Roundabout Markings and Lane Roles

A roundabout is not one thing but three, and the markings tell you which part you are dealing with.

1. The traffic island. The raised or planted area at the centre. Its job is to channel movement — it makes the junction a circulation rather than a crossing, which is what removes the head-on and right-angle conflicts an ordinary crossroads has.

2. The innermost lane. On a four-lane approach this is lane 4; on a three-lane approach, the innermost of the three. This is the only lane from which a full circuit is permitted. If you intend to go all the way round — or to take the last exit — this is where you belong.

3. The outer lanes. Lanes 1, 2 and 3. Vehicles in these lanes may not complete a full circle. Each is restricted to a narrower set of exits, and which exits those are is what the lane-designation signs from the previous lesson tell you on the approach.

Direction: clockwise. You keep left and circulate clockwise, which follows from driving on the left — the island stays on your right throughout.

And a bundle of prohibitions, all applying on the roundabout itself: no stopping · no changing lanes · no parking · no overtaking · no waiting.

Notice this is the same pattern as the yellow kerb: several distinct restrictions bundled into a single location. Both work the same way — the place carries the rule, and the rule does not need repeating on a post at every metre.

The reason lane choice matters so much here follows directly from the structure above. Once you are in an outer lane, the exits available to you are already decided, and the no-lane-changing rule means you cannot fix it from inside the roundabout. The decision was made on the approach — which is why reading the lane signs early is worth as much as knowing the rules at all.