Magic Roundabout (Swindon)
The Magic Roundabout ( German magic roundabout , magic carousel ) in Swindon ( southern England ) is a junction that consists of a large roundabout in the middle and five smaller roundabouts arranged in a ring around the inner roundabout. The construction of this unusual traffic light-free interchange resulted in a significant traffic flow improvement of this risk of accumulation intersection where the five most frequented streets of Swindon meet. Traffic lights have been installed at several entrances and exits around the Magic Roundabout.
history
The Magic Roundabout was developed as a "multi-mini-roundabout" by the British Road Research Laboratory (RRL). He was the first real Magic Roundabout after in Colchester ( Essex ) just a test model had been installed. The Swindon Roundabout, on the other hand, was designed from the start to defuse a highly congestion-prone intersection where five main roads meet. Every day, the traffic came to a standstill at rush hour . The roundabout was inaugurated in September 1972. On the opening day, the streets were initially closed and then gradually opened. Steve Dudley, the police officer responsible for that day, said of the start-up that he remembered that day as very nerve-wracking, but it worked straight away. Today, the traffic there is still relatively fluid even at peak times, although the Magic Roundabout was planned for the much lower traffic volume of the 1970s.
functionality
In the outer roundabouts, traffic runs clockwise ( left-hand traffic ) as is customary in Great Britain , and in the inner roundabout traffic runs counter-clockwise (as is common in the rest of Europe with right-hand traffic ). The drivers entering the Magic Roundabout to turn into the next clockwise street stay left outside the first small roundabout and turn left just before the second small roundabout. The other drivers first drive into the respective small roundabout. Take the second exit of the small roundabout, you will get to the next roundabout, clockwise, and so on, until you use the first exit of a small roundabout to turn into an off-going street. Drivers who choose the third exit from the intersecting streets after entering the respective small roundabout will get to the large roundabout inside, which runs counterclockwise. This is left at the desired exit via the respective small roundabout. So it is possible to drive through the Magic Roundabout clockwise or counterclockwise and even - if you missed an exit - to change the direction of travel in the Magic Roundabout by switching between inside and outside.
Strictly speaking, the middle (inner) or "large" one is not a roundabout at all. From a traffic perspective, the middle "roundabout" is a connection between the outer roundabouts through five very short one-way street sections. The opposite direction is outside the islands delimiting the inner roundabout and outside the centers of the small roundabouts. As a result, the traffic entering the inner roundabout has the right of way (see map) and only five interconnected roundabouts are shown on the road sign, as it corresponds to the right of way. The virtual “big” circle can only be accessed by switching between the five small ones.
advantages
The Magic Roundabout brings the busiest streets in Swindon together in one intersection. The establishment of a conventional roundabout would have led to considerable backlogs in the access roads, since in a normal roundabout, in the worst case scenario, all entrances would have to wait because of the vehicles from one driveway. The small roundabouts in the Magic Roundabout serve as a kind of access valve; they allow vehicles to enter the inner roundabout one by one from every entrance. This enables the vehicles to make optimum use of the entire road space, as the distances between the vehicles in the traffic flow are reduced and the negative effects of congestion (delays when starting up, rear-end collisions, etc.) are minimized. The vehicles travel more slowly within the facility than in a normal multi-lane roundabout, but the flow of traffic is more even and constant.
acceptance
The relationship between the locals and “their” Magic Roundabout is quite ambivalent . On the one hand, the Swindon people are proud of this structure, of which there are only about half a dozen in Britain. There is also a widespread joke about the way it works, which says that the building only solved the traffic problems at the intersection by deterring motorists to such an extent that they now take sneaking or detours to avoid the Magic Roundabout. Residents and local users also say they enjoy the confusion and sometimes desperation of foreign visitors who try to understand the traffic on the Magic Roundabout. There are repeated reports of tourists who, completely desperate, park their cars in front of the roundabout and do not dare to drive in or, contrary to their intended route, immediately turn left again in order not to have to drive into the inner roundabout.
Traffic safety
Although many drivers are initially overwhelmed by the complexity of traffic management, there were only 14 serious and 80 minor accidents in the first 30 years after the inauguration . This is below the number to be expected for such an intersection and is attributed to the fact that many drivers are so confused by the complexity that they drive slowly, which naturally leads to less violent collisions and thus less violent injuries. Most of the accidents involved cyclists or pedestrians, for whom there is now a ring of pedestrian traffic lights around the Magic Roundabout. As a result, these accidents continued to decrease after the renovation work.
More curiosities
Swindon also has the North Star , a system of four roundabouts. These do not have the central opposite roundabout of the Magic Roundabout, but are connected to each other via normal roads. In Hemel Hempstead , about 30 kilometers northwest of London, there is a Magic Roundabout with six roundabouts in one large roundabout.
Web links
- Video explaining the cleverness of the principle, in English
- Video with animation of an idealized magic roundabout
- Video: the 10 most unusual hubs in the world, with partial passage Magic Roundabout
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Magic Roundabout on Google Maps. Retrieved March 13, 2015 .
- ↑ The North Star on Google Maps. Retrieved November 10, 2013 .
- ↑ We're the top roundabout? That's Magic! In: www.hemeltoday.co.uk. Retrieved September 15, 2015 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 46 " N , 1 ° 46 ′ 17" W.