What’s a turbo roundabout?

The UK has more than 25,000 circular intersections (AKA roundabouts) all in various sizes, but recently we’ve started to see a new type of roundabout on our roads called the Turbo roundabout.

Why a turbo roundabout?

Created by a Dutch Professor, the Turbo Roundabout was created to produce a safer and more efficient equivalent of the standard multi-lane system. In his home country of Holland there are now 300 throughout the country. The popularity of the Turbo roundabout has grown and other European countries, including the UK, have now adopted it.

Research shows that turbo roundabouts lead to fewer conflicts (down 50% compared to two lane alternatives) and increased capacity (45% more traffic can be handled on average). They also decrease congestion and vehicle speeds and it’s thought a slower pace encourages motorists to truly consider their actions, therefore taking greater care – so unlike it’s name suggests traffic is more often slowed.

How does a turbo roundabout work?

A Turbo roundabout essentially ‘locks in’ drivers, therefore it’s essential that a driver selects the direction of travel and therefore lane in advance. A Turbo roundabout has a spiral design and on entering it you can no longer change lanes and in fact the manoeuvre is prohibited by raised lane separators. Every driver is forced to exit the roundabout at some point so there is no possibility of looping around again.

As you approach a Turbo roundabout they’ll often be one lane for drivers taking the first exit off the roundabout (to the left) and one for all other exits (to the right). Anyone approaching the roundabout using the outside lane will be guided into the outer ring and be able to take the first exit. The inside lane guides drivers into the inner ring which will then take them to the rest of the roundabout where it will rejoin the roads either in the second lane on the second exit or first lanes of the third and fourth exit.

From at least one branch they’ll be two roundabout lanes, but you can’t flit between the two because of the raised separators, hence why you need to select the direction of travel in advance. For traffic joining the roundabout they won’t need to give-way to more than two lanes.

To find out more about Turbo Roundabouts and how to approach them see our TikTok video here.

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