The U.K's first mini roundabout.........

The concept of a mini-roundabout was developed by the late  Frank Blackmore  (1, 2, 3) a Traffic Engineer who worked for the Road Research Laboratory.  He first developed a roundabout that could be used in restricted urban areas resulting in the development of a roundabout with a 2 to 4 metre wide central island. This was first installed in Peterborough  in October 1968 near London Road and Oundle Road, but was replaced by traffic lights in 2008.

However Frank then went on to develop a small roundabout which  had no central island and was just a painted white circle. This was the first over-runable or fully traversable by cars roundabout and was defined as a mini-roundabout by the government  in 1975. As the first of this design was installed in Benfleet in May 1970 it makes it the first in the UK and the world and is still in operation today.

And the same roundabout in October 2022

Nice shot and great historical background.

Blériot53 Posted at 10-22 01:32
Nice shot and great historical background.

It’s a nice bit of Saturday fun.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-22 01:34
It’s a nice bit of Saturday fun.

Full sun but windy here this morning.

Blériot53 Posted at 10-22 01:41
Full sun but windy here this morning.

Its quite pleasant here but we are having a headache with the MIL and the new radiator.

Blériot53 Posted at 10-22 01:41
Full sun but windy here this morning.

Its quite pleasant here but we are having a headache with the MIL and the new radiator.

DAFlys Posted at 10-22 02:08
Its quite pleasant here but we are having a headache with the MIL and the new radiator.

Good luck with that

DAFlys Posted at 10-22 00:37
And the same roundabout in October 2022

[view_image]

Impressive shot and great comparison DA.    Thanks for the history.  I've seen many roundabouts during my world travels but I do believe that is my first "mini".  

Interesting. Though I think I prefer Peterborough Cathedral ;-)

Blériot53 Posted at 10-22 02:58
Good luck with that

For my reward Sunday morning is lashing down with a lot of thunder and lightening.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-22 23:54
For my reward Sunday morning is lashing down with a lot of thunder and lightening.

We've got the rain but not the storm.

Wow, that is interesting to see.
They just added a round white dot and called it a roundabout?

Nice shot btw!

DowntownRDB Posted at 10-22 04:35
Impressive shot and great comparison DA.    Thanks for the history.  I've seen many roundabouts during my world travels but I do believe that is my first "mini".

We have them everywhere these days.   And even in doubles that no one understands.

Blériot53 Posted at 10-23 00:01
We've got the rain but not the storm.

Stunning purple lightning here.   No flying for me today it seems.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 00:38
Stunning purple lightning here.   No flying for me today it seems.

Our forecast shows a yellow warning, but there's no sign of anything except rain here.  Not even windy.

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 00:19
Wow, that is interesting to see.
They just added a round white dot and called it a roundabout?

Yes.  Cutting edge invention.   

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 00:19
Nice shot btw!

Cheers Peter.  

Blériot53 Posted at 10-23 00:45
Our forecast shows a yellow warning, but there's no sign of anything except rain here.  Not even windy.

Just had to make an emergancy run to the parents and it was so heavy the wipers couldn’t keep up

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 01:48
Just had to make an emergancy run to the parents and it was so heavy the wipers couldn’t keep up

Not the kind of weather to encourage going out

Blériot53 Posted at 10-23 01:52
Not the kind of weather to encourage going out

I didn't really have a choice.   But there OK now thats what matters.

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 02:20
I didn't really have a choice.   But there OK now thats what matters.

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 01:01
Yes.  Cutting edge invention.

Cool.
So it is still in use?

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 01:01
Cheers Peter.

You're welcome!

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 03:51
Cool.
So it is still in use?

Yes.  Very much so.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 00:37
We have them everywhere these days.   And even in doubles that no one understands.

Must have been a good reason for a double or else it would have been a waste of money and time to construct.

DowntownRDB Posted at 10-23 05:16
Must have been a good reason for a double or else it would have been a waste of money and time to construct.

We have them at crossroads that are slightly staggered like this.

Very interesting historical background. Thank you for preserving this memory on this forum.

ANDO COM Posted at 10-23 06:05
Very interesting historical background. Thank you for preserving this memory on this forum.

Thanks ANDO.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 05:43
We have them at crossroads that are slightly staggered like this.

[view_image]

Yeah, that is one crazy intersection.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 10-23 06:24
Yeah, that is one crazy intersection.

You think that’s crazy, what about this one.

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 06:30
You think that’s crazy, what about this one.

[view_image]

That's totally insane!  Some traffic engineer had to pull his hair out of originating that design.  

It just doesn't look like it would move traffic smoothly but I guess it does or it wouldn't still be in existence.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 03:55
Yes.  Very much so.

Interesting. I wonder if it 'works' the same as a regular roundabout where it increases the flow of traffic.

DowntownRDB Posted at 10-23 06:55
That's totally insane!  Some traffic engineer had to pull his hair out of originating that design.  

It just doesn't look like it would move traffic smoothly but I guess it does or it wouldn't still be in existence.

They get nicknamed "magic roundabouts".  they work really well at increasing the flow of traffic but some people dont understand them as you can go either way around it.  ~Fun fact they built an underpass to reduce the traffic on that roundabout. and then removed the mini roundabouts that increase flow and installed traffic lights.   

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 06:57
Interesting. I wonder if it 'works' the same as a regular roundabout where it increases the flow of traffic.

Yes they tend to,  until someone does a U turn then there is chaos.  

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 22:13
Yes they tend to,  until someone does a U turn then there is chaos.

It looks quite small to be able to let traffic flow like on a 'regular' (bigger) roundabout that you see here and in Sweden too.

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 22:36
It looks quite small to be able to let traffic flow like on a 'regular' (bigger) roundabout that you see here and in Sweden too.

They tend to give everyone a fair chance at a junction so no one direction gets back logged.   

DAFlys Posted at 10-23 22:39
They tend to give everyone a fair chance at a junction so no one direction gets back logged.

I think you still have to slow down anyway to be able to see if anybody is coming.
And the roundabout is so small, it is not a long 'way' that you are 'on' it. So giving way won't take long (in NL the ones on the roundabout have priority)

Montfrooij Posted at 10-23 22:44
I think you still have to slow down anyway to be able to see if anybody is coming.
And the roundabout is so small, it is not a long 'way' that you are 'on' it. So giving way won't take long (in NL the ones on the roundabout have priority)

As we give way to the right,  you only really need to slow down if there is an entrance to right where you might have to give way.