| On a plain 2-lane roundabout when you're driving the outside lane you are not forced to leave it at the 2nd exit. Sometimes there are even no signs/arrows on the road that require you to do it. It is expected of you, but if you happen to be one of the drivers that suddenly change their minds or you don't know how to drive on roundabouts you could continue driving around in the outside lane. So a typical situation which makes roundabouts dangerous is when you're driving in the inside lane and you want to take the second exit (on a 4-exit roundabout that's going straight). If a driver next to you (in the outside lane) carries on driving until the third exit, they'll crash into you. If it happens to you in Poland the situation even more stressful, because according to law, you are (partly) the responsible party, because you were the one who changed lanes! IMHO, that's why turbine roundabouts are a great idea. Too bad that there aren't many of those or they are implemented incorrectly. See [0]. The outside lane ends in only 2 of 4 exits. Is it 50% safer though? [0] https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2547072,20.9822988,188m/data... |
If you want to take the second exit, you should be in the outside lane to start with. In the UK, for a standard two-lane roundabout, unless indicated otherwise by road markings and/or signs the outside lane is for taking the first or second exit, and the inside lane is for taking the third and subsequent exits. You move from inside to outside as you pass the second exit.
There are also rules for indicating correctly that help smooth the traffic flow, but unfortunately many drivers seem oblivious to (or just ignore) them. Also, on smaller two-lane roundabouts more than a few drivers will cut across the inside lane (taking the shortest path) with no consideration for vehicles beside them.