I learned to drive in Swindon, so it's no problem for me. Just treat each mini-roundabout individually and give way to the right. My dad worked for Swindon Council and made the original road signs for the Magic Roundabout when it was first built. That was in the days before computers so he had to make up each panel of each sign, measuring very accurately so that they fitted together perfectly - and make more than one sign!

@mothmagic1

Жыл бұрын

Well I have to say he got it right first time. Why don't they do that any more? Get it right first time means no need to redo it which means it turns out cheaper. I'm from Oxford and I absolutely love the magic roundabout because it's a bit of highways planning that actually works. The original roundabout would not be able to cope with today's traffic density but this does so very effectively

This is my hometown, and often see locals have more difficulties than you did. Well done!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

👍🏾

@MrSimon1909

Жыл бұрын

doesnt it suck to live in swindon?

@wooooo0oo

7 ай бұрын

@@MrSimon1909 only for driving, too many roundabouts. mini roundabouts everywhere

Did my driving test through that bad boy. The examiner who was visiting was more confused than I was. 100 years ago it was a large canal with vessels large enough to go out to sea up the Bristol Channel.

Mac, man, you make KZread the medium it could and should be. Love you and your family. Keep up the good work.

@TheOwlsarewatching606

Жыл бұрын

I totally agree!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the wonderful compliment.

I love the magic roundabout. Being from Swindon use it daily

As someone who has been born and raised in Swindon, the magic roundabout is very easy to navigate. And yes there are roundabouts everywhere. We just can't help ourselves 😂

The first time I went to Swindon, I went around the magic roundabout five times, mostly unintentionally. I was trying to get to the Jury’s Inn on a corner, back a bit from the roundabout, but I didn’t see the front door the first time and there was no visible entrance to the car park seen in the next try, so I ended up going around the magic roundabout more times than I intended. Once I was blocked from the turn I wanted by a bus passing me on the inside of the roundabout, so I was forced to go straight on. The last but one time, I thought I’d try turning left at the Jury’s Inn and then left again to try and get around the back of the hotel. There was no way through to the hotel that way. Instead, I ended up outside a rather seedy pool hall. So, I parked to look at the sat nav map. It was a hire car for a business trip, so I’d not thought about locking the doors as I usually do. Suddenly, the back door opened and a drunk from the pool hall climbed in the back of the car and yelled, “Take me to heaven, baby!” All that experience dealing with patients and difficult customers kicked in. Eventually, I got him out of the car and persuaded him to go back into the pool hall. A quick spray of perfume countered the Wetherspoons on a Friday night aroma, and I tried once again. This time, I made it around the magic roundabout and found the entrance to the Jury’s Inn car park. Someone tried to cut me up in the car park to overtake to get at the one remaining car parking space. After all that, I wasn’t having it and blocked him out; parked and booked myself into the hotel. I went back for my luggage later. Next day, I took the bus to the business site! (Bus stop is opposite the Jury’s Inn!) I did the trip four times after that but still had to go around twice on one occasion because of another bus. They’re bigger than me!

@mehitabel6564

Жыл бұрын

Crikey, LindyLou!

@margaretflounders8510

Жыл бұрын

What a nightmare!..I died at "Take me to heaven, baby!"....

@shymike

Жыл бұрын

Didn't realise a book shop on a Fri night had such a bad smell!

Big up to my fellow English and British Drivers. Patience, discipline and good manners and no-one, ignorantly, blowing their horn. THAT was the REAL England...

Well done, the first time I came across this roundabout I was confused, I didn`t know this existed. You soon become accustomed to it.

