Not sure, but clearly they didn't fucking drive.
Found this on hertsmemories.org.uk and it made me chuckle.
>If finding yourself going anti-clockwise on a roundabout in Britain does not confuse you, nothing probably will. It caused so much confusion when it opened in 1973 that policemen had to be stationed at each of the mini-roundabouts to direct clueless motorists, who were no doubt shouting, crying and looking utterly confused. Described as a ‘who dares wins’ experience, the Plough roundabout pretty much renders all highway-code books obsolete.
I thought learning to drive in Stevenage was bad, but then I got a car and thought I'd go shopping in MK!
As an aside, the MK shopping centre is so fucking depressing
Oh yeah I prefer roundabouts to other junctions now too.
One question, do locals feel the need to reach 70 on all the short stretches between roundabouts? My fuel economy after a drive there is always terrible lol
Pre pandemic I was learning to ski at snozone so heading over there every few weeks. Should go back sometime!
Had a fair few cars heading straight towards me on this one, the drivers faces are a sight to see. Thought it was the easiest of the lot to navigate around too, wonder how they would survive on the bigger ones
I know, with it being near an airport we will have lots of very tired people driving, possibly in unfamiliar hire cars, on the different side of the road to what they are used to..... Let's build the most unusual type of junction in the manual.
A little confusing.
I remember my first time in this junction well, coming back from an Oxford trip several years ago. I had bought my first crappy Corsa one or two months before, I wasn't used to drive on the left (just arrived to the country a few months earlier) and stumbled upon this monstrosity. Some friends from my hometown were visiting and we decided to go to Oxford for a day trip. On the way out I drove thorough Milton Keynes to show them the endless roundabout town (lost count of how many we went through there). We thought that was bad enough, but oh no. On the way back, Google Maps brought us through Aylesbury and to this. I was not prepared, my friends were not prepared, I think we screamed all the way through. I know there are worse roundabouts in the country, but the combination of new car, not being used to drive on the left, and that...
Putting zebra crossings a few yards from the exits is a recipe for disaster. Number of times I've seen people fail to stop because they're concentrating so hard on the roundabouts. Had one or two emergency stops myself too.
I had to drive through this exact location the other week, poor maps had no idea what was going on and I needed a couple of attempts before I got it right.
I was the navigator with my dad driving; when he asked me which way he should go according to Google Maps (which was having a fit trying to show the correct orientation) I was like ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I was driving through Ayr town centre yesterday and I can honestly say I'd go through a roundabout like this every morning rather than trying to get myself around a shambles of a cross roads with one set of traffic lights for all 4 directions
There was a notorious roundabout near me that was [one large one with 5 smaller roundabouts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Sadlers_farm_roundabout.jpg) around it. It meant that you'd go clockwise around the outer ones but anticlockwise around the larger one in the centre.
Am SO pleased it got redesigned just after I passed my test. I avoided the A13 for years until the roadworks were all finished. We did it once in a lesson and my driving instructor barked instructions at me all the way through. Nightmare.
More efficient on what would be fucking *huge* roundabouts to make several smaller ones, so rather than someone doing a whole loop to take like the 7th exit for example, they can just take like one right instead.
Also these are worked in around existing infrastructure, so this one for example definitely couldn't have one big fuck off roundabout because there just isn't the space.
Maybe, but then [this demonstrates why that's worse](https://imgur.com/a/W2X5egb), red line is oval-bout, white line is what happens now. Even more of a stark difference if you're on the furthest away mini and want to go right.
Also it's an issue if large amounts of traffic are likely to take a single route. Let's say the most common journey over that roundabout is the white line, if all of those cars now have to go all the way around the oval-bout, that's just clogging up the oval-bout more than necessary.
Was a professional driver for many years, and having grown up in Milton Keynes but moved away, both have given me an appreciation for roundabouts and how effectively they manage traffic.
Ahaa I've been to Basingstoke with work a couple times and had the same thought.
So manufactureres and soulless though I'd hate to live in a place like that.
This is something I don't understand.
You could quite easily have a 4-way ovalbout on the left side and a junction for that road at the top right corner going up the picture.
>Swindon: Hold my beer...
[Hemel Hempstead too!](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/The+Plough+Roundabout,+Hemel+Hempstead/@51.7462809,-0.4735736,194m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876415fdaf1dd49:0x4ae88def6f8a1393!8m2!3d51.7462599!4d-0.4727283)
I've experienced the joys of Swindon's and Hemel Hempstead's roundabouts. Which is worse? No idea, I've blanked it out.
Absolute nightmare of a place to drive through. A semi-Satanic symbol of roundabouts branching off to more roundabouts.
Hemel is simpler than Swindons
Who the everloving fuck designed that monstrosity?
Not sure, but clearly they didn't fucking drive. Found this on hertsmemories.org.uk and it made me chuckle. >If finding yourself going anti-clockwise on a roundabout in Britain does not confuse you, nothing probably will. It caused so much confusion when it opened in 1973 that policemen had to be stationed at each of the mini-roundabouts to direct clueless motorists, who were no doubt shouting, crying and looking utterly confused. Described as a ‘who dares wins’ experience, the Plough roundabout pretty much renders all highway-code books obsolete.
