See How an Insane 7-Circle Roundabout Actually Works | WIRED
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2016
- Your first thought upon seeing Swindon's 'magic roundabout' might be: man, the Brits have really lost the plot lately. But this thing-which is actually seven roundabouts in one-has been working for 60 years.
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See How an Insane 7-Circle Roundabout Actually Works | WIRED
I once spent 2 years living in Swindon, it was the worst 10 years of my life.
I once went there for a job interview, but they let me out again.
how long did it take you to find the exit?
CarthagoMike Probably the whole 2 years..
Try BLOODY Wilson North Carolina.
Mark Atkin I did at Honda, got the job offer, hit the roundabout & declined
I encountered this on my first long drive after passing my driving test. I'd been driving for hours, in the fog, with just one headlight, and had got lost (this was pre-sat nav) and found myself in Swindon centre around 3am. When I got to this, I just stopped the car and burst into tears. There was no traffic around so I just drove right over the middle of it.
Haha! Good job.
this is possibly the funniest thing i have read so far in 2022 thank you so much for the belly laugh!
thank you - that was funny! I can imagine your pain
HAHA HA HA HAHA H AH AH AHA HA HA H!!!!🤣
So long as the road is clear to your right at each give way, you can do that with this roundabout. Using each mini-roundabout you can go counter clockwise around the central giro if you felt like it.
I wanna understand the mind of the person who created these
You won't be able to
+Miguel Alberola Cano you need to watch a simple roundabout in my neighborhood to understand why this is a bad idea
...and you need to see the Magic Roundabout in action at peak times to realise why it is sheer genius
Joshua Smart You'll be amazed how much traffic is sorted through that roundabout. Believe me, Swindon is my home town and can get pretty busy at peak times. The Magic Roundabout sits in one of the busiest areas of town and sorts not only local drivers but also commuters from other areas of the county. It sounds crazy and looks intimidating but actually works. You Americans should try it, roundabouts are designed for larger populations anyway so dont start quoting those numbers.
Joshua Smart Yup you just quoted the population of an ordinary town and compared it to one of the largest cities in America. Likewise, London has a larger population (8.675 million) but also has roundabouts. Chechmate
"Is this madness? No, it's Swindon"
I see you've never been to Swindon...
Enlighten us
kertaspaper94 find a sewage system near where you live, add a crap football team, a couple of McDonald’s, a rail station and a load of grimy pubs. Sit there for a while and be thankful that you’re still not in Swindon. That’s basically it. Swindon literally means ‘pig hill’ if that gives you any more of an idea.
maybaby13x
Note to self: avoid Swindon
@@kertaspaper94 I went to Swindon once. Fortunately after enough time, they let you out.
I live here
"Then Brexit on the other side"
I cringed a little.
I cringed a lot.
I'm out of the loop, why is this cringe?
@@LulitaInPita me too
@@Red-nl4lk because that attempt to crack a joke failed miserably.
That pun did not age well
Someone should make one of these in a major US city. The building site should be covered, until it is unveiled on a Monday morning, just before the rush hour traffic. Surprise! Let there be chaos!
Lucario I see you're a man of culture as well
Let do it in new york!!
They only get away with this sort of stuff because British people aren't as prone to road rage as New Yorkers are.
@@bryanchin856 not bloody much.
If they did this in the US there would be a guy in the middle "directing traffic" with a machine gun.
It should be done in Warsaw, Poland. Seven mini-roundabouts to close, one per day of week - just perfect.
"Only 1 fatal car accident"
Yeah, because the top speed anyone has ever hit MIGHT HAVE BEEN 8 mph.
Excellent point. How can an 8 mph collision be fatal?
I was thinking there weren't many accidents because everyone was avoiding roundabouts.
1 fatal car accident in the last 5 years is a pretty shit statistic anyway. I can think of a lot of intersections that have had 0 fatal accidents in the last 10...
Do suicides count as accidents?
You mean someone killed themself after taking a look at that mess?
+spiznas
Can you think of any intersection with over 6000 vehicles per hour at peak times that has had 0 fatal accidents in the last 5 years? Not to mention that only one fatal accident is statistically insignificant since it could be an outlier like a speeding drunk driver that would have crashed in any intersection and died.
