Roundabouts—give way to the right

You give way to traffic to the right that is in or entering the roundabout.

But you also give way to vehicles ahead of you that may be moving lanes in order to exit.

But the biggest stupidity I see on a roundabout is people indicating that they are going ONTO a roundabout - rather than indicating what they plan to do on the roundabout.

You need to use your judgement. If the other car sees you are stopped at the roundabout and know its their 'right of way' they might keep going instead of slowing down. If you decide 'I'm here first' and enter the roundabout at the last moment, they'll crash into you, and you'll be at fault for not yielding to the car to your right.

Or more simply, treat the roundabout like a junction. Assume that you're entering from a minor road onto a major road with a yield sign. If there is a car coming from your right, assume they're not going to slow down to let you join the main road. This applies whether they are 'on the roundabout' or 'approaching the roundabout'

the 'give way lines' aren't a thing. Its not a race to get to those lines first so you can suddenly be on the roundabout and then claim priority

This is not the correct interpretation. Imagine a roundabout with 5 exits. North, South, East and West, feeding from and into main roads with mostly free flowing traffic that tend to join the roundabout at 50kph when traffic is free flowing, with one minor exit into an industrial estate with a sharp turn onto the roundabout that means traffic joins at 5kph…

The cars from the 5th entrance to the roundabout, the lets call it the 'northeast' entrance, will be arriving slower and will be entering from a very minor road onto a main road, so they should be much more cautious to allow heavier traffic to pass them rather than just getting onto the roundabout first and forcing cars that are already travelling faster to slam on the brakes to match their speed

You cannot ram a car already on the roundabout because you are on their right.

The fundamental concept of roundabouts is that people entering have to give way to those already on the roundabout. Since roundabouts are clockwise, this is where the giving way to the right comes in.

It Makes sense allright. if you see a car going fast before it enters the roundabout on your right you should yield if you have not yet entered the roundabout or you could pull out before he enters and you want to risk loosing a leg with that car smashing into your drivers door. You will be in the right tho if it goes to court. You can hop into court then for some compo.

The rules of the road say you have to yield to drivers approaching the roundabout from the right, even if they're not already on the roundabout.

This argument seems to be boiling down to the definition of 'yield'

The only actual legislation mentioning rules for roundabouts just says to go clockwise, otherwise regular junction legislation applies. You wouldn't enter a junction if can see you're going to impede someone else's progress, whether they're already in the junction or about to enter it. Likewise if you're going to be out of the way before they get there you can probably go for it.

Rules of road state "You must yield to traffic coming from the right, but keep moving if the way is clear."

That would include those entering from the right including the dumbass approaching at 80kmh and barging his way through because he could see nothing coming to his right.

That he is driving with care and attention would not give another motorist the right to move onto the roundabout because the dumbass driver should have slowed down.

My guess, if something like this went to court a judge would ask if you were able to prevent an accident and if you were, you'd probably be found at least partially at fault.

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you are correct

but what could be meant by "traffic coming from the right" given it mentions "or traffic already on the roundabout"?

it must be traffic coming from the right that is not "traffic already on the roundabout"?

I think that is the question….

Eh, yeah it does, not in those exact words, but that's what it says