Mac , well done . You did nothing wrong , everyone shows patience and no one blows their horn if someone is in the wrong lane . Everyone drives slower and concentrates on what they and everyone around them is doing . Driving this thing is not rocket science it’s confidence and just chill Great job , I do have one for you , try driving around Cornwall towing a caravan 😎😎😎😎

@philcoogan7369

Жыл бұрын

Cornwall towing a caravan THAT IS and EVIL Suggestion

Oh man! So gutted you were in my town and I had no idea! Well done. Believe it or not, it’s actually slightly easier to navigate when it’s busy as everyone is moving more slowly and you can just follow the car in front. It’s actually no biggie - you just treat it as a series of individual mini roundabouts and forget that you’re going around the central one anti-clockwise. But I’m a Swindonian so maybe that’s easy for me to say! All the driving test routes in Swindon go over the Magic Roundabout so you can’t pass your test here without tackling it.

Welcome to Swindon! Well done dealing with Magic 🙂. If you ever come this way again and you like Steam Trains, the Steam Museum is worth a visit. It is a museum built around part of Swindon's historic Train factory (as is the Outlet village). If you ever fancy a trip on a heritage Steam Train, Worcestershire's Severn Valley Railway is one of the UK's best. This is where the Steam engine came from that you saw in the Outlet village.

I stayed in Swindon for a week this summer. Nobody seemed to know how to negotiate the magic roundabout. I took the first exit off the roundabout and used the surrounding streets to bypass the chaos. Much easier 😂 you did great.

Wow that was very impressive sir. I'm a British driver of nearly forty five years, ex London bus driver and I came on here to find out how this magic roundabout worked. You gave a brilliant demonstration of just that, thank you, well done. I'm gobsmacked.. it actually works quite well... Now then what about some cycle lanes?! Edit: I meant to say that it looked like the traffic acted as a guide to who goes where. If it had been empty it may have been harder to decide which way to go, although the signage looked quite good.👍

We love this roundabout it works so well, obviously it’s easy for us Swindonians but crazy to see the attention it gets round the 🌍

Well done ! Challenge achieved. I think you should also try driving around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

When you’re next near London there’s another “magic roundabout” at HEMEL HEMPSTEAD in Hertfordshire, you treat it as six separate roundabouts. On any of the approach roads leading on to the roundabout you can turn left or right to get into the main flow.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

I will look it up...

@philipmason9537

Жыл бұрын

@@MacandBlair 👍

@mattj5492

Жыл бұрын

@@MacandBlair Hemel and High Wycombe as I mentioned in my recent post.

The challenge was accepted and achieved with aplomb. Well done!

Driving on many roads in the UK and found them sometimes challenging. Your research and enthusiasm on tackling the magic roundabout makes it fun to learn and watch 😊

@MacandBlair

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for that!

Many years ago, I was hitch-hiking down to Bristol or Exeter, I forget now. I got picked up by a senior citizen on the outskirts of *Northampton*. During the course of the journey, he told me he lived in Swindon but couldn't handle this complicated roundabout and he was hoping I could help him get through it. It became apparent he thought he was still in Swindon and then he told me he had left home to go to his local shops at his normal time of 9.30am. It was mid-afternoon when he picked me up many, many miles from his local shops! He absolutely refused to go down any A roads and so my job was to simply to get him closer to home. Some hours later he suddenly announced that he knew where he was and that he could get home from here. I said that I would take him up on his offer of some free apples from his garden (to make sure he got home). Over the years, I've heard of more confused people, completely and utterly lost on the roads, driving sometimes hundreds of miles in the wrong direction. I never got to see the magic roundabout. Time for bed.

@mehitabel6564

Жыл бұрын

Good man!

@acommentator4452

Жыл бұрын

this is actually a serious problem, and accidents have been caused by and to such drivers who suffer cognitive decline. someone must have noticed their incompetence, and it behoves everyone to report this to the authorities.

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

Great Story,Chris.