"is this madness? no, it's swindon" should be in an alan partridge movie
no, this is Patrick.
They're the same thing
That is phenomenal
Circus is Latin for circle. During the 18th and the 19th centuries, the name was given to many developments not because they were traffic roundabouts but because the buildings originally (or do still in some instances) form a circle. In London, for example: Piccadilly Circus; Oxford Circus; Cambridge Circus; Saint Giles Circus; Holborn Circus; Percy Circus; Saint George's Circus; Ludgate Circus; Finsbury Circus, Westferry Circus; Arnold Circus. A famous circus of town-houses is the one at Bath, in Somerset, constructed between 1754 and 1768, and today simply known as The Circus.
Nicely pointed out... that American sensationalism struck down again! ⚡⚡⚡
Greek κίρκος (kirkos), itself a metathesis of the Homeric Greek κρίκος (krikos), meaning "circle" or "ring"
@@devilsadvocate1597 Sensationalism? You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?
@@leafbellyhe means exceptionalism, but both get the general point across
Came here to say this!
I need this in cities skylines.
Won't wark as cars all use the same way and always use the outermost lane.
And if you try then think that this roundabout usese left-side traffic!
As it has worked for 60 years, your comments are pretty pointless.
What? I mean in Cities: Skylines...
Virus_City check out skibitth, he has done it
You'd need a mod to make the vehicles go the way you want them too. I was thinking this would be good in Cities Skylines also lol
I use this roundabout regularly. The design is so brilliant it self-regulates flow because you can choose pretty much any set of lanes.
would have been nice if they had shown that in the video labelled ""See how it works!"
I think it's more suited to the regulars that know exactly how to manoeuvre around this.
Unfortunately, you live in Swindon
@@starfrost6816😂
Whatever you say man. Looks like a disaster-waiting-to-happen for anyone coming up to it for the first time.
from a British man. cringe overload
im an american man. right here with ya, pal
you didn't really explain how the traffic flow works.....
I didn't want to repeat a comment and say this too, but yeah where is the "actually works" part supposed to be?
Nobody knows
If you want to really know how it works, find a photo and state at it for 10 minutes following the different paths. But to drive you just point in the direction you want to go and give way to anyone already on the roundabout
Give way to the right and drive through.
It's a free for all give way to your right
"Is this madness?" "No, THIS. IS. SWINDON!" *kicks into roundabout*
Lmao
found the one fatal crash
I can't stop chuckling at this
oh my
1 FATAL crash in 5 years. That literally doesn't mean a thing, there could have been 1000s of crashes of people who were just going 5mph
There have been over 100 crashes and 12 of those were a bit more serious, that is still really good, crashes are always going to happen but if you can make the crash itself a lot less lethal that is the best you can do, and that is what they did
‘Conventional’ roundabouts that are the same overall size as this one, have far more serious accidents and sadly more fatalities.
circus (n.) from Latin circus "ring, circular line,"
Makes perfect sense
duh
Unless you are uneducated and unwilling to learn.
And of course you haven't shown "how" it "actually works" in real life, you've only shown it filled with cars celebrating that... circus?
First time go to this thing will be insane. Good thing is it hard to get gridlock since you can go around until line too long and lockdown the whole city. You can not reverse by yourselves.
It's actually fun the first time you get through it. I didn't really understand how it was working, I just pointed toward where I wanted to go and it ran smoothly. I like it.
Because drivers in the UK strickly follow the "how to use the roundabout" mandated in the UK Highway Code (just google it to search). Every driver must learn this before taking the theory and practical driver exams.
"Is this madness? No, it's Swindon"
Honestly the two are pretty interchangeable anyway
As a New Englander I don't mind rotaries/roundabouts. A little chaotic if you don't know the area you're in but once you get it, you get it. And if you miss your exit, you can just go around again.
to be honest, for me as a german it doesn't seem to be that complicated. but seriously, who designed this crap?
Have you been through the new one in Kelly Square in Worcester? That intersection was maddening before they added a cool figure 8 rotary.
