The Magic Roundabout

[BereIsland]

Riding in the USA was great, and riding on the right was made easier by the absence of roundabouts, now here's one that would even get me confused, I would pity you right hand riders with this one Steve

[Francois_Dumas]

Crikey ! I've actually BEEN there !!!

[BereIsland]

I hope you didn't too get dizzy, I just made sure I covered the horn when I tried to negotiate it

Steve

[OoPEZoO]

That looks more like a map for a shopping mall.

[Mike]

Here's a photo:

 

 

and a description of the roundabout. Having lived in England, I came to appreciate how efficient roundabouts are, but this looks pretty challenging.

[UberXY]

Roundabouts are tough to late apex.

[codinn]

How about a shot from Google Earth? Can you see it from outer space?

[ProductUser]

This looks like the nested round-about pattern in practice

[kcscout]

How about a shot from Google Earth? Can you see it from outer space?

[BereIsland]

Here's another blighter near Heathrow. Imagine flying into London, picking up your rental and facing this one . You can even go right on the big roundabout making sure your keeping left on the small roundabouts until you have gone all the way round the big roundabout. You should eventually end up back where you started

Steve

[BereIsland]

How about a shot from Google Earth? Can you see it from outer space?

 

Wow, well that's puzzling

 

Steve

[Quinn]

It's the asphalt equivilent of a crop circle.

[Mike O]

Riding in the USA was great, and riding on the right was made easier by the absence of roundabouts, now here's one that would even get me confused, I would pity you right hand riders with this one Steve

Want to explain this to me? If I'm driving from Oxford and I want to exit to Town Center (by the way, they misspelled it!) how many of these loop-de-doos' do I have to traverse?

 

Mike O

[Woodie]

Want to explain this to me? If I'm driving from Oxford and I want to exit to Town Center (by the way, they misspelled it!) how many of these loop-de-doos' do I have to traverse?

 

Mike O

 

Regis, I'll take 2...and that's my final answer!

[Fasterpill]

None! Just keep practicing those tight turns.

 

We have sick rotary's here in Malta, NY too. Yours is worse, amazingly!

 

 

They are each four laners (well, two in each direction). Someone's gonna die.

[Twisties]

Referring to the route at 2 O'clock on the diagram, that has a solid red bar... uhmmm... what's that about?

 

Just trying to start with the small stuff...

[JohnBeaven]

I am just happy to see we don't have anything like that here in Perth. Drivers here get confused with the simple, single roudabouts.

The purpose of a roundabout is to aid traffic flow. Because people here don't know how they work, roundabouts slow traffic down.

[James Clark]

Riding in the USA was great, and riding on the right was made easier by the absence of roundabouts, now here's one that would even get me confused, I would pity you right hand riders with this one Steve

Want to explain this to me? If I'm driving from Oxford and I want to exit to Town Center (by the way, they misspelled it!) how many of these loop-de-doos' do I have to traverse?

 

Mike O

 

Turn left and follow the outer circle clockwise or turn right into the counter-clockwise inner circle.

 

They claim it reduced congestion, but that's probably the result of scaring most people away.

[Ken H.]

You know they've been trying to introduce roundabouts in the US here and there, but it seems a lot of them are single lane around the circle. Which seems to me to add to the confusion and conflicts.. No inner lane to move to if you're continuing on around to be out of the way of the adding traffic as you pass additional entrances on the way to your exit.

 

Or maybe I just don't understand them well enough...

[Mike]

Referring to the route at 2 O'clock on the diagram, that has a solid red bar... uhmmm... what's that about?

 

Just trying to start with the small stuff...

 

"No through traffic"

[Zot]

It's the asphalt equivilent of a crop circle.

 

Yup! find the Chap that designed this, and you may be on the trail to answering the "crop circle" mystery.

[Baba_ORiley]

You know they've been trying to introduce roundabouts in the US here and there, but it seems a lot of them are single lane around the circle. Which seems to me to add to the confusion and conflicts.. No inner lane to move to if you're continuing on around to be out of the way of the adding traffic as you pass additional entrances on the way to your exit.

