Complex roundabout - GIF

[Altair]

Complex roundabout in Swindon, England.




Previously:

Skipping a roundabout - GIF
1967 Swedish bidirectional traffic reorganization - photo
Beijing traffic control room - photo

[Frank S]

That roundabout looks like an accident waiting to happen

[bob_3000]

That roundabout looks like an accident waiting to happen

I didn't see one, awesome flow.

[schuylergrace]

No wonder that's so crazy lookin'; they're all drivin' on the wrong side of the road! Still, I imagine it would just be one big automotive bonfire if someone built one of those in the States. Hell, we can't even figure out a regular roundabout. Or stop signs. Or traffic lights. Or pretty much driving, in general.

[WmRMeyers]

No wonder that's so crazy lookin'; they're all drivin' on the wrong side of the road! Still, I imagine it would just be one big automotive bonfire if someone built one of those in the States. Hell, we can't even figure out a regular roundabout. Or stop signs. Or traffic lights. Or pretty much driving, in general.

Some of us can. It's all the rest that are the problem! I swear!

[Drew1966]

It looks like the work of an extremely talented and experienced Traffic Engineer. I’ve known a few and the good ones are bloody smart.

[hemmjo]

The video makes that appear to be a lot more chaotic that it really is. If you slow the video buy a factor of 7 or 8 that make the video about 1:45 to 2:00 minutes. I realize it is not scientific but that speed appears to be about right, and it looks much more practical.

But, it would only take one idiot to mess up the whole process. As noted above, there are LOTS of those around.

[Frank S]

When it comes to roundabouts I can either take them or leave them, I prefer to leave them though. It also seems to me that the more uncivilized a city or even a country becomes the more roundabouts they think they need. The problem there, though tends to be the total lack of intelligible signage, One used to be small town where I once called home now has a population of over 25,000 and appears to be constructing a roundabout at every other block on a couple of the off the main drag throughfares. Last week we had to go there to get some supplies like oxygen, C02, Argon, and some steel, the road I needed to drive down to get where I wanted to go now has 15 of the dang things. None of them were there 2 years ago. I almost wished I still had my old T shirt i got in Paris after driving around the Arc De Triomphe twice before escaping. on the back of the shirt it read I survived "The Étoile". Which for a first timer has to be the most horrifying driving experience you will ever encounter. If you've never been there and either ridden or driven on it there is no possible way to accurately describe it But I'll try, think of 500 cars and 10,000 scooters all attempting to compete for the same spot while at the same time desiring to be anywhere but where they are, while slowly rotating around the Island in the center with the Arc De Triomphe also known as The Place Charles De Gaulle. It's actually quite majestic structure to see if you are not driving that is.

[fizzloid]

Hi Frank,
I too have driven around the 'Boulevard Périphérique' in Paris and also circumnavigated the Arc de Triomphe, both are madness on wheels. I have driven and ridden around both of these in cars, trucks and on motorcycles over the years, always a 'fun' experience.
I have found generally that when driving in France , just head where you want to go and don't worry too much about everyone else, boldness is the key here. Show weakness and you are mincemeat.
I have driven or ridden in most countries in Europe as part of my job, either in trucks, vans, cars or on motorbikes and it has been my personal experience that 'vehicular personal space' is not a thing in most of the more southerly European countries. Spain and Italy for example, in most large cities, if you have the thickness of a cigarette paper space between your vehicle and all the others around you while driving at breakneck speeds on the major roads, then you are lucky.
In most Mediterranean countries (I'm especially looking at you Crete) vehicular bodily contact is the norm and not at all unusual, just a kiss between friends, if your brand new car does not have a dent in it after a few days, well then, it must still be in the showroom, because it will almost surely have one before you get it home.

[mansworld]

Budget roundabout. There must be advance warning signs to warn drivers of the Twilight Zone ahead with exit for conservative old school drivers. Imagine someone from a country that drives on the right-hand side find him/herself in that bizarre roundabout!