And then you realize that the roundabout rules don’t really apply to all of them. It’s manic
Yes I live in Swindon we're finally not useless
Djsunnysmooth Games Same😂
I will say it was better when the GWR was still kicking about.
Djsunnysmooth Games lol same
gah same
We are
Wait, one fatality in the last five years? Not only is that a terrible statistic, how do you die in a crash at 10mph? It has to have been something like a cyclist getting run over by a truck or a teenager plowing through at 100mph in a tricked-out Vauxhall, neither of which are the roundabout's fault.
Traffic fatalities are more important than marginal speed decreases in the long run imo.
@@dollgen The clip doesn't let us know if both of these objectives are being achieved or not. The implication is that 1 in 5 years is low, but the statistic is meaningless unless we see fatality stats for other major intersections that use traditional roundabouts or traffic lights.
At a rough guess, I'd say the fatal crash was at night (or DUI), at speed.
When she said 1 fatality, I was assuming she was going to say in 60 years and be super impressed. 1 in 5 years really doesn't scream safe to me.
@@nefariousnilbog SO, is that 12 deaths then ??
A death round-about every 5 years ??
That was because they were showing vintage cars around it and they were on show and going slow on purpose in the video in real life its much quicker. I live in swindon
better if someone did a drone video from above for say 20 mins in one spot so we can see how real traffic onit flows. I would do it but im no where near this location.
there is more than one of this in the world and i think one of these have a livestream camera...
czcams.com/video/Kafx_GGHqVg/video.html
I don't see why it's better than usual 5 exit roundabout?
looking at the speed of traffic I bet it's the same time-wise or even slower
Simon Robbins that first video is hypnotic.
I go round it 6 times a week
Swindon shouting to Wiltshire “MUM IVE MADE IT”
I will never forget the day I accidentally ended up on this roundabout..
still on it?
I don't think we've ever called our roundabouts 'circuses'.
Just more uninformed American shit that they'll eat up with a huge spoon.
I was thinking that haha never heard someone refer to a roundabout as a circus
I have heard things that can spin around called "circuses" but that was only once, and in the context of industrial equipment, not roadwork.
I think she's thinking about the circus districts in London like Picadilly Circus. She falsely assumes that's the name of the intersection there.
It's a very old word - Roman entertainment - chariot racing - later horse riding in a circus ring - then a fancy name for a roundabout - and even when the roundabout was done away with the name sometimes stuck - Cambridge Circus - Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus which is still a very famous roundabout.
*_A public scene of frenetic, noisy, or confused activity_*
*_A rounded open space in a town or city where several streets converge_*
American here. While I hope to GOD that we NEVER get this insane design in the US, regular roundabouts (the normal ones where there's only 1 circle, not 7) are AWESOME. We have around 5 of these near me 20 miles north of Cincinnati, and they are SOOOO much better than regular 4-way intersections. Way more efficient, faster, safer. And they are very easy to use.
Before the 1st one, I was very skeptical, but now that we have them, I want to see more.
so 7 roundabouts makes it 7x as AWESOME!
There could be 50 roundabouts in there, or 2000. It's still not that hard. You only have to navigate one at a time, choose which exit will get you to closer to the place you want to go, move around each roundabout anti-clockwise, give way to the right. I suppose yanks would give way to the left and move around it clockwise, since you people drive on the wrong side of the road, but it still would be easy.
I live there and it's very easy to go around if you don't have a car.
The brexit joke gave me syphilis
In the UK many roundabouts are named for ease of reference. This roundabout was originally called 'County Islands' but when it opened Swindonians often called it 'The Magic Roundabout' as a joke, but the name stuck, and after some time it was officially renamed by the Town Council.
It is kinda 'magic' and a doddle to use. Go whichever way you want, just GIVE WAY to the right!
That's why you should slow down...so as not to run over Dougal the shaggy dog.
We have one named Pork Pie roundabout because it's set next to a library that was renamed the same because it looks like a pork pie, not sure what it's real name was haha
“Is this madness? No, it’s Swindon”
Me: Swindon *IS* madness!
1:03 did she just say Then Brexit
"Is this madness? No, it's Swindon."
