Talk:Magic Roundabout (Hemel Hempstead)

Source
"after the opening the driver of an articulated lorry failed to understand the new junction so tried to drive straight across the middle. " Seems a little unlikely. Lorries often attempt to short cut across the midle of roundabouts, probably if the driver has lost attention. Any source for this? Rich Farmbrough 13:19, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * sorry to only just reply to this now ... source is me, or rather seeing the resultant lorry stuck in the middle (not the attempt to get across) as I lived nearby when it was built. The roundabout is maybe 90-100yds across and the central area is raised, so drivers can't see the whole way across. Details were reported in the local newspaper too. --Vamp:Willow 14:04, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

IF it was the artic I saw rollover then that was Dickinsons Paper lorry with a 20 ton roll on the loadbed which tried to take the left mini at the bottom of St Albans Hill. Nothing at all to do with trying to drive across the roundabout. A simple centre of gravity and turning circle problem, a tad too fast. $$$$ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.16.246.192 (talk) 13:10, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Only bidirectional roundabout with a surface river through it
"The roundabout is widely believed to be the only roundabout with a surface river running through it, however, this is not the case. The A377 through central Exeter, Devon uses the two bridges over the river Exe as a roundabout, allowing the traveller to go to Torbay and Plymouth to the south, the M5 motorway to the east and North to Barnstaple. It is thought the only bi-directional roundabout with such a feature."

Not So! The "egg" in Tamworth, Staffordshire is a large bi-directional roundabout with a river (The Anker) running through it. See: http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=421000&Y=304000&width=700&height=400&gride=421000&gridn=304000&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=0&scale=25000&multimap.x=360&multimap.y=235

Yeah I'd like to add another, it's not a roundabout, and it's not bi-directional but here's one inbetween Church Crookham, Fleet, Farnborough and Aldershot: http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=483250&Y=153500&scale=5000&width=700&height=400&gride=483250&gridn=153500&lang=&db= The Aerial Photos arn't up to date though. - JamMan 14.00 22nd Sept 06

River stuff removed
The whole 'river' section has got way oversized and detailed about things nothing to do with the actual article concerned; ideally if it is to exist at all it needs to be on the Roundabout article instead. I've also never seen a source cited for the "widely believed" statement anyway (I used to live there and am still in the area and I've never met anyone anywhere who doesn't realise *lots* of roundabouts have rivers through them!) so it shouldn't be there for that reason either. --AlisonW (talk) 17:39, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

New picture
I've been scanning in some old black and white pictures, directly from negatives.

I came across this one, which I took, in circa March-May timeframe on 1973. The picture was taken from the Kodak building, we asked for and received permission to take the picture from there. I have no idea how to incorporate this into the page, I'm not a wikipedia contributor and only logged here to upload it. The picture is interesting as it also shows a near miss on the roundabout on the left side, just up from the center. I hope it's useful.

Cathcam (talk) 21:09, 27 August 2015 (UTC) Mark Cathcart, 8/27/15

Rename
I'm not questioning the legitimacy of the article, but clearly it is wrongly titled. Unlike the Magic Roundabout in Swindon (which really is called the Magic Roundabout) this is called The Plough Roundabout and 'Magic Roundabout' is a colloquial term for it. I'm proposing to change the article name to The Plough Roundabout (Hemel Hempstead). Any comments? Obscurasky (talk) 09:27, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Seems a reasonable proposal to rename. We should include a brief discussion on the name and informal names for the roundabout. Do we we do that post rename or before? --Cathcam (talk) 15:24, 5 October 2018 (UTC)Cathcam


 * Oppose, the problem is that it has always been known as the Magic Roundabout, even if that isn't now its formal name. So per WP:COMMONNAME, I think the name should probably stay as it is. -- DeFacto (talk). 16:17, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Daily Telegraph Article
FYI I have clipped an article from the 2nd of August 1973 on newspapers.com for anyone looking for more details The Daily Telegraph 02 Aug 1973, Thu ·Page 2 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-the-plough-roundabou/139828957/ Cathcam (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 19:37, 29 January 2024 (UTC)