Magic Roundabout • Hacker News Board

Re: Magic Roundabout

#41

Post by w0utert » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 5:47 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #28

Raleigh, NC installed a two-lane roundabout a couple years ago[1]. Drivers could not handle it[2] (almost daily crashes) and it had to be reduced to a single-lane roundabout[3]. I can't imagine what Raleigh drivers would do faced with the Magic Roundabout. 1. http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/trans/planning/construction/Brochur... 2. http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2011/09/12/accident-... 3. http://www.newsobserver.co…

>> Raleigh, NC installed a two-lane roundabout a couple years ago[1].

Interesting, 2-lane roundabouts are very common here (Netherlands), but I don't find them much more difficult than single-lane roundabouts. That Magic Roundabout on the other hand looks insane :-S.

Gotta wonder how drivers from Raleigh, NC would like the 'roundabout' around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris though ;-)

Re: Magic Roundabout

#42

Post by rajpaul » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 5:53 PM UTC

pcowans wrote: post #31

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 r…

Can you give an idea on the traffic volume that goes through it. How are non-locals, who are likely used to smaller roundabouts, deal when coming across a 'magic' roundabout.

Re: Magic Roundabout

#43

Post by bozzie123 » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 5:58 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #36

Isn't there another one of these in Essex somewhere, other than Colchester? I seem to remember passing it on the way to Canvey.

Theres one in or on the way to Hitchin

Re: Magic Roundabout

#44

Post by deltasquared » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 5:58 PM UTC

meaty wrote: post #33

deltasquared wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I know the place! Give me that roundabout any day. At least that way everyone is scared into being careful.

Re: Magic Roundabout

#45

Post by bozzie123 » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 5:58 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #36

Isn't there another one of these in Essex somewhere, other than Colchester? I seem to remember passing it on the way to Canvey.

Theres one in or on the way to Hemel Hempstead

Re: Magic Roundabout

#46

Post by meaty » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

deltasquared wrote: post #44

meaty wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I know the place! Give me that roundabout any day. At least that way everyone is scared into being careful.

Only the clever people are scared into being careful :)

Re: Magic Roundabout

#47

Post by depsypher » Thu, Dec 13, 2012, 9:32 PM UTC

I'm curious how one of google's self driving cars would fare on this.

Re: Magic Roundabout

#48

Post by jdpage » Fri, Dec 14, 2012, 7:06 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #28

Raleigh, NC installed a two-lane roundabout a couple years ago[1]. Drivers could not handle it[2] (almost daily crashes) and it had to be reduced to a single-lane roundabout[3]. I can't imagine what Raleigh drivers would do faced with the Magic Roundabout. 1. http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/trans/planning/construction/Brochur... 2. http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2011/09/12/accident-... 3. http://www.newsobserver.co…

There's been a bit of a roundabout fad in the Triangle area, actually. They installed a couple in Wake Forest (a nearby town), and there's actually three near the spot you mentioned now. As a British expat, I am personally fine with them, but people around here do tend to have issues with them.

The upshot of this is that one of the most terrifying things I've done recently was to try to navigate all three of the roundabouts, in succession, on a bicycle, at the same time as two or three buses.