 

Or maybe I just don't understand them well enough...

 

While you're right about multi-lane roundabouts having an advantage of letting more traffic into the roundabout at any time, I think there are still some advantages of even the simple ones like you described. For one thing, whne there is little traffic, and unlike a stop sign at a crossroads, there is no need to stop, -- you just slow a little bit and can blast right through the roundabout. For that reason alone I love 'em. In the UK there are even simple ones that are nothing more than a painted white circle in the middle of an otherwise unmarked intersecting. But the trick is that all the regular roundabout rules apply, so everyone knows how to treat the intersection. Beats the hell out of the typical US intersection with a stop sign or traffic light where driver's are forced to stop even if there is no other traffic. What a waste of time and fuel!

 

BTW, I've been through that Magic Roundabout in the UK (near Swindon if I remember correctly) and the only way I made it was to follow another vehicle who seem to know what to do.

 

 

.

[bakerzdosen]

I think there are still some advantages of even the simple ones like you described. For one thing, whne there is little traffic, and unlike a stop sign at a crossroads, there is no need to stop

I agree. I have two roundabouts within a half-mile of me and it is nice to be able to just cruise through them. Not surprisingly they were put in within two blocks of the only Olympic venue in this county from 2002. I think they just wanted to appear more "international". (One even has a big sign that says "Provo welcomes the world.") One had to be converted from two lanes to one because no one "got it" apparently.

 

BTW, I've been through that Magic Roundabout in the UK (near Swindon if I remember correctly) and the only way I made it was to follow another vehicle who seem to know what to do.

That must have been awkward when the car arrived home.

[Bob Palin]

About the name The Magic Roundabout: it was a very popular 5 minute BBC TV programme for young kids that came on at the end of children's hour just before the news if I remember correctly (and I may not given the number of years that have passed). The characters were oddly compelling and the audience grew to include large numbers of older kids and adults, my family all watched it together while we were having our tea. It was actually a translation of a French programme though of course we didn't know that at the time or it would have been in the poubelle before the news could start...

 

My favourite character was Dylan, a hippie rabbit. The character who seemed to be in charge and always ended each show saying 'time for bed' was Zebedee, who was a strange half figure on a spring who bounced everywhere. During my teenage years women who went bra-less were said to be going Zebedee.

[Ken H.]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm all for them. I think this pattern of a traffic light at every third intersection is ridiculous, and as mentioned; a gigantic waste of time and fuel. I just wish they'd build them correctly with two lanes here in the U.S.

[motoguy128]

I was on a highway in Northern France near Lille, and there was a freeway that had a series of roundabout seperated by about 2-3km. You basically raced up to 120kph... whcih for me meant I passed the 1 or 2 trucks in front of me, then moved over as I flogged the poor little rental diesel that could, to let the larger faster cars pass me. Then you raced up the the next one, tossed it right then left, then right again at hte exit. Lots of fun. If you're not sure where your exit is (signage in France is pretty poor), oy just keep circling.

 

We had roundabouts at my college. I seem them popping up occasionally, but I hear Americans get terrible confused by them. I think many Americans can't drive in a straight line as they approach the circle while looking for traffic to their left.

[onmyrt]

As huge as this roundabout is, as many lanes as there are feeding into it, it's surprisingly devoid of traffic.

[Darren]

I learnt to drive in Swindon and this was on the test route, and when it was being built the layout was changed almost every week, the path being laid out with white painted tires. And it is the only roundabout that you can drive round anti clockwise, if you use each section as a separate rounabout. Also the word Centre is spelt correctly for those of us that have been brought up speaking the Queen's english

Darren

[Woodie]

OMG! I remember that show!

 

I happened to watch it in French, so I didn't associate the name with the show. Zebedee was the one I remember.

[BereIsland]

About the name The Magic Roundabout: it was a very popular 5 minute BBC TV programme for young kids that came on at the end of children's hour just before the news if I remember correctly (and I may not given the number of years that have passed). The characters were oddly compelling and the audience grew to include large numbers of older kids and adults, my family all watched it together while we were having our tea. It was actually a translation of a French programme though of course we didn't know that at the time or it would have been in the poubelle before the news could start...

