This is the roundabout dubbed the worst in the world: "It's a nightmare."
Traffic experts say that where there is a roundabout instead of a conventional intersection, traffic jams and crashes disappear. But that 's just normal roundabouts.
This is not the case in Douglas, the city that serves as the capital of the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom, where the British press has dubbed "the worst roundabout in the world."
The roundabout was created as part of the city's £26 million (€30.7 million) revamp of its waterfront environment, the Daily Mail reports.
According to this outlet, locals say that due to the lack of a central island, many drivers enter the roundabout as if it were any other stretch of road and drive directly over the lines, causing numerous traffic problems on one of the busiest roads in the town.
A business owner near the unusual roundabout told the Mail that noise pollution and a general sense of discomfort have been constant since its installation.
"They honk their horns basically every day. People don't know what the rules are, or if they even exist, and so they fight each other to get through. Other, more dangerous drivers speed through the roundabout —it's a real nightmare; no one around here can understand why they did it that way. It's a tragedy waiting to happen," he adds.
Another resident says the eye-catching designs are an indication that the island is trying to "stand out at all costs." "It's pathetic, really. Why can't we have normal roundabouts like the rest of the world?" the resident asks, adding that "it seems like we always have to be different on this island, and that gets tiring after a while."
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