On 15 Oct 2004 "Dave Liquorice" wrote:

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 22:05:14 GMT, raden wrote:

Thinking of the "magic roundabouts" near Swindon and
Hemelhempstead. Wonderful creations, spagehti junction is easier to
navigate.

What do you mean?

Simple - left round the outside, right round the inside

where's the problem ?

The problem is that going counter clock round a roundabout sounds
very loud alarm bells in any sensible driver.

But you're not going counterclockwise round any roundabout - you're
just going in a counterclockwise direction round a series of two-way
roads which connect the roundabouts in a circle.

I quite often come down the hill into Hemel from the M1/M10 direction
and go out towards Bovingdon. I find it easier to turn right at the
first roundabout and go round the system anticlockwise. Although it's
the same distance vehicles which go the other way round have to give
way to me at the fourth roundabout where I turn right again.

The first time I encountered the Swindon, of which I had no fore
knowledge, I was badly thrown by suddenly finding my self going,
apparently, the wrong way round a roundabout.

Swindon is wonderful, or at least it was when it was first built. There
were no markings, just oil drums at each entry point. You gave way to
anything coming from your right and passed to the left of the drums at
the entry and exit points. That was it.

Now I know the layout they aren't a problem but that first encounter
was horrendous. Decent road planning should not present such
"challanges".

The first normal roundabout was no doubt a "challenge" when it was
built. Most new developments are. The ones I don't like are the
completely unnecessary pinch points, build-outs and slalom courses
which are just plain dangerous.

--
Richard Porter
Mail to username ricp at domain minijem.plus.com
"You can't have Windows without pains."