The Danger Of Longbarrow Roundabout Suddenly Gets Very Personal

We at the Stonehenge Traffic Action Group (STAG) have been warning for some time about the dangers of the traffic flows around the Longbarrow Roundabout at the junction between the A303 and the A360, just to the west of Stonehenge.  We've raised these dangers with the Highways Agency and despite several re-designs, the roundabout is still not fit for purpose and it is impossible to negotiate it sensibly, even at low speed.

A week ago I joined the roundabout travelling westbound on the A303. A fast-moving police 4x4 joined from the northbound A360, turning west onto the A303.  For some reason, he drifted way over to the left - too far left to use the right hand of the two A303 exit lanes, then discovered that he was undertaking a car that was in the correct exit lane and almost rear-ending the car ahead of him.  If Wiltshire's Finest can't handle Longbarrow Roundabout...???????

Yesterday evening, those dangers got very personal and very real. My wife was involved in a nasty little accident when a car travelling at high-speed westbound on the A303, left that road and collided with two stationary cars waiting to join the A303 from the northbound A360

This is how it unfolded.  My wife was travelling north on the A360 and had stopped in the left-hand lane at Longbarrow Roundabout, handbrake on and well behind the white dotted line, waiting for a gap in the traffic so she could pull out, turn left and head down the A303 to Winterbourne Stoke and home.

A silver Skoda estate was also waiting to pull out onto the roundabout in the lane to her right; presumably to either turn right towards Andover or to head up towards Airman's Cross.  Again, as with my wife, he was well behind the white line.

It was at this point that a young chap in a 2012-registered VW Golf careened on to Longbarrow Roundabout from the A303, travelling westwards from Andover and seemingly intent on carrying on along the A303 westwards.  Whether through poor roundabout design, excessive speed, piss-poor driving or a combination of all three, the westbound driver lost control of his car, which left the A303 and struck the central reservation of the A360.  It bounced over the central reservation and hit the Skoda in the drivers door.

The impact was so great that the Skoda spun round through 90 degrees and its nose struck the Yaris, being driven by my wife, just behind the drivers door.  A few inches further forward and it could have been so much worse.  The cause of the accident bounced back into the centre of the three westbound lanes, causing chaos on the westbound carriageway at the height of the evening rush hour.

My wife did the obvious thing and called Wiltshire Police whilst still trapped in the car - as was the Skoda driver.  Let me be charitable, whoever took the call was a complete waste of space.  When my wife said she wasn't obviously injured, the person to whom she was speaking said the police weren't interested and didn't need to be informed.  That might strictly be the case, but anyone who suggests that emergency services aren't needed to deal with a multi-vehicle smash, on a major trunk road,  blocking a roundabout at an accident blackspot, after dusk, is seriously in need of a trip to the job centre to find an occupation more befitting someone of their limited mental capacity.

COMMENT: It seems that it is Wiltshire Police Policy to not get involved in "non-injury" accidents.  I have to say that relying on crash victims, who may be in shock, who may have underlying medical complaints like heart conditions, or who may feel themselves to be in reasonable condition but to have life threatening injuries, to decide if they, or other accident victims have been injured is crass in the extreme.

My wife and the Skoda driver managed to get out of their vehicles on the passengers side.  Battered, a bit bruised perhaps and, in my wife's case, with a nasty friction burn from the seat-belt across her throat, but thankfully no major injuries.

Eventually, wiser council prevailed and all three emergency services attended the scene.  My wife was checked over by a passing hospital consultant,  a paramedic and an ambulance was also called up.  The Fire Brigade were also needed to check for fuel spills, but also to check the cars to see if the air-bags were in danger of functioning spontaneously - odd things sometimes happen to them in side impacts.  They told my wife her car was unsafe to drive.  Finally Wiltshire Police turned up and established the chain of events; if not the absolute cause.  Thanks though to the policeman who brought my wife home - it made up for the nonsense in the control room!

Here is the policeman looking at the skid marks on the road and central reservation, his torch in the lower one showing just how far the westbound driver had intruded onto the northbound A360.

The Skoda driver had a remarkable escape.  The door hasn't been removed, it has been shoved straight into the drivers seat space.  He clearly leads a charmed life!

It was a bit too dark to see the side of the Yaris last night, but this morning when we went to pick up the last of our bits and pieces from the car at the recovery yard near Warminster:

Not a massive dent in the greater scheme of things, but the side is intruding into the rear passenger compartment and with no side air bags....


