesn't get anything done!

One thing that is advised in good driving manuals is to look out for drivers that might be in the wrong lane and to be willing to concede to them, going right round again if necessary.

Pillows at dawn Spartacus?

I was thinking more Demolition Derby......

Unfortunetly not, i cant go that fast, yet. Remember... i'm the good boy here, not a bad boy.

Citroen Saxo then !!!!

I still don't understand why the Robin Hood roundabout cannot be restored to a proper 360 degree roundabout. Traffic levels are nothing like the chaos pre-bypass days, except for perhaps the morning and evening peaks.

If the Sainsburys roundabout can cope with the traffic, the Robin Hood one could too.

Yes they are and it will get worse according to this article.

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article...articleID=11919