3 ms·

We love a good roundabout in the UK, however it can be taken to extremes. The Magic Roundabout[1] in Hemel Hempstead is basically a roundabout made up of 6 mini

• JdeBP 2y ago
  You're the 6th person so far to mention Hemel Hempstead; but it's a poor choice for a comment, because it's an extreme case. The normal and far more common occurrences of roundabouts in the U.K. support bane's point. Indeed, the junction in the headlined article is a slight variation on a quite common U.K. junction type: the double mini-roundabout. We can point to loads of them, such as this one in Bridgeyate (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/51.457696/-2.462268 https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/51.457696/-2.462268) for just one random example. All of the WSDOT's points, about how large vehicles traverse them and how they are shaped like that because the staggered junction or slightly askew cross-roads that they replaced has space restrictions, apply to double mini-roundabouts. And as bane said, the research in the U.K. back in the 1970s when double mini-roundabouts were a new thing showed a significant reduction in accidents over the prior staggered junctions and askew crossroads, at less cost than enlarging the junctions. So the response is not to perplex the United Statians with Hemel Hempstead, but to welcome them to the shiny new future of 1970s road systems. And perhaps warn them that by the 1990s the road markings will have become a bit worn and scuffed by all of the HGVs driving over the centre. (-: