The Magic Roundabout

Originally known as "Le Manège Enchanté" (The Enchanted Merry-go-round), "The Magic Roundabout" was an animated children's television programme created in France in 1963 by Serge Danot, assisted by British animator Ivor Wood, who was working at Danot's studio at the time. The programme was aired on British television from 1965 to 1977 and was narrated by Eric Thompson who, rather than translate the original script from French into English, narrated the program based on what he saw.

In 1972 the UK saw the introduction of large road traffic circulation systems with an unconventional layout, and the name “Magic Roundabout” soon became associated with any complex traffic roundabout.


I haven’t blogged about stupid drivers in ages. Actually, I haven’t seen any stupid drivers in ages. I presumed that they had all read my blog and were sitting at home sulking. Maybe they thought I had forgotten about them and so they decided to come out and drive again?

On Friday night I saw many of them, but by no means all of them. I went out to drop Mr Man off at his table tennis practice, and when I arrived back home I pulled over at the side of the road, ready to make my manoeuvre to reverse onto our drive (I’m a bit clever like that). In my rear view mirror I could see headlights, so I waited a moment. I then noticed that there were two vehicles coming along the road behind me, followed by blue flashing lights. As I waited I watched in disbelief as all three of them drove past; wondering why the two vehicles in front hadn’t pulled over. It was an ambulance by the way, not a police car, so they weren’t being chased!

On my way back to pick Mr Man up I approached a small roundabout. The car in front of me had stopped, although there were no other vehicles on or even approaching the roundabout from any other exit. Then a car appeared at the exit to the right. Giving way to his right, as he should, the car in front of me continued to wait. But then so did the numb skull to the right, although there was nothing coming from his right. Why do people struggle to use roundabouts so much? It’s not complicated is it? We’re talking about a small roundabout with three exits – nothing like this one:


Actually that reminds me, just before the Christmas period two cars nearly had a collision right in front of me on a mini roundabout. It was another one of those roundabouts with three exits, which used to be a “T” junction; they seem to be very common in our town. The car in front of me was turning right, but the car coming straight towards us from the opposite direction (which in roundabout terms was to our left) pulled out straight in front of him instead of giving way. I suppose it can be confusing to some people when the roundabout used to be a “T” junction, but for goodness sake, there are a few hints as to what to do – like the big round “roundabout” sign before you approach it, and the fact that there is a large round lump in the road painted white – I find that a little bit of a give away myself.