See How an Insane 7-Circle Roundabout Actually Works | WIRED

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

[merrsf]

I once spent 2 years living in Swindon, it was the worst 10 years of my life.

[AlisonWonderland]

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.

[wonderman]

I wanna understand the mind of the person who created these

[KiwieeiwiK]

"Is this madness? No, it's Swindon"

I see you've never been to Swindon...

[kirksadventures]

"Only 1 fatal car accident"

Yeah, because the top speed anyone has ever hit MIGHT HAVE BEEN 8 mph.

[aegiseurobeat]

"Then Brexit on the other side"


I cringed a little.

[betabenja]

"is this madness? no, it's swindon" should be in an alan partridge movie

[LucarioRemixes]

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!

[Lowezar]

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?

[anghinetti]

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.

[Rearda]

I use this roundabout regularly. The design is so brilliant it self-regulates flow because you can choose pretty much any set of lanes.

[LongHotSummer]

you didn't really explain how the traffic flow

[ooglefluffg]

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.

[Wireball]

"Is this madness?" "No, THIS. IS. SWINDON!" *kicks into roundabout*

[bansheetwenty]

"Is this madness? No, it's Swindon"
Honestly the two are pretty interchangeable anyway

[MidtownSkyport]

circus (n.) from Latin circus "ring, circular line, "

Makes perfect sense

[Noe-gjmw]

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

[usera]

Yes I live in Swindon we're finally not useless

[katietyrrell]

I will never forget the day I accidentally ended up on this roundabout..

[callummoloney]

Swindon shouting to Wiltshire “MUM IVE MADE IT”