 

My favourite character was Dylan, a hippie rabbit. The character who seemed to be in charge and always ended each show saying 'time for bed' was Zebedee, who was a strange half figure on a spring who bounced everywhere. During my teenage years women who went bra-less were said to be going Zebedee.

 

Said Dougal

[Mark P]

You can see a video of the roundabout here

 

and the orginal -

[Ron_B]

According to Wikipedia, traffic circles - which are more often found in the US - and roundabouts are slightly different.

 

From Wiki traffic circles:

 

"The experience with traffic circles in the US was almost entirely negative, characterized by high accident rates and congestion problems. By the mid 1950s, construction of traffic circles had ceased entirely. The experience with traffic circles in other countries was not much better until the development of the modern roundabout in the United Kingdom during the 1960s."

 

 

Apart from the differences between the two which are noted on the Wiki roundabout page, I feel that older traffic circles in the US are often poorly designed.

 

There is a traffic circle in Des Plaines Illinois that some people jokingly refer to as "The Circle Of Death." I can't tell you how many times I've almost been creamed there. If you look at the animation on Wiki's roundabout page, it appears that on a properly designed roundabout, you must enter in one of the inside lanes to circumnavigate the circle. Entering from the outside lane limits you to exiting at the very next "spoke."

 

The Des Plaines circle has 5 spokes. In the outside lane, you are allowed to bypass some spokes, and not others. (try exiting from the inside while someone on the outside is continuing on and...BOOM!) This, along with idiots in the outside lane who don't exit when they must, is a recipe for havoc.

 

If planners in the US propose to build more modern roundabouts, that's ok with me as long as they're well designed. On the other hand, we've got so many idiot drivers that maybe we should just stick to intersections with old fashioned traffic control signs and signals.

[James Clark]

About the name The Magic Roundabout: it was a very popular 5 minute BBC TV programme for young kids that came on at the end of children's hour just before the news if I remember correctly (and I may not given the number of years that have passed). The characters were oddly compelling and the audience grew to include large numbers of older kids and adults, my family all watched it together while we were having our tea. It was actually a translation of a French programme though of course we didn't know that at the time or it would have been in the poubelle before the news could start...

 

My favourite character was Dylan, a hippie rabbit. The character who seemed to be in charge and always ended each show saying 'time for bed' was Zebedee, who was a strange half figure on a spring who bounced everywhere. During my teenage years women who went bra-less were said to be going Zebedee.

 

 

"Shut up, Donny!"

 

[MotorinLA]

This thread brought back memories from watching National Lampoon's European Vacation, when they got stuck in the Paris roundabout for hours...

 

For all you Mensa candidates on this board, how many different unique patterns could you complete in this roundabout??

 

Inquiring minds would like to know...

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Roundabouts are becoming more popular here in the US now. There are a few in Colorado, and recently they finished construction on a pair of them here in Ann Arbor at a highway interchange; the trumpet-style on/off ramps meet at a roundabout on either side of the highway.

 

(actually I've just read that there's a third one been completed somewhere in town recently, too...)

[velomoto]

Roundabouts are becoming more popular here in the US now. There are a few in Colorado...

Yup, it's true - roundabouts are showing up in lots of the new neighborhoods where traffic is slow and light. There have been a couple proposed on major multi-lane intersections but the local resistance is high and there's a natural fear of change which seems to win in the end. Considering how many people run traffic lights and stop signs, roundabouts just might be the solution! Rumor is that RA's are more efficient at getting traffic thru an intersection. I like 'em so I can practice my left hand turns. Clover leafs are used to practice turning right!

 

That said, I did have an interesting experience with a cage on one of the first roundabouts built out here. They were going the WRONG WAY in order to make a left turn! Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic and I was observing from behind as they executed their left turn. Who knows, maybe the driver was from the UK and momentarily forgot where he was!