Give way to vehicles already in the roundabout, use the left lane to turn left and the right lane to turn right, and indicate left on the way out. Going straight, use either permitted lane and stay in it. Those are the published answers in Transport for NSW questions SI060, IN056, IN067, IN063, IN059 and IN057.
Transport for NSW publishes 15 car questions that mention a roundabout. Twelve sit among the 51 Intersections questions and three sit in Traffic Signs. That makes roundabouts 12 of 51 questions in the Intersections section and 15 of 358 across the bank, or 4.2 percent. All 15 carry an image, according to the Transport for NSW bank count completed on 3 September 2026.
Those figures and every question code in this guide belong to the published New South Wales car bank, not a separate national question bank. The manoeuvres are useful wherever you drive, but the proof offered here remains New South Wales evidence. At any real roundabout, follow the signs and painted arrows in front of you. Transport for NSW question IN063 establishes the either-lane answer, while NSW Road Rules 2014 rules 111 and 116 make applicable lane arrows controlling.
Before you enter: identify the roundabout and give way
Start reading the intersection before the give way line. The roundabout sign tells you to slow down, be ready to stop and give way to every vehicle already on the roundabout if a collision could occur. That full instruction is the published answer to Transport for NSW question SI060 and is reflected in NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 114. It does not award priority merely because another vehicle is to your right but has not entered.
Your safe gap depends on the vehicles already circulating, including traffic that entered from the left or opposite side and has reached your path. The test shortcut is to ask where the vehicle is now, not where it entered. Transport for NSW question SI060 makes existing roundabout traffic the group you must assess. Slow enough to stop, scan across the circulating lanes, and enter only when your path will not create a collision.
NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 115 requires a driver in a roundabout to drive to the left of the central traffic island, whether or not a keep left sign sits on it. Transport for NSW question SI002 gives the sign's meaning as pass to the left. Do not confuse that instruction with the warning tested in SI039, whose published answer is stop sign ahead, slow down and prepare to stop. The page at /signs/regulatory/roundabout helps separate the roundabout symbol from other signs before you practise the diagrams.
Turning left: left lane, left signal, left exit
For a normal two-lane approach, choose the left lane before reaching the roundabout. Transport for NSW asks this twice with different diagrams: IN056 publishes left lane, while IN060 identifies the correct lane as Lane A. The repeated test point is lane choice before entry. Moving across late adds a separate lane-change problem and can leave you beside a vehicle whose driver expects you to continue around.
Signal left before entering and keep the left indicator operating throughout the turn. Transport for NSW question IN058 publishes the answer left from start to finish. That timing gives drivers behind you notice before you slow and tells circulating traffic that you plan to take the first exit. Because the signal continues through the manoeuvre, there is no second indicator change to remember for this particular turn.
Enter in the left lane and leave in the left lane. That is the published answer to Transport for NSW question IN062, and it joins approach position to exit position in one rule. The three-part memory check is therefore lane, signal, lane: select left, indicate left, remain left. Four published questions, IN056, IN058, IN060 and IN062, examine this single manoeuvre from different angles, so learn the sequence rather than one diagram.
Going straight ahead: choose a lane, then hold it
At the two-lane roundabout shown in Transport for NSW question IN063, either lane may be used to travel straight ahead. First check that painted arrows permit straight-ahead travel from your chosen lane, because NSW Road Rules 2014 rules 111 and 116 require drivers to obey applicable lane arrows. If both lanes permit it, choose early enough to join without a hurried change near the line.
Once you enter, keep the lane you chose. Transport for NSW question IN061 publishes keep in the lane you entered the roundabout, and IN059 says you must leave in the same lane as you entered. If you entered from the left, follow the left circulating lane into the left exit lane. If you entered from the right, hold the right circulating lane and leave into the corresponding permitted lane shown by the markings.
Do not signal on approach merely because you are taking the straight-ahead exit. NSW Road Rules 2014 rules 112 and 113 prescribe entry signals for first-exit left and more-than-halfway movements, while rule 118 covers the left exit signal. Transport for NSW question IN057 says signal left after point O, the marked point immediately after the exit before the driver's intended exit. In ordinary driving terms, pass the exit before yours, then indicate left for your own exit.
The timing in IN057 prevents an ambiguous early signal. If you signal left before passing the earlier exit, another driver may believe you will leave there. After that exit is behind you, the same signal communicates the correct movement. Keep steering within your lane while signalling, because Transport for NSW questions IN061 and IN059 separately test lane continuity around the roundabout and through the exit.
Turning right: enter from the right lane
For a right turn at a two-lane roundabout, position the car in the right lane before entry. Transport for NSW question IN067 shows a red car incorrectly positioned and publishes the correction that it should enter only from the right-hand lane. NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 113 requires a right signal on approach for a more-than-halfway exit, while rule 118 requires a left exit signal when practicable.
The left lane is not a spare right-turn lane simply because the roundabout looks wide. Transport for NSW question IN066 places the marked car in the left lane and asks whether it can turn right. The published answer is no, not at any time. That wording removes the tempting test answer that the turn becomes acceptable after the driver has travelled partway around.
Plan the right turn as three decisions. Select the right approach lane, give way to vehicles already circulating, then stay in the lane that carries you towards the right-turn exit. The lane requirement comes from Transport for NSW questions IN067 and IN066, and the entry obligation comes from SI060. As the exit before yours passes, signal left using the timing tested at point O in IN057.
Turning back the way you came: remain right throughout
A full turn returns you to the road from which you entered, often called a U-turn at a roundabout. Transport for NSW question IN065 publishes one unbroken instruction: stay in the right lane all the way round. Choose that lane before entry and do not drift into the outer lane. NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 113 requires the right signal before entry and while continuing around until preparing to leave.
Prepare to leave only after you pass the exit immediately before the road you are returning to. Then indicate left for the exit, using the timing principle shown by Transport for NSW question IN057 and the exit duty in NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 118. The lane remains the right circulating lane until the markings lead it out. Question IN065 tests position for the whole circle, so an unnecessary lane change is not the tested manoeuvre.
Choose your lane in four decisions
First, decide whether your exit is left, straight ahead, right, or back towards your starting road. For left, choose the left lane under Transport for NSW questions IN056 and IN060. For straight ahead, either permitted lane works under IN063. For right, choose the right lane under IN067 and IN066. For a full turn, choose right and stay there under IN065.
Second, match the approach signal to the manoeuvre. A left turn uses the left indicator from start to finish under Transport for NSW question IN058 and NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 112. Straight ahead needs no turn signal on approach, but uses a left exit signal at the point taught by IN057. A right turn or full turn starts with a right signal under rule 113, then changes to left under rule 118.
Third, treat the give way decision as separate from lane choice. Being correctly positioned does not give you permission to enter through circulating traffic. Transport for NSW question SI060 requires you to slow down, be ready to stop, and give way to vehicles already on the roundabout where collision danger exists. Check both circulating lanes when the roundabout has two lanes, because either may cross or run beside your intended path.
Fourth, preserve your lane through the circle and exit unless markings direct another permitted path. Transport for NSW question IN061 says to keep the lane used on entry, while IN059 says to leave in that same lane. The decision is made before entry because a mid-roundabout correction demands more observation, signalling and giving way than simply selecting the proper approach lane in time.
Worked example: Hana drives straight ahead in Wollongong
Hana is a hypothetical learner on a lesson in Wollongong. She approaches a two-lane roundabout and wants the straight-ahead second exit. Both approach arrows allow straight-ahead travel, and slower traffic occupies the left lane, so she selects the right lane before the give way line. Transport for NSW question IN063 supports either lane for the pictured two-lane straight-ahead movement, while IN061 requires her to keep the lane she enters.
Hana does not indicate right on approach because she is not turning right. She slows and checks every vehicle already circulating in either lane. A ute is already on the roundabout and will cross the path she needs, so she waits behind the line even though her lane is correct. Transport for NSW question SI060 makes the ute's presence and collision risk decisive, not Hana's chosen lane or arrival time.
After the ute clears, Hana enters the right circulating lane and holds it. She does not cut towards the outer lane beside another car, because Transport for NSW questions IN061 and IN059 require her to continue and leave in the lane she entered. She also watches that neighbouring car rather than assuming it will continue, since IN064 warns a motorcyclist travelling straight that the marked car may be leaving the roundabout.
