Thetownend.com

According to a survey, the Magic Roundabout is the 4th scariest junction in Britain:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8382506.stm

A bit harsh.

Piece of piss innit..

and for our enjoyment once again.....

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2RNTN_enGB345&q=magic+roundabout+xtc&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

My better half was scared half to death when I made her drive across it.  I don't get it myself.  Its just some roundabouts.

defo

I wouldn't even say it was one of the top 4 scariest junctions in Swindon to be honest.

moonraker roundabout is much worse

Nngghhh I hate the Moonraker one... Always a load if idiots blocking the exits

And thats just the pub !

When I finally got my first motorbike at the tender age of 16 (yeah I know - 24 years ago!!!) I rode into town, and attempted to go over the Magic Roundabout.

I must have driven over it 1000 or more sat in my Mum's car before this - but when I had to do it myself I was completely stuck - but only the first time.....As soon as I worked out the big one in the middle was reversed - then everything fell into place...

I honestly think it is one of the smartest and best roundabouts I have ever driven over - it is a genius of engineering...

Oh my god - sorry !!!  I am even boring myself to death - I need to go and have a ciggie !!!

Keep your foot down and don't let then see the whites of your eyes. Easy.

The new Blunsdon bypass is worse...

hanger lane for me.absolute madness there

You demonstrate precisely why so many people fear the Magic Roundabout...it's the misconception that the central island is a roundabout in it's own right.  It's nothing of the sort.  It's an area of dead space in the middle of the (approx) pentagon formed by the 5 mini roundabouts.  Take each of the 5 mini roundabouts one at a time, and everyone's fine.

yay - gyratory roundaboutness - I used to commute from Hillingdon to Waltham Abbey years ago - what a filthy journey on me little Honda!!!

But its not scary. Its just a plain shit design.

what my old man just said, word for word

agree. Ridiculous plan god knows how they thought it would work

It kind of works in that rush hour traffic is much better. But surely a flyover would have been better still (and presumably more expensive).

If you are going Cricklade/m4 or the other way in rush hour its so much easier.

I'd go as far as to say it takes a good 20-25 minutes off the journey.

If you are coming from North Swindon and want to go towards the m4 its the stupidest road ever!

Do you mean from Penhill direction?

From Thamesdown Drive its much better than t used to be . But a flyover the original roundabout without the knob end design of going over the bridge would have been better still.

What's wrong with the Blunsdon bypass? I love it, so much easier/quicker to get to Swindon and 70mph all the way to the m4 is great.

I mean from Thamesdown drive.

Before I'd get to the roadabout and turn right. Now I have to stay left, go up, turn right, turn right and back down again.

Longer distance, more lights and more people not having a clue what lane they should be in.

when i wanna get to wallmart from my rents in stratton i constantly keep finding myself going to blunsdon.

Any good driver can master that road. Its all signposted.

The problem with the whole A419/eastern bypass of Swindon is the mixing of local traffic from a large town with long distance traffic.  When my in-laws drive from Argyll to visit us in Hampshire, they come down the M5, off at Cheltenham, A417/A419 to the M4 and then head east towards us.  They are using the same road space as taxi drivers taking fares from Oakhurst to Liden.  (Similar situation exists in Reading, where the lack of a proper bypass forces local traffic wanting to cross town from east to west, or vice versa, on to the M4.)

Engineers planning the layout of the junctions on the Blunsdon bypass had the long distance traffic in mind.  The taxi driver has to go half a mile out of his way just to get on to the A419, but that was not really their concern.  I think the residents of North Swindon got a fairly rough deal on this one.

Meh, fuck 'em. It's all about visiting Argyll in-laws. Any forward thinking town should see this

Not sure about the Blunsdon bypass being scary, but its fucking confusing. I went on it once from West Swindon, aiming for Stratton and ending up in Cirencester. I haven't gone near it since and I don't plan to again.

The Moonrakers roundabouts are a mess, poor lane markings and cars coming from everywhere.

I still haven't figured out the West Swindon M4 junction either, no matter how hard I try I always end up in the wrong lane. Its possible this is down to my incompetence as other people seem to handle it ok.

I can see why the Magic is seen as scary by drivers using it for the first time but as metioned already, it's a piece of technical genius.  The near constant flow of traffic for such a busy junction should be on all junction designers training.

The Blunsdon one is fine once you forget how it used to work - it's the annoyance of your normal journey having something new in it.  Now I look back, it's a lot quicker to get off and on, and I do use it as a bypass regularly with my wife working at the Asda and us living in Eldene.

I can't think of any junctions that are actually scary, some are annoying because they don't seem to work.  The worst ones are the ones without markings on the road that have multiple lanes and exits - Arc De Triomphe springs to mind.  Some of the junctions in Manhattan are tough, but that's just the aggressive nature of everyone else - including the pedestrians.