Britain has around 25,000 roundabouts and almost no four-way stops. For an American driver this is the single biggest adjustment after the side of the road.
How a roundabout works
The rules are short:
- Give way to traffic coming from your right, which is already on the roundabout.
- Do not stop if it is clear. There is no stop line to wait at and no taking turns — you merge into a gap and keep moving.
- Signal left as you leave, so the driver waiting at the next entry knows you are coming off.
The entire point is that traffic flows continuously. A driver who stops at an empty roundabout will be hooted at, which is otherwise rare in Britain.
Lanes
On multi-lane roundabouts, road markings tell you which lane to use for which exit. Broadly: left lane for the first exit, right lane for exits past twelve o’clock, and either for straight ahead unless marked. Read the markings on the approach, because changing lanes on the roundabout itself is where collisions happen.
Why Britain uses them
They are genuinely better than signalised crossroads for most junctions: fewer conflict points, no waiting at red on an empty road, lower speeds, and — critically — collisions happen at shallow angles rather than as side impacts, which makes them far less severe.
The modern offside priority rule — give way to the right — was standardised in Britain in 1966, and it is what makes roundabouts work. Before it, traffic entering had priority, and roundabouts locked solid.
The Magic Roundabout
Swindon‘s is the famous one: five mini-roundabouts arranged in a ring around a sixth central roundabout that flows anticlockwise. It appears in every list of the world’s most confusing junctions.
It works. Traffic can take multiple routes through it, capacity is far higher than a conventional design, and its safety record is better than the junction it replaced in 1972. Hemel Hempstead has one too, and locals in both towns use them without thinking.
The road classes
- M — motorway. Blue signs.
- A — major roads. Green signs for primary routes, white for others. Some are dual carriageway and effectively motorway standard; others are single-track through villages.
- B — smaller connecting roads. White signs.
- Unclassified — everything else, including country lanes with no number at all.
The numbering radiates from London and Edinburgh in zones, which is why the A1 runs north from London and the A6 is broadly north-west.
Country lanes
The thing rural driving really requires. Single-track roads with passing places, high hedges or stone walls, blind bends and no verge. The etiquette: whoever is nearest a passing place reverses to it, you pull in on your own left, and a raised hand of thanks is expected in both directions.
Farm traffic has priority in practice if not in law, and following a tractor for two miles is simply part of the experience.