To many British people there isn't much difference between the two.
we do not have enough common courtesy and manners for this to work here in America
Nor in the UK.
The title was 'See How an Insane 7-Circle Roundabout Actually Works'. Well it gave a vague idea of how to enter and go various ways through and then 'BREXIT?'. Easy peasy, right? But the video shows traffic at near standstill conditions.
Allen Brosowsky it's a VERY busy set of roads. Traffic would be even worse of there were traffic lights or a normal roundabout
EXCUSE ME! How petty of me but how can ONE Big roundabout in the middle surrounded by FIVE mini-roundabouts on its perimeter equal SEVEN roundabouts? Correct me if I am wrong, maybe my arithmetic is a bit rusty but I thought 5+1=6!
That was because they were showing vintage cars around it and they were on show and going slow on purpose
glad traffic on a busy junction wit traffic light never stands. like especially not all those guys at the red light XD
@@Ashwin_Khagram dude its 5 roundabouts in an outer roundabout and a roundabout in the middle, that makes 7 xD
Great job "explaining" how it actually works it the most vaguest way possible!
I lived in Swindon for 13 years and I have to say the magic roundabout, which is what it is called, really isn't as bad as it looks.
I imagine that on first approach, it's meaningless. "But there's signs" that you don't get a chance to study. You just see a sea of tarmac and cars clearly running every which way. If you know it, then I'm sure it's "lovely."
We have 5 roundabouts on my street. We call it an olympic street.
The first thing I just had to try when I visited Swindon the first time.
Had heard a lot of jokes about it.
Even funnier when you are not used to drive a car on the wrong side of the road.
You have just got to love that country.
I've driven through this many times in a huge truck. It works very well.
In a huge truck yes. What about my Fiat 500. :-)
@@davidbarnes3138 scary? 😆
@@davidbarnes3138 why would anyone have a fiat 500?
There is one of these in Hemel Hempstead too. It isn't too bad to drive on as the speeds are low and a bit of fun choosing how to get round. Rather drive on it than around the Arc de Triomphe.
1:03 "Then brexit on the other side"
I rode a bicycle through that many times, and found the best way to get through it was the 8th circle, that of hyperspace, which only a bicycle or pedestrian can accomplish. A circle bent into a straight line, and I was through in no time! But then again, my legs can't keep the front wheel off the ground in the right gear! Ride that one like I'm flying a Sopwith Camel!
It is easier to exit the European Union than this roundabout
😂
Best comment
Hey everybody, we're on Twitter!. The roundabout was officially called "County Islands" originally, but after many years was renamed to its local nickname "The Magic Roundabout" (inspired by the TV show title)
ive been using it for yrs & it works perfect ,it also naturally slows vehicles down as well,& it makes the traffic flow ,prob could do with some flowers etc in the middle to make it look a bit nicer as it is a bit bland .
seeing it in action makes it look less scary than it seemed in photos
I live in central California and they have been building round abouts the last 10 years and they're great but they put plants and bushes which block the view of the other side of the circle and also tall plants in the middle of the yield section so you basically have to stop before you enter to make sure you won't run over a school kid crossing the crosswalk.
Its less complicated when ur actually driving through it
The Magic Roundabout is easy when you're used to it especially when it's your home town. When I took driving lessons I had to go over it every time and also when I did my test! You get used to it.
One of these in Colchester, England. I use it most days. It's fun and considering the volume of traffic using it, delays are quite short. Just aim to keep on going, but be prepared to stop at any time. It works for me
UK....
I am not good at puzzles so THIS looks daunting ... but I daresay that once you get the hang of it, it is no more scary than L.A.'s Freeway system (which also feels overwhelming to me).
We didn't have tornadoes here until we started putting in the traffic circles. Cause, on account of the -- you wanna know why? When people go round and round in circles, it causes disturbance in the atmosphere, and causes tornadoes.
This is the kind of video you only come to youtube for the comments. Already some good ones, and only 2000 views, amazing.
Originally covered by Tom Scott 4 years ago.
1:11 at this speed no idea why no crashes occur
Ahhh yes the Magic Roundabout in Swindon. I grew up here. Driven around this roundabout many times. Once you now how it’s easy. I now live in Las Vegas where there are no roundabouts.
