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May 13, 2003

Magic Roundabouts

This was sent to me by Theepan and my immediate reaction was complete disbelief. I figured that putting this up on the website (even as a joke) would make me a laughing stock. Anyway, I decided to check with my favourite (only) English brother-in-law and he confirmed that these accidents-waiting-to-happen do really exist.

Story from Theepan:
Ok, imagine you have to drive your car in Britain, and you're less than enthusiastic about it, since you only recently got your drivers license, and you'll have to drive on the left lane. And then you see this:


You're starting to wonder what that's about. You didn't see anything like this at your driving lessons. And a bit further, you stumble across this situation:


The magic roundabout! Birds eye view.... This ones in Swindon, between London and Cardif. In the outer roundabouts you turn clockwise, in the centre you turn counterclockwise. As you can see, the trafic problem is essentially solved by scaring people into taking alternative routes.

Well after sending a copy to Patrick, he wrote back saying:
We do indeed have the Magic Roundabouts - I avoid them like the plague! There is one I cannot escape however, at Heathrow Airport on the perimeter road between Terminal 4 and the other terminals. Just what you need as a foreign visitor in your hire car setting out to navigate on the "wrong" side of the road for anyone from the US or EU country! They are a nightmare sorting out priority and/or direction.

Posted by Ozguru at May 13, 2003 06:05 AM

Comments

I am not the only one shaking my head in disbelief. Half of the emails I have received claim that it is a hoax (but none of them live near London) and the other half tell tales of the accidents that happen on these things all the time. All I can hope is that no-one in Canberra finds out about this or well end up with one around the parliament house.

Posted by: Ozguru at May 13, 2003 06:05 AM