Article 15 settles direction and nothing else
The roundabout article tells you to turn left on entering. It gives circulating traffic no priority and says nothing about lanes or signalling, so learners who look for those answers inside it never find them.
Source: Irish Statute Book, Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 15, checked on 2026-09-15
No Irish rule decides who goes first on a roundabout. Article 15 of the Traffic and Parking Regulations 1997 says one thing only: on entering, turn left, so you travel clockwise. Priority comes from the yield sign or yield line, and at a signed mini-roundabout from regulation 5 of S.I. No. 332 of 2012.
The rules
Article 15 settles direction and nothing else
The roundabout article tells you to turn left on entering. It gives circulating traffic no priority and says nothing about lanes or signalling, so learners who look for those answers inside it never find them.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 15The yield sign or yield line does the real work
Nearly every Irish roundabout is approached past a yield sign, a yield line or both, and those carry the duty to yield to traffic on the major road, which here is the circulating carriageway.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, arts 21, 21(A), 21(B)A stop sign on the approach means stop, not slow
Some approaches carry a stop sign or a stop line instead. Then you stop before the line even when the roundabout is empty, and where both are present you stop at the line.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 20An unsigned approach falls back to the junction rule
With no sign and no lines, the ordinary rule applies: if your road ends at the junction you yield to the other road, otherwise you yield to traffic from your right. That fallback is where yielding to the right comes from.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 8(5)You always yield to anyone already committed
At a junction or a cycle track crossing you yield to a vehicle already turning or crossing and to a pedestrian already crossing. Here that covers the driver still coming round and the walker halfway over your exit.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 8(3)Mini-roundabouts have a priority rule of their own
On entering a mini-roundabout signed RUS 049 you yield to traffic already on it, turn left and follow the arrows. You must not drive over the RRM 033 installation in the centre, and the blue circular sign is mandatory, not advice.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2012, reg. 5(1), (2)Lane arrows on the approach are binding
Arrows painted in a lane must be followed, so the road decides your lane before you reach the yield line, not the exit you would rather use.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 27(2), (3)Changing lane on the roundabout means yielding again
You may move into another lane only after yielding to traffic already in it. Circulating traffic does not lose that protection because you have indicated.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 8(8)Signal in good time, and never two ways at once
Signal before slowing, stopping or changing course, early enough to be useful, and never give contradictory signals. A right indicator still running past your exit is a contradictory signal, and so is an early left one.
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, art. 18(1), (3), (4)
Where roundabout priority actually comes from
The chain is short and worth learning as a chain. Look first for a stop sign or stop line, which requires a stop. Look next for a yield sign or yield line, which is what nearly every approach carries. If neither is there, the unmarked junction rule applies.
That explains an oddity. The Regulations never say the words give way to traffic on the roundabout, because the sign or line at the entry already carries that duty and the mini-roundabout rule fills the gap it leaves.
Third exit from a two-lane approach
Read the lane arrows while you are still approaching. If only the right-hand lane is arrowed for your exit, that is where you must be.
Signal right as you commit to that lane, early enough for the driver behind and the driver waiting at the next entry.
Yield at the yield line. Had the approach carried a stop sign instead, you would stop even with the roundabout empty.
Going round, hold your lane, and move out only after yielding to anyone already in the lane you want.
Cancel the right signal and give a left one as you pass the exit before yours, then check the left mirror before you leave.
Where learners go wrong
Hunting for a roundabout priority rule. Article 15 gives direction, and the sign, the line or the junction fallback gives priority.
Treating a mini-roundabout as paint to drive across. The centre is an installation to go round, and entering traffic yields.
Sorting the lane out on the roundabout after the approach arrows have already decided it.
Crossing to the inside lane without yielding to the vehicle already there.
Leaving a right indicator on past the exit, or giving a left one a full exit too early.
Sources
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, arts 8, 15, 18, 20, 21, 27, checked on 2026-09-15
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2012, reg. 5 (mini-roundabouts), checked on 2026-09-15
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (art. 8(3) as substituted), checked on 2026-09-15
Source: irishstatutebook.ie, Road Traffic (Traffic Signs) Regulations 2025, regs 4 and 12 (RUS 049), checked on 2026-09-15
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