Why did you have to say brexit
It's seems to the outside world that this word is somehow very popular in the UK. I don't know either why. But maybe you can elaborate on that?
I was visiting family in America and they'd just got their first local roundabout by their house and using it gave them severe anxiety. You really just have to pay attention to wherever you're giving way to and hope that everyone else is doing their bit right, then it all flows quite nicely.
I've used this, it isn't actually too bad, just roughly aim for where you want to go and you'll get there ;-). It is horribly car-centric and a waste of space though.
It does appear to be very difficult for a pedestrian to cross and it seems to take up an enormous amount of land.
+ 04smallmj "it is horribly car-centric". Er, it's a roundabout. Connecting roads. Which people drive on. Similarly, Heathrow Airport is horribly airliner-centric.
+ K Kr It's impossible for a pedestrian to cross, but the alternatives would be too. Same with land-use. A regular roundabout that size would have a fraction of the capacity and it's too complicated a junction to have traffic lights. Also the whole step-by-step nature of it makes it pretty cyclist-friendly compared with a big roundabout.
60 years?! So this was posted 4 years ago making it 64 years?! You might want to look into this and gets your facts right. I was 52 when this was posted and remember the planning in the news and completion of it at around 8 years old so it would have been around 44 years old at most when this video was posted.
Just imagine if your examiner tells you to toake the 4th exit and the 3rd on the second one
I hate that roundabout I go there nearly everyday
Pity that. There's a similar one at Heathrow's "back door" that I used to go round almost every day. I loved being able to choose the least congested route through it.
Why are your roundabouts congested? That defeats the purpose of a roundabout.
Hem57i Because the UK is a very small country with old infrastructure that wasn't intended for so many cars and there is lack of money to improve it really.
True, but here in Australia once a roundabout gets too congested they are replaced with traffic lights. Genereally you need less space for traffic lights. No idea if traffic lights would actually be better than this thing.
Love how it's supposed to be great but most of the shots show standstill traffic and empty road or every car just sitting because everyone drove badly still and block cross traffic.
Nowhere near as terrifying as the Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile in Paris.
Anyone who's ever been in England knows this is true English engineering at its finest.
Just throw whatever random stuff you can find at a problem until you got something that works, then never touch it again.
They even got a word for it: bodge.
BRITAIN not fkng England
@@no15minutecities Not seen many Scots, Welsh or Irish people do it though... So no, I'm gonna stick to it, seems to be a very English mentality.
Wow, the brits are so clever! Not only the have intelligent sense of humour, they also have intelligent roundabouts! Of course, they are very simple for them!
If I had to drive around this I’d have a breakdown.
You do not know true fear until you go over this as a learner driver...
I saw a roundabout in Cambodia that worked on a similar principle, with traffic going round it in both directions. It wasn't actually designed to be used by that, but over there, things like lanes and rules are more of a suggestion.
And another thing only one fatal crash! That's fantastic until you realise the speed limit in that built up area should only be 30 mph. How did someone die crashing at that speed?
Err, probably a pedestrian or a teenager in a Vauxhall plowing through the islands at 50-60 mph.
He probably had 30 cars running him over before anyone noticed him, since everyone is constantly looking to the left and the right and not in front of him
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/live-scott-watkins-sentencing-court-15055251 driver hitting pedestrians
as a person who lives in swindon i’m shocked lmao
to go to the local swimming pool we have to cross this...
It doesn't, that's why they're redesigning it.
You do realise it's getting on for 50 years old, it works just fine, and it's not being redesigned?
People I know who live in Swindon and use this daily tell me the great thing about it is that there is always a way through it. You don't therefore get held up like you can with an ordinary roundabout.
Don't forget exactly same roundabout in Hemel Hempstead, where I live. The roundabout works great and you can reach your destination going left or right.
About 5 years after you enter the roundabout.
@@GeorgeMonet At least it's still better than driving the Brexit Roundabout, the UK Government is apparently still stuck in there even after almost 4 years!
There are so few accidents because people have to slow down so much to deal with this madness! Seriously though, pretty cool.