@denisrobertmay875

Жыл бұрын

@@acommentator4452 it is a minor problem much exaggerated in the popular press. Older drivers have far fewer serious accidents than younger drivers. This is born out by Insurance Premiums. I continued to drive into my 90s, my wife and I live in a rural area with no public transport. From my 80s I annually took an Older Drivers Reassessment, sponsored by the Police and the Local Authority, it involved a driving instructor (volunteer) sitting with me for 1 hour while I drove my normal routes and ventured through more complicated Motorway sections and junctions. This assessment carried no penalty but allowed me to judge the standard of my driving objectively. I took my car to France annually until 2014. I gave up driving as I lost confidence and could not cope so well with brighter lights on newer cars dazzling in low light winter days ( I generally avoided driving at night). I recommend taking the Older Drivers Assessment if only to hear the Instructor condemning the Driving Standards of (the much younger) other road users.

You are braver than me. I have been driving for 58 years and would hesitate to take that on, although, mentally, you should treat each one as a separate circle. Milton Keynes seems to have more than its fair share of roundabouts but the roads are based on the US grid system, H1, V1 etc. Each intersection has a roundabout, rather than a junction. Plan ahead but if you fail, go around again and don't make sudden lane changes.

Good roundabout footage! They really are a great design like the pyramids!

That was brilliant. It's worth remembering that in the UK, the outside lane is the one furthest to the right and the inside one is closest to the left. These are referred to also as nearside (left, sometimes also kerbside) and offside (right) both when driving and ordering car parts. It gets complicated on roundabouts and multi-lane roads such as motorways so the lanes are numbered from left to right.

The scariest drive I've been on was along the Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. Single-track Road with passing places, steep climb & descent, hairpin bends, rocks, sheep - but the scenery is spectacular! Do it in good weather though. Check out the several KZread videos of this road.

There is one in Hemel Hampstead, which was the first one and just 2 miles from the M1

That must have been a very daunting drive for you... Especially as a relatively new driver here in the UK... But you actually did a really good job of finding your way around The Magic Roundabout my friend... Driving in busy traffic can be stressful for anyone... So for an overseas driver It can be squeaky bum time... So well done!. 👍

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

👍🏾

I've driven around that magic roundabout on & off for years, I never realised it had a reputation, as long as you take it steady & signal its pretty easy. Roundabouts are much better, in other towns like Oxford, Reading,Bristol, Slough its nearly all traffic lights, very tedious. Roundabouts keep the traffic moving.

I think the biggest "problem" with navigating a roundabout is being intimidated by it. Just follow the signs/markings/traffic flow and you'll be fine. Roundabouts are fun and I love them!

When I was a kid growing up in the jewel in the crown of the M4 corridor, the iconic traffic system was officially known by the prosaic "County Islands" (County referring to nearby County Road/The County Ground, home of Swindon Town FC). Then the council bowed to populism and gave official status to the nickname, (taken from the English language reimagining of a 1960s French children's television programme). Traversing the Magic Roundabout successfully is rather like chess, one has to think several moves ahead

Try driving the narrow lanes of Devon & Cornwall, especially the road to Tintagel your door mirrors will practically touch each side of the roads. Well done, you did well in Swindon, there's a similar one in Hemel Hempstead.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thanks

Wait for the rain to stop? That could be five days and nights in Aldi's car park!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣

LOL. Impressive. I believe Milton Keynes is the 'home of the roundabout'.

Love the horses in the first scene of this - "Has he come to feed us at last? What on earth is he doing now?"

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

🤣

There is no stopping you! It was built in 1972. The era of? Whacky-baccie,!

Oh my goodness! I learnt to drive in London, which for once was a doddle compared to this! 😱 well done 👏🏻

I live in Swindon and have never driven around them. I will go out my way to avoid the magic roundabouts 😆

If you want quantities of roundabouts you need to try Milton Keynes, it's built on a grid system but each intersection is a roundabout. As a truck driver I like roundabouts, if I'm not sure which exit to take I can go around the roundabout, two, or even three, times until I've read all the signs and I'm sure which exit I want. Anyway, congratulations on conquering Swindon's infamous Magic Roundabout! Okay, next challenge: Visit Broadway in Worcestershire and in particular Broadway Tower up on the hill above the village for the spectacular views and the relief map showing the extent of views of 18* counties! *verification required!

