Roundabout rules in the UK: give way to the right
Highway Code rules 184 to 190, in the order a visitor from a right-driving country meets them.
A British roundabout is the most thoroughly mirrored thing you will meet on the road. Traffic goes clockwise. You give way to the right. Every instinct you built over thirty years of driving points the wrong way.
Here is the whole of it, from Highway Code rules 184 to 190.
| Doing this | Lane | Signal on approach | Signal to leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turning left, first exit | Left | Left | Keep signaling left |
| Going ahead, middle exit | The appropriate lane, usually left | None | Left, after you pass the exit before yours |
| Turning right, or full circle | Right | Right | Left, after you pass the exit before yours |
The one rule that matters most
Rule 185: give priority to traffic approaching from your right, unless signs, road markings or traffic lights tell you otherwise.
From the right. Not the left. If you take one thing from this page, that is it, because it is the rule your body will get wrong under pressure.
Traffic on the roundabout is coming round from your right and it has priority. You wait for a gap in traffic arriving from the right, and you go when it is clear.
The signaling rule people get wrong
Going straight ahead, you do not signal on approach.
This trips up visitors because the instinct is to signal something. You do not. You pick your lane, you approach without signaling, you stay in that lane, and then you signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want.
That last clause is the whole technique for every exit except the first. Signal left after the exit before yours. It tells everyone waiting that you are coming off, which is the information they actually need.
The 2022 rule that even British drivers miss
On 29 January 2022 the Highway Code added something that changes how you must treat cyclists and horse riders on a roundabout.
You must give priority to cyclists already on the roundabout, and you must not overtake them within their lane.
And a cyclist, horse rider or horse-drawn vehicle may legally stay in the left-hand lane all the way round, even when they are not leaving at the next exit. They should signal right to show they are continuing.
So a cyclist in the left lane signaling right is doing it correctly. If you treat them like a car that is about to exit, you will cut across them. The Code is explicit: take extra care on entry not to cut across anyone continuing round in the left lane.
This one is worth knowing precisely because many British drivers do not.
Mini-roundabouts and the ones with traffic lights
Mini-roundabouts follow the same rule. Give way to the right, go clockwise round the painted circle, and do not drive straight over it if you can avoid it. There is less room to correct a mistake, so decide your exit before you arrive.
Some roundabouts have traffic lights on them. Where lights are showing, they override the give-way rule. Obey the light.
Multi-lane roundabouts are the ones that catch people. The rule is to choose the lane before you enter, not on the roundabout, and to hold it. Changing lanes mid-roundabout is where visitors and locals collide.
When you end up in the wrong lane
This is the thing that actually happens, and almost nobody writes it down.
You will pick the wrong lane at least once. Everybody does, including locals, and the roundabout gives you no time to fix it before you are on it.
Stay in the lane you are in. Do not cut across. Go round again, or take the exit your lane leads to and turn around somewhere calm. A roundabout is a circle and it is genuinely designed to let you have another go.
Missing your exit is the same answer. Keep going round. There is no penalty for a second lap and no one will know or care. The only thing that turns a missed exit into a collision is the correction: the swerve across a lane toward an exit you have already half passed.
If you take one practical thing from this page other than giving way to the right, take that. A wrong lane is not an emergency. A late correction is.
The part that has nothing to do with rules
You can read all of this and still get the first one wrong, because a roundabout does not give you time to think.
You arrive, you look, and you go. Whichever way you look first is a habit, not a decision. And for thirty years your first look has been left.
On a British roundabout, the car that will hit you is coming from the right.
That is the whole reason this is hard. Not the lane discipline, not the signaling, which you have just read and can recall. It is the direction your eyes go in the half second before you pull out, and that is not something reading fixes.
What to do before you land
Learn the table. It is genuinely all of it.
Then rehearse the look. LeftLane runs in your browser on a computer, tablet, or phone held sideways, and the first 10 scenarios are free forever, with no signup and no card. Twenty more sit behind a one-time pass if you want them. Roundabouts are one of the free ones, because they are the thing people ask about most.
Our fuller guide to driving in the UK as an American covers rental pickup, motorway signage and the first day.
Give way to the right, and let the cyclist have the lane.
Common questions
Which way do you go round a roundabout in the UK?
Clockwise. Traffic already on the roundabout comes from your right.
Who has priority on a UK roundabout?
Traffic approaching from your right, under Highway Code rule 185, unless signs, road markings or traffic lights direct otherwise.
Do you signal when going straight ahead on a roundabout?
Not on approach. Select the appropriate lane, do not signal, then signal left after you pass the exit before the one you want.
What lane do I use to turn right on a roundabout?
Signal right, approach in the right-hand lane, stay right on the roundabout, then signal left after passing the exit before yours.
Do cyclists have priority on UK roundabouts?
Since 29 January 2022 the Highway Code requires drivers to give priority to cyclists on the roundabout and not overtake them within their lane. Cyclists and horse riders may stay in the left-hand lane all the way round while signaling right.
Are mini-roundabouts different?
The give-way rule is the same. There is less space, so choose your exit before you arrive, and avoid driving over the painted circle.
You can recall the rules. The direction your eyes go first is the part that takes practice.
You have already learned the table. LeftLane is a browser practice tool for licensed drivers, covering the moments that change when traffic keeps left: pulling out, turning across traffic, and checking your road position afterward, while your attention is somewhere else.
Start the simulator →