Why does she talk like none of the watchers are English? I am!
Because Yanks think all the world is Murrica! Yeah!
@@garybarnes4169 um no Trump taught us new countries like Mexico and China lmao
I know some one who spent six weeks in Swindon once. They eventually escaped the roundabout there and are never going back.
Double mini roundabouts are quite common, so you've just taken the concept to the extreme. I'd love the idea of going either way round and having options etc. Kind of like the M60 ring.
I have to build it in Cities Skylines. I just have to see how the traffic in the game can handle that.
"It may look chaotic" IT ALSO IS CHAOTIC-
It's remarkable because it plays on human perception and psychology... it all works simply and easily despite looking hideously complicated.
What's insane about a roundabout? The only insane thing is that they are not used in the US and the dumb 4-way stop gridlocks are used instead. (There are more idiotic things done here, health so-called "care" so-called "system" is a major example.)
JanPBtest what's insane is that it's a roundabout consisting of 5 mini roundabouts with another roundabout in the middle going backwards
We got a magic roundabout in hemel Hempstead, England. Use it every day. Works great. Heavy traffic on the left just go right and vice versa.
And it's not the only roundabout in Swindon. The place is full of them.
The roundabout in my city hasn't had a fatality in two decades. Where's our efficiency video?
The three in mine haven't ever had one lol...
"50 vintage cars" sees 2017 bmw mini
Well, they can´t stop others from driving, can they?
The panels for the 2017 BMW Mini are made in Swindon, Probably why its there
This is not a testament to the merit of roundabouts, but the superiority of British drivers.
I like that you ended the video with Swindon's official motto
Imagine being taken here on your driving test!😂
I took my driving test in Basingstoke which is endless huge roundabouts linked to each other. My instructor was like an SS guard, just to make it even more interesting. He would come out with sentences such as "Tell me laddie, are your feet connected to your brain, because I can't see much evidence that they are?"
my stepdad had to do his driving test on this roundabout and passed- its one of those things where you get used to it i suppose, he grew up in swindon so he knew how it worked
I probably will have to... help me
Good luck!
I had to go through the magic when I took my driving test. By that point you've driven through it so many times that its no big deal
No, I'm pretty sure this is madness lol
"Then brexit on the other side"
I like the little giggle while she's saying it as if it's somehow not the stupidest joke in history.
"Is this madness? Nope! It's Swindon."
PML
What? We have ONE square in london, a landmark called Oxford Circus, we don't call any roads 'A Circus' our languages are not THAT different.
Also...a tad insulted you managed to make 3 news Brexit reference's when talking about a 50 year old roundabout.
How is something this old showing 'brits are really off their rockers lateley'
A tad condescending :/
I didn't understand the that or the comment about how we have lost the plot lately.
Thinking about it as I was typing 60 years to Americans is a short amount of time.
*piccadilly circus
But the Brexit references are cute and playful...
/cough/
I thought that too. Intersections are not called circuses. They are called round abouts.... because that’s what they are 🤦🏻♂️ although I can’t speak for London they might be on another planet.
1:05 "Then Brexit" I'm so done..... Lmao
28-3
Ha, i live in swindon and loads of people make a big deal of it when its just a roundabout and its really easy to drive around and there is rarely bad traffic here
Anyone else notice everybody is either stopped in traffic that's not moving at all and no signs that it ever will or they are stuck going around the small center unable to get out???‽???????‽?????
"Its very efficient!"
*cars are literally not moving whatsoever*
I voted for Brexit!
I still remember the drivers face as she looked at the trafficsign. She was scared, confused and almost crying. We were there for vacation. We dont have roundabouts like this in germany 😅
“Is it madness?” Yep.
Does it work? Idk, looks pretty congested in this vid ;-)
Yeah this bit works, but the rest of swindon is jammed every weekend
Congested but flowing...
Yeah, but they were setting up 60 classic cars around the junction for a photoshoot. Filling it with stationary vehicles is pretty much the _point_ of the exercise.
Because it is like a Black hole. You can easily get in, but it is impossible to get out.
...you mean the Magic Roundabout, or Swindon in general?