@Badgersj

Жыл бұрын

And nobody beeps at a truck driver!

@abarratt8869

Жыл бұрын

Milton Keynes does have a lot of roundabouts. All the garage workshops round here are used to replacing the left-hand suspension bushes, because they're the ones that get worn out by the roundabouts... Milton Keynes' grid system is deceiving for the newcomer - it's a grid, ish, but some roads vanish into nowhere and the grid itself is not rectilinear, and at least one of the verticals bends and becomes a horizontal...

@Badgersj

Жыл бұрын

@@abarratt8869 🤣

If you haven't already tried it - take a drive to the Electric Brae in Ayrshire....stop the car by the parking place, put it in neutral and take your foot off the brake.....see which way your car rolls, downhill or up !!!

If you're thinking of interesting driving challenges you might be interested to have a drive over Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It's very beautiful but quite steep and narrow in places. In the right weather you can see across to the Isle of Man from up there.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion

@marieseaward9891

Жыл бұрын

Omg!! Yes... Driven it many times and I do not take it for granted... One crazy blind bend on that road and camber you won't believe could exist... Give it a go

My Home town. Took my test on this magic roundabout. Once you get it, it is easy but plan ahead where you want to exit.

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

A week ahead? 😀

Good skills. You're now officially one of us!! If you like roundabouts, Milton Keynes is the place to be. They've got hundreds of them! The place is renowned for them. Many newer, purpose built towns/cities are the same. I believe Hemel Hempstead is up there, too. In fact, Hemel has a magic roundabout as well. Fancy giving that one a go?!!

You should come and try driving Coventry`s Ring Road!😂😂😂😂

I have just Subscribed as that was an excellent video, my friend. That was not easy at all. Well navigated.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the sub!

For the very life of me, I don't understand why it's not converted to one big roundabout. I'm a very experienced driver, many business miles, and came upon the Magic Roundabout unexpectedly. I had 3 goes at it before I ended up going the right direction. Otherwise I love roundabouts, they're a great way to keep congested traffic moving. Well done!

@wessexdruid7598

Жыл бұрын

If you know what you are doing, you can drive straight through the middle, that's why. You don't _need_ to drive all the way round the edge.

@RobA500

Жыл бұрын

It was one big roundabout many years ago. The traffic flow even back then when there were far less cars on the road was horrendous. The Magic Roundabout cured the problem and traffic does flow a lot smoother, if it went back now there would be chaos and gridlock almost permanently.

@MackerelCat

Жыл бұрын

Well also it’s costs money I’m sure the council would rather just leave it alone and not have to spend

‘"The Magic Roundabout" in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, is the familiar name given to the Plough roundabout. The familiar name comes from the children's television programme, and is also used for a similar junction in Swindon and the M40 junction in Denham. The official name relates to a former public house, called The Plough Inn, which was between the junction of what is now Selden Hill and St Albans Road. It has also been known as the Moor End Roundabout as it is adjacent to the part of Boxmoor nearest the town. Before Hemel Hempstead became a new town the roads met in a simple junction which was then replaced by a standard roundabout.’ Source: Wikipedia.

Mac, I Love your intensity with this video. Its brilliant 🙌

Wow! why has Swindon made it so complex. The whole idea of a roundabout is smooth flow of traffic for exits to different roads as some US states have implemented traffic circles, /roundabouts

Great Video, Hemel Hemstead, hertfordshire, my home town it has the second one built in 1973, we too locally call it Magic Roundabout, it has 6 mini roundabouts around the main centre one. I love it, I love the way you can go either clockwise or anticlockwise around it,. If you are ever down our way you should definitely check it out.