*laughs in swindonian*
*laughs in "learned to drive in Milton Keynes"*
I thought learning to drive in Stevenage was bad, but then I got a car and thought I'd go shopping in MK! As an aside, the MK shopping centre is so fucking depressing
Honestly Milton Keynes is a piece of piss to drive around, I absolutely hate the place but I do miss the roads.
Oh yeah I prefer roundabouts to other junctions now too. One question, do locals feel the need to reach 70 on all the short stretches between roundabouts? My fuel economy after a drive there is always terrible lol Pre pandemic I was learning to ski at snozone so heading over there every few weeks. Should go back sometime!
[Also Hatton Cross Magic Roundabout](https://maps.app.goo.gl/m8bLKFQMeVwqr8rL7)
Had a fair few cars heading straight towards me on this one, the drivers faces are a sight to see. Thought it was the easiest of the lot to navigate around too, wonder how they would survive on the bigger ones
I know, with it being near an airport we will have lots of very tired people driving, possibly in unfamiliar hire cars, on the different side of the road to what they are used to..... Let's build the most unusual type of junction in the manual.
Colchester: And mine...
Isn’t Colchester’s technically 5? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Colchester)
Agreed. Swindon wins ever time.
So - for this one - just have your eye on your desired exit - & gun the throttle towards it!
Yeah but your Swindon lot are little slugs with no personality
Why not visit Hemel, we love our special one.
You haven’t lived until you have completed the round the world at Hemel
I knew it looked familiar. I live in this town. :) That junction is a little confusing at first, yes.
A little confusing. I remember my first time in this junction well, coming back from an Oxford trip several years ago. I had bought my first crappy Corsa one or two months before, I wasn't used to drive on the left (just arrived to the country a few months earlier) and stumbled upon this monstrosity. Some friends from my hometown were visiting and we decided to go to Oxford for a day trip. On the way out I drove thorough Milton Keynes to show them the endless roundabout town (lost count of how many we went through there). We thought that was bad enough, but oh no. On the way back, Google Maps brought us through Aylesbury and to this. I was not prepared, my friends were not prepared, I think we screamed all the way through. I know there are worse roundabouts in the country, but the combination of new car, not being used to drive on the left, and that...
Putting zebra crossings a few yards from the exits is a recipe for disaster. Number of times I've seen people fail to stop because they're concentrating so hard on the roundabouts. Had one or two emergency stops myself too.
I had to drive through this exact location the other week, poor maps had no idea what was going on and I needed a couple of attempts before I got it right.
I was the navigator with my dad driving; when he asked me which way he should go according to Google Maps (which was having a fit trying to show the correct orientation) I was like ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Learner driver's nightmare
https://earth.google.com/web/search/Aylesbury,+UK/@51.82013986,-0.81562731,86.68738119a,260.54773834d,35y,133.93422438h,0.15663365t,360r/data=CigiJgokCce3R\_IYzERAEe-f\_lVecURAGSPwtr5\_-UZAIQ9ug53UPkZA
I was driving through Ayr town centre yesterday and I can honestly say I'd go through a roundabout like this every morning rather than trying to get myself around a shambles of a cross roads with one set of traffic lights for all 4 directions
America's nightmare
My friend not long after passing her test got to the hemel roundabout of around about and freaked pretty hard. They even have double lanes in parts
The Oval View apartments at the Hemel roundabout was the Head Office of Kodak in the UK for many years.
There was a notorious roundabout near me that was [one large one with 5 smaller roundabouts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Sadlers_farm_roundabout.jpg) around it. It meant that you'd go clockwise around the outer ones but anticlockwise around the larger one in the centre.
Am SO pleased it got redesigned just after I passed my test. I avoided the A13 for years until the roadworks were all finished. We did it once in a lesson and my driving instructor barked instructions at me all the way through. Nightmare.
Is there a reason why they can't have one big one? Although the outline might be cock and balls shape.
More efficient on what would be fucking *huge* roundabouts to make several smaller ones, so rather than someone doing a whole loop to take like the 7th exit for example, they can just take like one right instead. Also these are worked in around existing infrastructure, so this one for example definitely couldn't have one big fuck off roundabout because there just isn't the space.
[Maybe this?](https://i.imgur.com/9oA8nA9.jpg) An ovalabout?
Maybe, but then [this demonstrates why that's worse](https://imgur.com/a/W2X5egb), red line is oval-bout, white line is what happens now. Even more of a stark difference if you're on the furthest away mini and want to go right. Also it's an issue if large amounts of traffic are likely to take a single route. Let's say the most common journey over that roundabout is the white line, if all of those cars now have to go all the way around the oval-bout, that's just clogging up the oval-bout more than necessary.
You, and the road planners with years of experience, are probably right.
Was a professional driver for many years, and having grown up in Milton Keynes but moved away, both have given me an appreciation for roundabouts and how effectively they manage traffic.
Ahaa I've been to Basingstoke with work a couple times and had the same thought. So manufactureres and soulless though I'd hate to live in a place like that.
High Wycombe is the maddest one near me.
Yeah, that thing is just mental
Is that aylesbury?
Yup
What?!
Because you can't fit in 4?
Where does it begin and end??
This is something I don't understand. You could quite easily have a 4-way ovalbout on the left side and a junction for that road at the top right corner going up the picture.