"Richard J." wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...
Andrew P Smith wrote:
In article , Helen
Deborah Vecht writes

I think there's a similar one in Hemel Hempstead....

No, that's just 5 mini roundabouts in close succession similar to
those outside Hatton Cross tube station.

IIRC there are 6 mini roundabouts, placed around a central island.
This is an exactly similar configuration to the Swindon one,
except that Hemel has 6 roads entering instead of 5, and the
central island is bigger.

I thought the roundabouts at Swindon were placed randomly rather
than regularly around a central roundabout. Certianly they appear
fairly random when you drive around them.

If you look at the photo on the page that I referred to originally in
this thread*, you'll see that there is a mini-roundabout at the point
where each of the 5 roads enters the Magic Roundabout, forming a
more-or-less regular pentagon.

* http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

You're absolutely right! I've looked at the aerial photo and I can't work
out why this one appears so confusing and random when you're driving round
it whereas the one in Hemel seems more organised. How many exits does the
Hemel one have: is it six?

I think I still prefer a nice simple arrangement with one big roundabout,
they you only have to gave way ONCE, as you're entering the roundabout,
rather than having to be prepared to stop at every roundabout on your route.