Hemel Hempstead has a great magic roundabout and so does Sevenoaks

Next, Slough and Braknell :)

The way to crack it is not to view it as a whole but just concentrate on, and apply the rules to, each roundabout in turn

Brilliant! Well done matey - you cracked it!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

👍🏾

GREAT video!!!! Love you Mac

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thanks 😀👍🏾

I live in swindon 👋, that roundabout is easy, once you understand the logic. I passed my test having part of it going via that roundabout. Passed first time🤘

Some years ago they introduced a driving test for towing trailers, for a laugh, the examiner who was testing my mate took him through there after he'd passed him!

Good to see you again, Mac.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

🙂

The 1 in hemel is the one that gets me coz peeps just drive over the island's

Well done for challenging yourself and your success because it is a challenge to do roundabouts ❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

I used to have to use a roundabout like this at saddlers farm in Benfleet but thankfully they removed it. There's another one near me in Colchester which I have yet to tackle

@silverstars7882

Жыл бұрын

I close my eyes when we use the Colchester roundabout. I am not the driver by the way. lol

That looks like a roundabout they used to have in New Jersey!!😂 it’s a bit odd because most UK roundabouts keep the traffic moving whereas this one doesn’t seem to do that? There seems to be a lot of stopping and starting!! But we’ll done!🎉

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

You could see the nearby floodlights, Laura, off the local Football Stadium and that was just before the game so plenty of traffic hence the lack of flow.

Massive respect to you, Mac. I've been round this as a passenger and that was terrifying enough, thank you. It really is the stuff that nightmares are made of! I hope that you, Blair and your lovely kids are keeping well. Best wishes to you all.............................................the ancient Englishman.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

🙂

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

@@MacandBlair I have just Subscribed as that was an excellent video, my friend. That was not easy at all. Well navigated.

3 roundabouts! I had never heard of it before - that is crazy.

Here's hoping the steam museum served dim sum.

Yeah🎉 you did it! Not bad eh. It‘s actually not as bad as it looks. A few more blinker setting and you are a pro!

Well done! Even I would hesitate after decades of driving here.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

👍🏾

The same configuration has been in place for 50 years because no-one dares change it. If they did the resulting carnage would be horrific. I'm a UK driver and I have never been round the magic roundabout, I've never been to that part of the UK.

You should try the one in Hemel Hempstead. Oh and Milton Keynes (which is near Hemel) is famous for its roundabouts.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the suggestions 👍🏾

The name comes from a children's cartoon popular at the time. Ask anyone in their fifties about Dougal, Zebedee and Ermertude the Cow... Bizarrely, it was a French cartoon dubbed into English, with little regard for the original French storyline.....

It's basically two exits to each road, so easy when you live here 👍 well done mucker 😁

You should watch the Magic Roundabout, or willow the wisp

If you know where you want to go the anti-clockwise centre takes care of itself and you don't even notice you've done it. Trying to go right round the outside defeats the idea of it. If you do it properly you never need to negotiate half of it to go anywhere off it. Fair play to you sire, there's a good many Brits couldn't do that as easily as you did. Milton Keynes has a reputation as roundabout city but it has far fewer than Swindon.

8:11: The beak lights on the blue Hyundai are also magic, on the left side is at the top, on the right side is at the bottom....maybe it is normal at UK.

I have never seen this roundabout. In fact, I had never heard of it until today. When I worked in England for a couple of years about 20 yrs ago, there was a complex system of mini roundabouts, combined to form one big roundabout, at Hemel Hempstead. I don't know whether or not it still exists, but this junction at least had every component circle travelling clockwise!! 🙄

@lox5962

Жыл бұрын

Yes, the Hemel magic roundabout still exists and hasn’t changed, unlike the buildings and town itself

Top man you are!! Hats off to you for the skills.😊

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much 😀

Give me my country lanes any day over that roundabout system! Thank god I live nowhere near it lol

You should try the magic roundabout at Hemel Hempstead, it has six mini roundabouts on it. It too has its own wiki page.

nice work!

