Warwick driving test – Blacklow Roundabout

Wedgenock House in Warwick is the home of the local Driving Test Centre. Warwick is an historic county town, and the test routes from this centre may take you through the surrounding towns and villages, such as Leamington Spa, Kenilworth and Leek Wootton. The A46 is a major dual carriageway road, and test routes will include a portion of this road.

Being prepared is key – this post is the start of a series to help you understand the tricky areas you may encounter during a Warwick driving test.

Click here to download a free list of tricky bits – the document is a PDF designed to be printed off so that your supervising driver can help you. Please do not use a mobile device to view this document while driving – you and your supervising driver can be prosecuted and receive a fine and penalty points.

So, first let’s look at Blacklow Roundabout.

As you can see from the image above, the roundabout is a junction on the A46. It has four exits and five approaches. The A46 is carried over the roundabout on a flyover bridge. The northbound slip road leading to the roundabout is a steep-ish hill. The first exit here is signposted to Leek Wootton. The second exit takes you back on to the A46. The third exit leads to Hill Wootton, and the fourth to Warwick.

You may be wondering where the southbound slip road is. This is further south, and is accessed from the fourth (Warwick) exit, via a right filter lane.

There are no lane markings on the roundabout itself, so you will need to use the joint marks in the road as a guide to where the inner and outer ‘lanes’ are for position.

Approaching from A46 northbound

You can approach this as a conventional roundabout (i.e., left and ahead is left lane, third and fourth exits are right lane). The slip road is a fairly steep downhill gradient, so be prepared to be a little firmer on the brakes. A down shift to third gear will help with a bit of engine braking. The emerge is closed – you will need to be at a walking pace (first gear) to emerge as you will not be able to observe to the right until you are just behind the give way line.

Approaching from Leek Wootton

Again, there are no marked lanes, so it’s a conventional approach. To turn anywhere beyond the second exit, you will need to approach positioned on the right. There are some chevron bend signs which may interrupt your view, and the left bend is sharp on the approach. Early vision, early decision here – if you can observe between the signs, you will spy your gap with no problem.

Approaching from A46 southbound

The downhill slope requires slightly more braking again, so consider an intermediate gear, such as third, to assist with engine braking. Again, the emerge is fairly closed. There are marked lanes on the southbound slip road, so the left lane is for a left turn or going ahead (second exit). The right lane is for Leek Wootton and going around.

Approaching from Hill Wootton

Conventional approach again – anything beyond the Leek Wootton exit is an approach on the right.

Approaching from Warwick

This is where it gets tricky!

Both lanes are marked ahead, but there are text road markings showing the left lane as ‘Leek Wootton’. Therefore, if you need any exit further than Leek Wootton, you MUST approach in the right lane. If you are on the independent drive, following directions from the sat-nav, the direction will be ‘ahead, second exit’ for the A46 north. You must be in the right lane for this approach, and follow the inner part of the roundabout until you have passed the first exit (for Leek Wootton).

If you approach for the second exit in the left lane and attempt to go around the outside of the roundabout, you will receive a serious fault, and fail your test. If you’re in the left lane and the sat-nav has directed you to exit beyond the first exit, then you must go the wrong way towards Leek Wootton.

Conclusion

So there you have it – one of the trickier roundabouts on the Warwick test routes. You may get help from the examiner if you are not on the independent drive, but having this advance knowledge will help you avoid the common pitfalls of Blacklow Roundabout.