Multi roundabouts.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 16:09
Multi roundabouts. - barney100

Here in sunny Basingstoke we have been given some new multi lane roundabouts...'improvements' There have been several accidents...my wife is a witness to one at the moment where a bloke shot across two lanes. Vehicles enter the roundabouts in the indicated lane then as soon as they are on the roundabout the needed lane changes. The main problem is the inside lane people who got the wrong lane pull over right causing the bother. I've been cut up several times in this way.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 16:15
Multi roundabouts. - Engineer Andy

I think I know what you're getting at - I've seen something like this in Cambridge - the RH turn lane gradually filters to the middle (to the straight on road) and then to the LH 'exit' lane to the intended road.

All very logical in its inception, all very confusing to the average motorist who's not used to it - lots of near misses, and I avoid that junction (at least turning right) as much as possible.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 18:25
Multi roundabouts. - SLO76
We’ve several bizarre roundabouts in my hometown, trying to get round them in 50ft worth of Volvo Elite is quite interesting at times... Cars going everywhere.
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Fri 18 Jan 2019 19:12
Multi roundabouts. - Leif

Here in sunny Basingstoke we have been given some new multi lane roundabouts...'improvements' There have been several accidents...my wife is a witness to one at the moment where a bloke shot across two lanes. Vehicles enter the roundabouts in the indicated lane then as soon as they are on the roundabout the needed lane changes. The main problem is the inside lane people who got the wrong lane pull over right causing the bother. I've been cut up several times in this way.

I hate the one near Waitrose. And the new one off the motorway at the A30 junction was a nightmare due to poor signage. That said, generally Basingstoke is a good place to drive. Not many maniacs if any in my experience.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 21:59
Multi roundabouts. - Ethan Edwards

ORB will know this one. Colchester has one of those five roundabout things in a ring. A roundabout of roundabouts. You can go round the big one clockwise or anti clockwise. That gets my vote for weird.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 22:24
Multi roundabouts. - FP

"Colchester has one of those five roundabout things in a ring. A roundabout of roundabouts. You can go round the big one clockwise or anti clockwise."

Sounds like my local one, the famous "Magic Roundabout" in Hemel Hempstead, except that there are six mini-roundabouts in a ring.

Its official name is The Plough Roundabout, in honour of a pub that used to stand nearby, but the locals never call it that.

People who don't know it get into a dreadful mess simply trying to get their head round the whole concept, but if you think of it as a circular road with mini-roundabouts everything becomes logical.

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Fri 18 Jan 2019 22:46
Multi roundabouts. - bathtub tom
Sounds like my local one, the famous "Magic Roundabout" in Hemel Hempstead, except that there are six mini-roundabouts in a ring.

I used to watch the shenanigans there when it first opened from the top of the telephone exchange.

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Sat 19 Jan 2019 13:37
Multi roundabouts. - Engineer Andy

Didn't they change it's configuration about 10-20 years ago? I had the 'pleasure' of driving round it in the early 2000s.

If memory serves, there's a similar roundabout in the Swindon area.

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Sat 19 Jan 2019 14:48
Multi roundabouts. - Avant

There is indeed, just north of Swindon. I try to avoid it. So they're in Hemel H and Colchester - any more?

I suppose the authorities claim fewer accidents on these - because drivers are frightened of them, they drive more carefully.

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Sat 19 Jan 2019 14:55
Multi roundabouts. - RT

It was much quicker to drive the Hemel Hempstead one the "wrong" way round - because most drivers could only cope the "right" way round.

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Sun 20 Jan 2019 20:29
Multi roundabouts. - FP

"It was much quicker to drive the Hemel Hempstead one the "wrong" way round - because most drivers could only cope the "right" way round."

I'm not sure that applies. Most drivers on the Magic Roundabout are local, or at least frequent users, and go whichever way they think quickest. I most usually use it in medium traffic early evenings, going from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock and go anti-clockwise; on returning I go clockwise.

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Sun 20 Jan 2019 20:59
Multi roundabouts. - RT

"It was much quicker to drive the Hemel Hempstead one the "wrong" way round - because most drivers could only cope the "right" way round."

I'm not sure that applies. Most drivers on the Magic Roundabout are local, or at least frequent users, and go whichever way they think quickest. I most usually use it in medium traffic early evenings, going from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock and go anti-clockwise; on returning I go clockwise.

It may not apply now - I'm going back pre-M25.

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Sun 20 Jan 2019 20:24
Multi roundabouts. - FP

"I suppose the authorities claim fewer accidents on these - because drivers are frightened of them, they drive more carefully."

I'm not sure about that. There are plenty of collisions on the Magic Roundabout, mainly caused by people unable to grasp the simple concept - that each mini-roundabout behaves like any other mini-roundabout and you have to give way to traffic coming from your right - which means not attempting to sneak through by tailgating the car in front.

Fortunately, as speeds are low, collisions aren't serious, but nearly always there's a visible aftermath of broken plastic on the road.

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Sun 20 Jan 2019 20:31
Multi roundabouts. - nick62
Its official name is The Plough Roundabout, ................................., but the locals never call it that.

The "Plough-Into Roundabout"?

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Sun 20 Jan 2019 20:40
Multi roundabouts. - FP

'The "Plough-Into Roundabout"?'

Excellent!

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