The introduction of roundabouts was mainly to avoid serious accidents at crossings and to improve the flow of traffic. However, in the UK they tried to over-optimise this by linking multiple roundabouts with each other. Swindon’s Magic Roundabout got the nickname “designed by Satan” because of the complete chaos it causes! Keep on reading to discover what is so special about this magic roundabout!
One roundabout wasn’t enough, it had to be 5!
For some people entering a roundabout is already stressful enough since people are coming on and trying to get off as they please. However, in this case, they decided to interlink 5 different small roundabouts with each other. This would help people to avoid getting stuck in traffic and to get to their exit faster! With this structure, you have multiple ways of getting to your exit. All you have to do to use the roundabout is point your car in the direction you’d want to go and yield to other cars who are already in the sea of madness! As soon as you’ve done that, you hope for the best and put yourself in the middle of everything. To add to this complete chaos, the cars in the inner circle are moving in opposite direction to the cars in the outer circle. Check out the video below to figure out how the roundabout works.
The “scary” Magic roundabout is surprisingly safe!
In the first 25 years of operating, only 100 small accidents and just 14 bigger crashes have happened. However, every day there are thousands of cars that use the roundabout(s). The most impressive part is that you have multiple ways of getting to your exit, without having to go around the whole structure!
Many tourists visit the roundabout and want to be part of the chaos. However, instead of trying it themselves, they pay taxi drivers to go around the roundabout multiple times!
