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Crikey! Think I prefer L'Etoile! On a BAD day!

I ask same as Mike - what is wrong with a nice BIG roundabout?

[quote="Mad Moggie]I ask same as Mike - what is wrong with a nice BIG roundabout?[/quote]

Actually, magic roundabouts have greater capacity, in addition to offering the "short way" round, and you'll find that the apparently confusing situation forces EVERYONE to pay maximum attention to what's coming from their right, with the result that there are fewer prangs. However, I wouldn't recommend them for junctions with only 3 or 4 arms.

Actually, magic roundabouts have greater capacity, in addition to offering the "short way" round, and you'll find that the apparently confusing situation forces EVERYONE to pay maximum attention to what's coming from their right, with the result that there are fewer prangs. However, I wouldn't recommend them for junctions with only 3 or 4 arms.[/quote]


Oh surely not EVERYONE!

Muesli Munchers (sigh); the mumpties and numpties I met in and around Manchester yesterday (sigh!) ; white van drivers (usually those fleece drivers - sigh!); the pretzels I met in and around Preston the other day (sigh); the lunatics we met in Lancaster (sigh)....

UM Have I left anyone out?

Take back everything I muttered whilst in Paris last month! There are worse! Think I'll go back and practise around the L'Arc! That priorite business....

Actually prefer French drivers - at least they acknowledge they are numpties (well - think that's what all that hand waving was about! )

I have been on the magic roundabout in hemel hempstead and it is surprisingly good - although a little confusing the first time you meet it.

Having just come back from driving in Spain, where nobody seems to ever be in the right lane, it seems they are more aware of what is around them over there. Probably because they all just cut across 5 or 6 lanes going round a roundabout, they know someone else might do the same and so are very aware of what is around them and what might happen(half the time you cant see the traffic lights - I mean, "where is the signal???" - and if nothing seems to be coming your way you just put your foot down and hope for the best ). It seems in this country that a lot of people are not aware of what is outside their lane which is very dangerous IMO.

Ahh, the good 'ole Magic Roundabout in Swindon, I know it well Near the footie ground and Fire Station, there was a small piece on the local news when it reached it's fortieth birthday. Good old bit of 1960's newsreel with a commentry referring to it as a 'contra flowing, concenric gyrometery system' or something like that.

I know of folks who will go out of theri way to avoid navigating this little beauty, but it's real easy

Actually I'm amazed it doesn't suffer badly from rear-end shunts, as hurrying locals steam into the back of hesitant visitors stopping to give way to fresh air.

That's a big enough problem at "normal" roundabouts, let alone ones like this.

Formerly known as the "County Islands" (being near the County Ground), but "Magic Roundabout" is now the official name and is on the approach signs.

Ha ha, your kidding! Someone with a bit of a sense of humour at last

Nah he's not lol, it really is called the Magic Roundabout on the approach signs.

Its actually quite easy to get around, plus as mentioned before, you can get more traffic into the space available. If it were just one big roundabout there would be a big grassed over circle thingy in the middle, probably with some modern artwork sculpture stuck in it too. As it is there's loads of room, look at the white van right in the centre, he, and another one besides could head off up twards the dual carriageway at the top, even if there was other traffic negotiaing the roundabout to his right. Couldn't do that on a normal roundabout.

Indeed, and if you're driving in the Swindon area when Radio Swindon does a traffic bulletin, you'll hear the "Magic Roundabout" theme music used as a background.

I actually prefer the hemel hempstead one - two lanes going each way round the circle

there ya go

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uzz

In my view mini roundabouts are a cheap and generally safe and effective way of setting priorities at road junctions. They have been present in the SE for decades.

Rather more worrying is the increasing replacement of perfectly safe roundabouts, mini roundabouts and road junctions with traffic lights. It is little wonder that drivers feel inclined to jump the lights sometimes when there are so many of these often pointless obstructions to progress along the road. I do sometimes wonder if the bicycling councillors and officials who dream up these schemes are just nervous drivers (or non drivers) who are unable to negotiate a road junction.

Ooh, I quite agree! There's somewhere near Teeside, I forget where exactly, but there used to be a roundabout there and there were *never* any queues. Now, there are traffic lights, and *everybody* queues! What a wonderful bit of traffic planning..

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

Mini-roundabouts are the best solution where single-lane roads meet and there is a lot of right-turning.

One of my pet hates in driving is getting stuck behind someone else turning right when you yourself are either trying to continue ahead (from the main road) or turning left (out of a side road).

Mini-roundabouts tend to cure this problem. Turning right off the main road you have priority over oncoming traffic. Turning right onto the main road you only have to negotiate traffic coming from your right - when that is clear, traffic coming from your left must give way.

One principle that is not taught and not many know is, at busy times, to progress when someone is turning into the road where you are turning out.

Another principle is you only have to give way when the other vehicle has reached the junction. So approaching the roundabout, do not go into a vehicle which has emerged from the left before you arrived. So yes, you have to slow down!

Can you explain that one a bit more clearly, please? I'm a bit confused by it.

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

it's simple.

Let's assume a mini-roundabout at a crossroads. A mini-roundabout has only one roundabout lane.

As you see someone turning into the road from which you are attemping to pull out, that is your chance. (I haven't got a diagram to show you).

The other principle I mentioned is an obvious one - look where you're going. Until you actually reach the roundabout the person coming from the road on your left may pull out, and might not clear the path for you, so slow down then proceed (assuming it's clear).

The mini-roundabout is a great way to avoid deadlock (actually "starvation" which is often confused with deadlock), and generally makes right-turning safer.

I know what you mean but it is genearlly best to make sure they are actually turning and don't just have their indicator on by accident. Not always clear cut, especially with late brakers or slow moving vehicles.



Hmmm.. that should be the case, unfortunately theory doesn't pan out in practice, at least round here. Mini roundabouts seem to promote indicisiveness, you will often see vehicles at all four entrances each 'giving way' to another, then all setting off together, slamming on the anchors and repeating the process.

They were a rarity when I passed my test and my instruction at the didn't cover them. I could have quite easily gone though my driving career not knowing how to deal with them at all.

Ah, yes, I'm well experienced in knowing when your chance will come at a mini-roundabout, because the busiest roundabout in Barrow (links the road in with another road (both directions) and the supermarkets) is a mini roundabout! Best one is when someone's coming straight across, as they are guaranteed to block traffic from your right.



Priorities at a mini-roundabout are no different, you shouldn't need extra instruction for them really.

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

You shouldn't, and I don't, but from what I have seen there are many many people who do not have a clue. I am often flashed by someone impatiently waiting to turn right at the entrance opposite me, and who has been sat there for some time before I reached the roundabout.

Then again there are nearly as many people who don't have a clue when it comes to proper sized roundabouts. Indicating right to go straight on for example. Doing U-turns from the left lane. The latter I would believe were just people who got in the wrong lane if it wasn't that I knew someone who actually believed that to go back the way you came you should approach in the left hand lane.