The Unfamiliar Roundabout With a Fire Truck
You are driving an unfamiliar rental car into a multi-lane roundabout near Martinsburg. You intend to take the third exit. Signage indicates the right lane serves the first and second exits and the left lane serves the third and fourth. You are currently in the right lane, with a car beside you in the left lane. As you enter, you hear a siren and see a fire truck approaching from behind on your left, apparently intending to enter the roundabout. Traffic inside the circle is moving. You are not sure whether you are allowed to stop inside the roundabout, and the car beside you is not slowing.
1. How should you have positioned the vehicle for a third-exit destination, and what do you do now that you are in the wrong lane?
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For a third exit in a roundabout where the left lane serves exits three and four, you should have entered in the left lane and stayed there until your exit, then moved right to leave. Since you are already in the right lane with a car alongside in the left, do not cut across that car to reach the third exit. The safer choice is to take the exit the right lane serves, or continue around the circle and reposition when it is clear, rather than swerve across a lane inside the circle. Circling once more is a minor inconvenience; a lane change into an occupied lane inside a roundabout is a collision risk.
2. The fire truck is approaching with its siren on. What are your obligations, and how does being inside a roundabout change them?
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You must yield to an emergency vehicle operating its siren and lights - pull to the right and stop, but only where it is safe. Inside a roundabout you generally should not stop in the circulating lane, because stopping there blocks the circle and can cause a rear-end collision. The practical response is to continue to your exit at a controlled speed, signal, and clear the roundabout, then pull to the right and stop once you are out of the circle. Do not stop abruptly mid-circle, and do not accelerate to outrun the truck. The car beside you may not have heard the siren; do not assume it will yield, so keep your lane position predictable.
3. What signals and lane discipline apply as you actually leave the roundabout?
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Signal right before your exit so drivers behind and beside you know your intention, and check your right mirror and blind spot for cyclists or pedestrians at the exit crosswalk. Yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk at the exit. Maintain your lane through the circle - do not drift between lanes - and exit from the lane that corresponds to your destination. If you missed your exit and are circling again, keep signaling consistently and do not stop inside the circle to reconsider.