kwackers wrote:I'd give that a go. With a single clearly defined lane I could hold that lane in primary no problem.
Yeah, I can just about do it with a fairly small spiral roundabout near me where the arms are 3 A-roads and a B-road, but I didn't convince some fairly experienced CTC and CN members to give that a go. On another larger spiral roundabout (5 A-road arms and a U), I can't do it and I think that's because the radiuses are too slack and vehicle speeds and volumes are too high, so it's basically a racetrack. The Goldington Road gyratory that Mick F mentions is even bigger, so probably even more racetrack-like.
The frequent shunts and worse on spiral-laned roundabout adds to the scary feeling: there have been 24 reported collisions of any type on the small and 47 on the large in 8 years between 2005 and 2012 incl - both worse than the Bedford location's 27 in 10 years. I'm sure a lot of failed-merge shunts where 2 lanes become 1 are unreported, as I often have to pick a line through the headlight glass. Never mind there's only 1 reported cycling collision on each (probably because both are bypassed on one side by substandard crossings and cycle routes only run through each in one direction so it's no surprise to drivers where cycles want to go) - maybe that wouldn't have disqualified them, if only the highways authorities had bid!
But this is all well and good for the fast veterans. What about the cargo carriers, the children, the tourers and so on? Condemned to get nowhere fast?