You did brilliantly well! Not sure I’d fancy it but I’m not sure why you decided to attempt it on a Saturday when Swindon Town have a home game!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

🤷🏾‍♂️

There's been lots of U Turns in this country recently!

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

Good one. 😉

As a challenge I would suggest trying to get through Bradford without satnav. Make sure you have a working dashcam.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

I will look into it. Thanks!

You want roundabouts try Milton Keynes & Bletchley.

Excellent work ❤🎉

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

👍🏾

My grandparents used to live in Highworth near Swindon and my brother now lives near Hemel Hempstead so I know these pretty well. But my brother is only just learning to drive and I wouldn't want to do that on the test!

Well done you!!! I avoid driving anywhere near Swindon, just because I haven’t got the guts to tackle the Magic Roundabout 🫣

It’s 50/50 that Aldi try and fine you if you parked and didn’t register in store! I’d be interested if you did a piece on the steam museum. Isambard Kingdom Brunel is famous for his groundbreaking engineering. SS Great Britain, great western railway, several stations including Paddington and bridges along the lines.

Well played sir

Well, I've never been to Swindon but I've been driving for over 40 years and would hate to come across this roundabout unexpectedly. It just looks overly complicated and crazy to me and people changing lanes all the time. I don't know who designed it ... the Council maybe, Councils normally do stupid things ... but to me, one big roundabout would be much better and far easier for everyone.

I believe there are 3 "magic" roundabouts in the UK whereby you have the multiple mini roundabouts surrounding big roundabout, however the one is Swindon is actually called the Magic Roundabout and is the only one with the ability to drive through the center as well so it definitely seems the most daunting of them all. I used to work in Swindon for a few years so haven't driven through it - if you think of it as taking 1 mini roundabout at a time it's not as bad as it seems. The other 2 are in Hemel Hempstead (in Herts) and one near me in High Wycombe (Bucks).

@captvimes

Жыл бұрын

at least one in milton keynes too

@mattj5492

Жыл бұрын

@@captvimes i haven’t been to Milton Keynes for a while but used to go there for work occasionally and don’t remember ever seeing one. Is it fairly new Magic roundabout?

@0utcastAussie

Жыл бұрын

There's another near the Hythe in Colchester too

@user-ky6vw5up9m

Жыл бұрын

there is one at Hatton Cross on Heathrow Airport estate.

Welll done... actually no one should be scared of roundabouts, magic or not. One can always go round and around if you miss your exit. If congested, please don't block others. Maybe it's like when traffic lights fail ... what do normal drivers do? Approach with caution, be prepared to stop, be kind to foreign farties/elderly/panickers/whatever... we're all human x

when this was built there was a popular tv show called the magic roundabout

It’s a roundabout. Normal rules apply. Give way to traffic from the right. On approach you can see the less congested route through and take it. If you have a problem with this you probably shouldn’t be driving at all.

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

I would love to see your video demonstrating driving through the Magic Roundabout. 👍🏾

@keegan773

Жыл бұрын

@@MacandBlair I use this on a daily basis, it’s never been a problem so I have never felt the need to video a drive through. The vast majority of users have no problem either. If, for example, the right hand side looks congested you just take the left hand side mini roundabouts and work your round that way to your desired exit. It works.

Today it shall be known as the Sorcerer's Traffic Circle.

7.30 you need to be in the right hand lane not the middle as that goes left or straight on to Queens drive

Well done.

What the hell are you talking about these type of roundabouts are easy to navigate. There are another six roundabouts like this throughout the UK. I had two I used to go around in Essex one was Sadlers farm Roundabout the other one was in Colchester Essex and there is another one I used in Ipswich in Suffolk

@MacandBlair

Жыл бұрын

It makes for good youtube... 🙂

Wonderful

There used to be a similar one in Hemel Hempstead. I assume its still there

there is another one At Hemel Hempstead and another at Hatton Cross within Heathrow Airport.

Your very brave good one

Easier than Stairfoot Roundabout