I'm afraid that's deliberate - an attempt to slow down the traffic, like speed bumps. But unless it's a large raised centre, people just drive straight over them.
Same with the one at the end of my road.
In a HGV ?
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. 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.
Now I know the layout they aren't a problem but that first encounter was horrendous. Decent road planning should not present such "challanges".
In message , on Fri, 15 Oct 2004, G&M writes
Richard has already covered the exemption for large vehicles in his previous post, but since you ask, the only one out of the series that seems to be at all tight for _LGVs_ is the Two Waters Road junction, but even that doesn't require an artic driver to cross completely to the wrong side unless he's particularly unskilled or lazy.
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.
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.
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.
Why so?
I never had a problem with either Hemel or Swindon.
You just have to think of it as going clockwise round the mini-roundabout
I think you should remove the word sensible from the above
Hemel might not have a marked roundabout in the middle, Swindon does (or did)...
Only if you are going to fast (that old chesnut). Having lived on a busy straight, treelined, broad, road that was nothing more than normal 1930's housing area road. Cars would travel at 40 to 60mph down it, despite the 30 limit. The platforms and pinch points have brought the upper speed down to a much more acceptable but still illegal
40mph.
I have to disgree, at least in the case of the Swindon one. (I love the fact that they actually *did* call it the Magic Roundabout.)
I travel through it a couple of times per month, and whilst I still have to work quite hard to understand the principle on paper -- or by looking at the road sign -- I find that driving through it is extremely straightfoward and clear.
It's not often that one encounters something that works better on the ground that it does on paper.
No its not that I'm going too fast, though with some of the slaloms they set up it's a great temptation to treat them as such. There's a good one coming into South Mimms! A few years ago our council put in build-outs on alternate sides of a road to slow down the traffic and the accident rate went through the roof. They had to rip the whole lot out again at great expense to the council tax payers.
I can't see the point of forcing alternate line traffic. It just causes unnecessary delays, aggravation, noise and pollution.
Yes; I have a similar road at the end of mine that I regularly walk down to get to the local shops. Before the speed bumps were introduced, crossing it was a nightmare due to the speed of the traffic. Now it's easy. I dislike speed bumps as a motorist of course, but there's no doubt in my mind of their effectiveness. And that it's the only way to force the majority of drivers to go at a sensible speed in residential areas. Pedestrian crossings and phases at traffic lights aren't the answer either
- so many drivers just ignore those too.
In message , Dave Liquorice wrote
Around my way, the council have achieved slower speeds on the _main roads_ by road narrowing. The result - many more people now bypass the main roads and use the side roads to reach their destination.
If you really want to see safety measures that really do not work go to any school during the 'school run'. Note the number of responsible parents double parked or letting their precious children from the car when parked on the zig-zag lines etc..
QED
You should see Gloucester. They use any excuse they can to cause congestion and delays. Many of their daft ideas are actually very dangerous, the latest gem being pedestrian crossings on all roundabout junctions. How there hasn't been a major fatality yet I don't know, but there was another (hopefully damage only) accident just yesterday on one near my home.
That is dangerous. As cars crowned the roundabouts they are unaware of a crossing directly in front of them. When roundabouts are crowned so you can't see the other side they problem is worse, also when there is lots of traffic so the crossing obscured.
The best place for crossing is usually the safest and most convenient for drivers.
I go around Hemel's MR anticlockwise just for the hell of it. Before the A41(M) was built the worst roundabout in Hemel was the little one on the A41 near the station, which had traffic lights just past one of it's exits. A blocked exit on a roundabout causes immediate gridlock and that would spillback and gridlock the big roundabout leading to the MR.
In message , Bob wrote
Go for it - gas fitting is so easy - especially with modern plastic pipes and push fittings. A tiny bit of skill is required when it comes to fitting in-line compression fitting service valves - just throw away the olives and use a good quality glue such as boss-white instead.
Does the campaign of civil disobedience extend to not trimming the message you are replying to?
AA cells are cells, not batteries. "Battery" is a collective nown for voltaic cells, guns, hen houses, cameras, etc.
! ^^^^
The trouble with pedantry is ... :-). And anyway I can't help thinking you're fighting a totally lost cause with the cell/battery thing.
Boss-white? Overkill. Used chewing gum and a few turns of gaffer tape shurely? ;D
Timbo
Oops! And w is nowhere near u either!
You're probably right :-(
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