Magic roundabout
Five mini roundabouts arranged in a circle, with an inner ring that runs the other way. It looks impossible in a photograph and drives like five ordinary minis.
One mini at a time
The only way to read it is the way the Highway Code tells you to read any roundabout: look at the one in front of you, give way to the right, and take the exit you want. Everything frightening about the layout comes from trying to see all five at once. You never have to.
Why the middle runs backwards
The roads between the minis are two-way. Because we drive on the left, a car going clockwise round the outside and a car going anticlockwise round the inside each keep to their own side of the same road, so the inner ring runs the opposite way without anybody crossing anybody. Going anticlockwise is often the shorter route, and it is a normal turn at each mini, not a special rule.
Signals and counting
Each mini gets its own signal on approach, chosen by the clock rule for that mini. Between them there is no time for anything clever: signal, look right, go, and start again at the next one.
The traffic is the same every time
Fixed seed, fixed timestep. Five give ways in a row is exactly the thing you want to repeat until it stops feeling like five.
Common questions
Where are the magic roundabouts?
The best known are in Swindon and Hemel Hempstead. You are unlikely to be taken round one on a test, but the skill it drills (reading one mini at a time) is the same one a double mini asks for.
Which way round do I go?
Whichever is shorter for your exit. Clockwise round the outside is the familiar direction; anticlockwise round the inside is usually quicker and is a perfectly ordinary turn at each mini.
The rest of the set
- Single-lane roundaboutFour arms, one lane round. Give way to the right, take the second exit.
- Three-arm roundaboutThree arms in a T. From the side road the second exit is a right turn, so it needs a right signal.
- Mini roundaboutPainted island, same priority rules, and you still have to go round it.
- Double mini roundaboutTwo minis, one after the other. Each is its own give way. Read them one at a time.
- Two-lane roundaboutTwo lanes round, spiral arrows on the road. Right lane and a right signal for the third exit.
- Signal-controlled roundaboutLights on every arm. Green gets you to the line: you still give way to the roundabout.
- City gyratorySix arms, two lanes, uneven spacing. One arm only joins and one only leaves. Count carefully.
Also included: the manoeuvre simulator and the 3D drives of the routes around your own test centre.