Driving In Britain

- The Magic Roundabout at Swindon

There are five or six of these collosal contraptions in Britain. They are called counterflow roundabouts because traffic in the Inner Circle circulates counter-clockwise while the Outer Circle goes conventionally clockwise. This one at Swindon, way west of London, was the first. It is named for a chidren's TV programme which used a roundabout as a time machine.

The graphic below shows two possible routes to move from south to east. Tourists should follow the red path; keep in the Outer Circle all the way round and leave the yellow "Pro Driver Path" to the locals, who have roundabouts in their blood and know where they are going. The amazing thing is that if you obey the dashed white GIVE WAY lines (Yield Points), it works, beautifully!

www.roundabout.net/DIBcounterflow.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Magic_Roundabout_Schild_db.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Swindon_Magic_Roundabout_eng.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Magicroundabout_hemel.svg/255px-Magicroundabout_hemel.svg.png

http://www.ellemosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/kreisverkehr.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Turbo_Roundabout.svg/400px-Turbo_Roundabout.svg.png