A Brief History of Colchester's MAGIC ROUNDABOUT

#essex #roundabout #magic #colchester #driving

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We've looked at the OG Magic roundabout in Swindon and the first copy in Hemel Hempstead but in this video we look at the second imitation magic roundabout found in the beautiful city of Colchester, a place that was once the capital of England and has a varied history that we'll be skipping over because roundabout.

[MrFunreal]

what a roundabout way of showing the history of this piece of infrastructure. I love it.

[smorris]

If I ruled the world (or Swindon and Colchester) I would devise a system that, when the traffic was flowing with peak efficiency, huge speakers on poles would play the Magic Roundabout theme while a 60' tall Zebedee was sprung from a hatch in the centre to wobble menacingly.

[TheRip]

I used to live nearby & the history of the roundabout is relevant.
The main hold-ups were caused by a nearby railway level crossing. Traffic used to queue at this, back up across the roundabout (completely blocking it) & down the dual carriageway. Once the train had passed, about half the traffic could clear before another train was due (& this was only on the Clacton line, not the London-Norwich route.
Making it bi-directional worked well for about 2 weeks, when drivers realised they could block it in both directions.
Not long after this, Tesco came along & at the same time, a bridge was built across the railway/river. I am not sure, but I think Tesco had to part or wholly fund this. This allowed the old level crossing to be restricted to buses only, so the purposed of the roundabout's conversion was lost.

The place is a disaster in road planning, largely caused by the failure of many drivers to use it properly:
Many vehicles approach from Clacton & head west, which is the 3rd exit/roundabout. So they use the right lane? No! Most use the left & stay in the left lane at the next 2 mini-roundabouts. Some use the right though: many of those approach the roundabout in the right lane & swoop left without any indication, leaving those correctly giving way to them, waiting needlessly.

[roderickmain]

I have a vague recollection of walking across that at about 3am on my way home from a gig in Ipswitch in 1977. Home being the Uni campus in the back of shot. The early morning post train having dropped me and a couple of mates at Colcheter North Station - which seems just to be called "Colchester" these days. Back in the days when the posters at the station would say "Harwich for the continent" and some (probably student) added "Frinton for the Incontinent". Never been to Frinton ...and strangely, no urge to go back to Clacton these days.

[RchardBngham]

Love this roundabout, it is absolutely compulsory to travel around it the "wrong" way, just because you can

[davidking]

I did a re-enactment display there. We fired a cannon and got a complaint from somebody who lived 4 miles away. I love your videos.

[vivienclogger]

I've literally just used it. Glorious chaos around 5pm - or, if you want, "a bit shit". They are thinking of replacing the roundabouts with lights but traffic lights are for wimps. A bit of assertive optimism works every time. 😊

[Matt_D_Films]

Doing this roundabout (and the many many other roundabouts through Cowdray and St Andrews) every day for almost 3 years whilst a student at Essex, it very very quickly helps to learn that each mini roundabout is to be taken separately, and that the general population’s approach to this roundabout is to basically close their eyes and scream in the direction they wish to travel…

[HeroAntagonist]

My first encounter with this roundabout terrified me. Within 3 months I was zooming round it like a manic. Magic roundabouts do make sense plus can be great fun if you treat them like a game of MarioKarts

[tns]

I have no idea why I enjoy all your videos so much, as I'm not from the UK and don't even own a car. Happy that YT started suggesting them to me.

[MisterTea]

As an ex Colchester lad, good to see. I think it works quite well as you can pick which direction to go based on the traffic. And I think that E reg Space cruiser could have been one of my neighbours!

[davidball]

Finally Colchester and you never popped in for a cup of tea and a biscuit!

[ianhart]

I was hoping the outro was you in your car with dashcam hastily navigating Colchesters magic roundabout 😂

[richardnunn]

I lived in student halls on Avon Way (part of said council estate) back in 1989. It wasn’t a magic roundabout then but did have a petrol station and used car site where the Tesco now is. I recall an amazing red Lancia Beta HPE that I lusted after everytime I walked to campus 😍

[Braddowski]

I'm a simple man. I see Magic Roundabouts and I click.

[photoben]

I grew up in Colchester, I love you gave the Jumbo a shout out! I remember as a teenager accidentally finding myself having to navigate the magic roundabout on a pushbike, which was… not replicated 😅

[jamesread]

This roundabout is great works so well

[philiptaylor]

Short and sweet. Looks very like our own magic roundabout in High Wycombe.

[jamesfrancis]

Flashbacks to my driving lessons in Colchester!

[tomdavis]

reminds me of the old brisbane airport roundabout it got so busy they put traffic lights on it, to make it worse