This roundabout, on Woking's Lockfield Drive, is a "charger" roundabout. Motorists charge onto it, around it and off it at relatively high speeds.  Any cyclist attempting to negotiate this roundabout will sense intuitively that they are in a relatively dangerous situation. For motorists too, it can be quite a formidable place.

The DETR has published a Traffic Advisory Leaflet 9/97 entitled "Cyclists at Roundabouts - Continental Design Geometry".  It gives advice to road planning departments on the value of using principles of roundabout design developed in continental Europe, where the arms are perpendicular to the roundabout, rather than tangential. Single lane entries are used with minimal flare and a small diameter.

The Harelands roundabout is featured in the leaflet, along with six other roundabouts in Surrey and Oxfordshire. It is included as an example of the consequences of adopting the opposite approach to the recommendations within the leaflet.  It is hoped that the alternative design will reduce accidents by 10%, and should make roundabouts designed in such a manner, much more cycle-friendly.

Related news article:   Cycle path link to Horsell Birch and Harelands