I used to live close to this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Colchester) - it's actually very easy to do, and is really nothing more than a road that happens to run in a loop and has 5 small roundabouts on it. The junction in the current configuration works a lot better than it did when it was a large regular roundabout, as the pattern of traffic made it almost completely impossible to enter the roundabout at some of the entrances.
Magic Roundabout
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: Magic Roundabout
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Myself too. Hangar Lane is far scarier as the driving mentality is central London style and there are 7 lanes.
Hanger Lane is scary as most drivers haven't realised that it's not really a (proper) roundabout any more. On a normal roundabout if you stay in a lane (one of the inside ones at least) you'll just keep going round and round. With the redesigned Hanger Lane you get in the lane marked for your exit and the outer lanes slowly peel off as feeders for the appropriate turnings. If you want to keep going round and round yo…
That's how you're supposed to do it. Here's how it ends up on a Saturday afternoon:
You queue for 30 minutes on the A406 with 9000 people who have left Wembley Ikea bashing your head on the steering wheel, then sling your car onto Hangar Lane like a trebuchet the moment the opposing traffic lights have gone red (not yours have gone green), slide across three to five lanes randomly, swerve to avoid the Polish truck driver who can't see you because his vehicle is LHD, avoid the police car parked on the inside to protect the previously crashed vehicle, shout "fuck you" out of the window a few times at other drivers, the traffic lights which have screwed you repetitively and any pedestrian zombies trying to short cut it across the junction and possibly several people trying to clean your windows, middle finger the BMW on your left which wasn't there two seconds ago, then desperately try to force everyone out of your way honking wildly as the 2 lanes onto the A40 narrow to one...
Followed by speed up/slow down for a bit because of the Gatsos then a celebratory victory McDonalds (and to shut the kids up) at the A312 junction a few miles down the road (or American Diner on the A40 if you want to spend the entire evening on the toilet).
Re: Magic Roundabout
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Myself too. Hangar Lane is far scarier as the driving mentality is central London style and there are 7 lanes.
I hear you. Although that roundabout is scary, some of the entry ramps to the A-14 are worse. It feels like you have 3 meters to merge with two lanes full of inexpertly driven lorries.
Ha I know the ones. The worst one is coming out of the Fenstanton junction towards Cambridge. Did that in thick fog and the dark a couple of days ago.
Re: Magic Roundabout
#34We must go deeper. But seriously, are they all that rare? There's one similar just down the road from me (Colchester) and it's a pain when you're learning to drive.
Re: Magic Roundabout
#35I used to live close to this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Colchester) - it's actually very easy to do, and is really nothing more than a road that happens to run in a loop and has 5 small roundabouts on it. The junction in the current configuration works a lot better than it did when it was a large regular roundabout, as the pattern of traffic made it almost completely impossible to enter the r…
That's the one I'm near too. It isn't actually that hard. You just need to treat it as a normal road and not a big roundabout.
Re: Magic Roundabout
#36Isn't there another one of these in Essex somewhere, other than Colchester? I seem to remember passing it on the way to Canvey.
Re: Magic Roundabout
#37It's funny how this ended up on here - this article about "nail houses" was recently posted today: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4915398
The magic roundabout is mentioned in another posting on that same site: http://www.theworldgeography.com/2011/08/top-10-strange-stre...
Re: Magic Roundabout
#38Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPANKRHL9HU
Re: Magic Roundabout
#39This is basically two normal roundabouts, one inside the other, with traffic direction the opposite way in the inner lane. Or a two-lane roundabout. It allows you to spend less time on the roundabout if you want to take the junction to your right, as you would usually have to go to your left and do an almost complete lap. Compare reaching your parent on a singly-linked list to a doubly-linked list. Being able to trav…
Going by the diagram, I think it makes more sense to think of it as 6 roundabouts in a circle. The inner "reverse roundabout" is just you entering and leaving each roundabout by the first exit in turn. The "outer roundabout" is similarly you entering and leaving via the second exit of each roundabout. Neither of those is a true roundabout as you don't have right of way once you're on it.
In terms of driving, the five-roundabout perspective makes more sense (for reasons of right-of-way, as you say). In terms of algorithmic complexity, if we are considering distance traveled by the average vehicle, the two-nested-roundabouts perspective makes more sense.
Re: Magic Roundabout
#40I've been through this once. It was terrifying, and I wasn't even driving. It's a good system, but frightening to behold.