Magic Roundabout in Swindon: The Most Confusing Traffic Junction
The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England, constructed in 1972,
is the most brilliant and at the same time, the most confusing
roundabout ever built. The roundabout, named after the popular
children's television series by the same name, is located near the
County Ground and consists of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a
circle. At first sight, it might appear to confuse or amuse new visitors
and certainly baffle tourists but once you understand how the
roundabout works you will realize how revolutionary the idea is.
Before
the roundabout was built, the area had been a motorist's nightmare
which routinely failed to handle the volume of traffic which converged
on it from five directions. The British Transport and Road Research
Laboratory then came up with a brilliant solution.
All they did
was combine two roundabouts in one - the first roundabout sends traffic
rotating clockwise and the second roundabout, which revolves inside the
first, sends traffic anti-clockwise. Vehicles can enter or exit the
inner roundabout using any of the five mini roundabouts placed at
appropriate positions. The Magic Roundabout is so efficient that the
average Swindonian can find his or her passage through one of the town's
busiest junctions with ease even at peak times. Forty years on, the
Magic Roundabout still works, despite ever-increasing volumes of
traffic.
PC
Steve Dudley, one of the police officers involved with the introduction
of the new system, recalled: "There was someone from the RRL up on a
crane and officers on each of the five junctions. We would let the
traffic build up and then let one lot go at a time. After a few trial
runs we let the whole lot go at once. It was quite nerve-racking, but it
did work."
Despite the efficiency of the system, the Magic
Roundabout still strikes terror into visiting motorists. It was voted
the worst roundabout in a survey by a UK insurance company in 2005, and
again in 2007, this time by a UK motoring magazine. In December 2007,
BBC News reported a survey identifying The Magic Roundabout as one of
the "10 Scariest Junctions in the United Kingdom".
But figures
speaks for themselves: during the first 25 years, there were only 14
serious accidents and just over a hundred lesser ones – a rate that is
far less than one would expect for such a busy junction. Most accidents
involved cyclists and motorcyclists and now a cycle lane running right
round the outside of the roundabout, with pelican crossings, have been
put into place. Although it looks intimidating, statistically, the Magic
Roundabout is one of the safest traffic junctions.
Schematic of the Magic Roundabout