Hana passes the first exit, the one immediately before hers, and only then signals left. That reproduces the point O timing in Transport for NSW question IN057. She follows the right lane into the corresponding exit lane and cancels the signal after leaving, as NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 118 requires. Her sequence is right lane, no approach turn signal, give way, hold the lane, pass the prior exit, signal left, then exit.
Read the other vehicle, not just its indicator
A vehicle beside you in the outer lane can leave while you continue straight. Transport for NSW question IN064 makes a motorcyclist watch the marked car because that car may be leaving the roundabout. The practical instruction is to avoid sitting alongside another vehicle where its exit path could meet yours. Keep checking mirrors and the adjacent lane as the next exit approaches, even when your own position is correct.
Indicators communicate intention, but position still needs observation. IN064 tests what the neighbouring car may do, IN057 tests when your own left signal begins, and SI060 tests the entry conflict. Together, the Transport for NSW questions divide one busy scene into three checks: circulating traffic before entry, lane position while travelling around, and a clear left signal after passing the exit before yours.
Practise the diagrams as decisions
Do not memorise a car colour or the position of an arrow in one picture. For each image, name the intended exit, choose the approach lane, state the entry signal, identify the traffic that must be given way to, trace the lane through the circle, and set the exit-signal point. All 15 roundabout items use images in the Transport for NSW bank counted on 3 September 2026, so visual reading is part of every tested answer.
Work through all 51 published Intersections items at /nsw/questions/intersections, then check the other sections within all 358 items at /nsw/questions. Use /nsw/practice to answer them without relying on the sequence in this guide. The question source is the Transport for NSW Driver Knowledge Test car bank, retrieved 27 August 2026 and licensed under CC BY 4.0, with the agency's published answers retained.
Common questions
- Question
- Who gives way at a roundabout in Australia?
- A driver entering gives way to vehicles already on the roundabout when there is danger of a collision. Transport for NSW question SI060 also tells the approaching driver to slow down and be ready to stop. Judge vehicles by whether they are already circulating and could meet your path, rather than applying a shortcut based only on which approach road is to your right.
- Question
- Which lane should I use to go straight at a roundabout?
- Either lane may be used in the two-lane situation published as Transport for NSW question IN063, provided signs and arrows permit straight-ahead travel. After choosing, stay in that lane under IN061 and leave in the same lane under IN059. Check the actual road markings before entry because a marked lane may be reserved for a turn.
- Question
- Do I indicate when going straight through a roundabout?
- Do not give a turn signal on approach for straight-ahead travel. Indicate left for the exit after passing the exit immediately before yours. Transport for NSW question IN057 publishes after point O, with point O shown beyond the previous exit. NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 118 says to signal left when leaving if practicable, which covers cases where a small roundabout gives too little time.
- Question
- Can I turn right from the left lane at a roundabout?
- Not in the ordinary two-lane car situation tested by Transport for NSW. Question IN066 shows a car in the left lane and publishes no, not at any time. Question IN067 separately says the right-turning car should enter only from the right-hand lane. Signs or arrows at the real roundabout remain the directions you must read before selecting a lane.
- Question
- What lane do I use for a U-turn at a roundabout?
- Use the right lane and remain there all the way around. That is the published answer to Transport for NSW question IN065 for returning to the same road. Signal right under NSW Road Rules 2014 rule 113, then signal left under rule 118 after passing the exit immediately before yours, applying the timing tested in IN057 without changing into the outer circulating lane.
- Question
- When do I indicate left to exit a roundabout?
- For straight ahead, right turns and full turns, begin the left signal after you have passed the exit before the one you will take. Transport for NSW question IN057 marks that moment as after point O. For a left turn, question IN058 instead keeps the left indicator on from start to finish because the first exit is the intended exit.
- Question
- Why are roundabout questions hard on the knowledge test?
- Every one of the 15 roundabout questions in the 358-item Transport for NSW car bank includes an image, based on the bank count completed on 3 September 2026. The picture can test lane position, intended exit, another vehicle's path and signal timing at once. Convert each diagram into those separate decisions before choosing an answer.
Sources
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How this guide is kept honest
Every figure above names the agency or dataset it came from and the date it was checked. Where a number has not been confirmed against an agency or an open dataset, the guide says it is being verified rather than filling the gap. Licensing rules change, so check the agency page before you pay for anything or book a test.
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