Driving without due care and attention

[fiesta7]

I have just been sent through a court summons for the above discretion and i am completely incensed by the whole thing. I was approaching a roundabout on a duel carriage way (2 lanes) which was signposted to be in the left lane to turn left or the right lane for a diaganol right turn. I was in the wrong lane i must admit which was the left lane and i left the roundabout on the diaganol right turn. However, this turning has 2 lanes so both myself and the car alongside me (in the correct lane) were able to go around the roundabout together without any problems. The second part of my wrong doing was as i travelled along the road having left the roundabout i moved from lane 1 to lane 3. I quote the exact phrase the officer used in his statement "The fiesta moved from lane 1 with a right indicator into lane 3 again though this was in front of other vehicles that were slowly making progress up to the junction". How else are you supposed to change lanes when you approach a set of traffic lights? I indicated right and safely moved across the lanes. I'd like to add through this whole process i did not touch another car, receive a horn or flash from any other road users. In a nutshell, i dont really know where i stand, i can't believe that by being in the incorrect lane approaching a round about can be worth points on my licence but that is what i am facing. Has anyone got any thoughts on this or advice? Many thanks in advance

[Everhelpful]

He was probably short of his quota of arrests for the month.!!
If you can afford it I would see a Solicitor as from what you say you did nothing wrong. Good Luck.

[claguey]

Your interpretation of 'safely moved across the lanes' is obviously not what was witnessed by the officer. You didn't see what your actions may have caused to other drivers - lane 1 to lane 3 is a big move, across two lanes? Perhaps you should have waited for a safe gap in the traffic first before moving lanes, instead of assuming right of way over other vehicles simply because you had your indicator on. You could appeal, but as I said your interpretation is not what the officer witnessed, you are viewing the incident only from your persepective, the officer observes and is objective.
Everhelpful? That type of flippant comment really isn't helpful and does challenge your ABer name.

[BenDToy]

How much more wrong can you be? You turned right around a roundabout from a left lane with a filter arrow on it? At the very least you should have waited until the right lane was clear before going on to the roundabout and clearly indicated your intention as you went round - what if the other vehicle had moved into lane 1 as he left the roundabout? This is quite a common manouevre, although not good practice.
Then you moved across 3 lanes of traffic to get into the outer lane. I bet your ears were burning! You probably didn't hear the horns because of the volume of swearing going on. By the way, the police statement refers to you moving into lane 3 "again". Why did he use that word - had you already changed lanes approaching the roundabout? If so you really are a severe danger on the roads.
So you readily admit to 2 (and possibly 3) grave errors in the space of a few yards. And all this in full view of a Police Officer! What must you be like on a long journey? I agree a prosecuton was quite harsh, but you really seem like a menace on the road - especially as you seem to be trying to defend what you did. I recommend some additional driving lessons for you. (And maybe for Everhelpful as well who thinks that fiesta7 did nothing wrong. Even fiesta7 didn't claim that!)

[Loosehead]

The main offence here is that you where not driving a BMW, then you movements are all automatically valid as long as you do not use the indicators.

[fiesta7]

Thanks for all your input. I'd like to clarify a couple of things though. I'm not denying that i was in the incorrect lane approaching the roundabout but as there were two lanes going around the roundabout and i was clear of the car in the correct lane i feel it was very harsh to get punished under this law for the 'crime'.

With regards to the moving across 3 lanes of traffic. Firstly, the road had only just turned into 3 lanes as coming of the roundabout it was originally 2 lanes so as you can imagine the volume of traffic on there is significantly less. Secondly, it wasn't like i swerved all in one movement from lane 1 to 3 either. This whole road from round about to traffic lights is approx 800m and at the time the traffic lights ahead were red, therefore as the traffic approaching the junction was fairly slow i can't see what else i can do other than indicate right and move into the correct lane. Someone said my ears were probably burning so didn't hear all the horns etc - i was completely calm and aware of what i was doing the whole time i just made a mistake in lane choice leading up to the roundabout at the beginning. It is absolutely no excuse but since then every single time (this is without exception) that i go across this roundabout cars filter from the left lane and turn right. I am always in the correct lane now (learnt my lesson) but the wrongdoing cars have no affect on me as there are two lanes.

Anyway, cut to the chase, does anyone have enough experience of this crime to have a realistic view on what level of punishment i am likely to receive. I have only received 3 pen point in the past for speeding (37 in 30 zone) and have held a full license since 1999. Thanks

[fattymatty]

i think you will be looking at about six points may be a little fine and court costs sh*t happens and some police men have nothin better to do, as we all know its not the guy robbin your gran that there bothered about

[fiesta7]

You say 6 points but the punishment for this 'crime' is 3-9 points isn't it? I can't see what you can do that is less than what i did (bearing in mind there wasn't any accidents,horning tooting etc) to get the 3 points then.