...at least it didn't get rammed through the drivers door.  It's not clear whether this is repairable or not.  The consensus last night was that it was likely to be a total loss given the age of the car, location of the damage, etc.  But it would be nice if it was repairable - we really don't want to have to buy another car this month!  Still, at the end of the day it is only metal.

But, I end with a question.  How many more completely avoidable accidents must there be before the Highways Agency get of their idle backsides and get this junction sorted out?  Even if the go-ahead is given to dual the A303 past Stonehenge tomorrow, we are going to have to deal with this mess at Longbarrow Roundabout for a further 6 -10 years.

As a STAG member observed last night: "A campaigning journalist could have a field day with what's gone on here. "  Not only what went on yesterday evening, but what goes on nearly every day of the week at Longbarrow Roundabout.  I really don't want to be writing about a fatality there in a day, a week, a month or a year's time with bugger-all having been done.

No Plan Survives Contact With The Enemy...

...in this case, the "enemy" was the great British travelling public heading westbound for the West Country this Easter weekend.  Clearly, they weren't the type of enemy that Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (usually referred to as Moltke the Elder) had in mind when he first came out with the phrase: "No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength" (more usually shortened to : "no plan survives contact with the enemy,") Von Molke, generally regarded as the best military strategist of the late 19th century, the "inventor" of the terminology of red and blue forces in military wargaming,  was also a master logistician who understood the issues involved in moving large numbers of men and machines around - hence his relevance to the A303.

Back on the 24th of March, at a meeting sponsored by Inspector Christian Lange of Wiltshire Police, most of the interested parties got round a table to try and sort out a few expedient measures to ease the anticipated traffic hell over the Easter weekend.  Lots of ideas were put forward and people went off to beaver away to put things in place as quickly as possible.

Perhaps the organisation with the most to do was English Heritage. To their credit, having taken on board what was needed, Kate Davies, the General Manager at Stonehenge, got a lot done in a very short space of time.  Here is what the folks at Stonehenge had implemented in time for the anticipated rush the is weekend and a few of the the things they have planned for the the longer term.  The hope was that by improving the traffic situation on the A360 between the Stonehenge Visitors Centre entrance at Airman's Cross and the Longbarrow Roundabout on the A303, their would be less of an impact on both the local traffic on the A360 and the holidaymakers on the A303. In Kate Davies' own words, these are the measures they put in place and plan:

"Our overflow car par is now open and we have purchased tracking to cover main areas of wear in overflow car park (i.e. entrance and exit) to ensure use in all weathers. 
 
We have car park attendants directing all cars on arrival, ensuring every space is utilised.
 
A £5 car parking charge will be in operation to non-ticket holders to deter people using the car park as a service station during busy times.
 
A large scale marketing campaign commenced in March to promote ‘pre-book essential’ message.  
This marketing included national campaign and regional London and South-West campaign in a variety of different formats (film, poster, digital etc).  Digital adverts include placements on AA Routeplanner (these are activated when any journey passes the Stonehenge area).
 
We also have a social media campaign to push pre-booking.  As more people become aware of our timed-ticketing system, we’ll have less visitor bottlenecks.  We have seen a month-on-month increase in the number of people booking in advance. 
       
We have contact numbers for AA Road-watch, National and local radio traffic bulletins, FRIXO etc. ready to send out messages when we are approaching capacity.

We have also commissioned a feasibility study for variable message sign on the A303 via Highways Agency.  Whilst we await this we have temporary AA yellow signs to alert people if the car park is full to place near to the visitor centre".

That takes us back to Moltke the Elder.  Despite every traffic expert predicting that the volume of traffic on the A303 would be horrendous and there would be huge traffic jams, the volume of traffic has been much, much less than expected.  The "enemy", the travelling public has done the unexpected.  They didn't all head westwards on Thursday, nor on Friday.  Here in Winterbourne Stoke, there were never more than 25-30 vehicles per minute and the traffic was really only stationary when someone used the pedestrian crossing.  Here's a still from a video taken on Good Friday at a time we would normally expect stationary traffic nose-to-tail through the village.

Of course, those of you who were using the A303 on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday probably got stuck for long periods on the approach to Countess Roundabout in Amesbury and onwards, past Stonehenge, until you got tp the Longbarrow Roundabout.  Here's a shot taken by the Highways Agency traffic camera at Solstice Park in Amesbury, a few minutes before the video above was shot:

 Clearly, standing traffic down to the Countess Roundabout.  Whatever is causing THIS jam has nothing to do with the volume of traffic, as this Easter weekend has been significantly quieter than your average Thursday of Friday. 

It has everything to do with the behaviour of some motorists as they pass Stonehenge.  In our previous post, we proposed an explanation for what is going on, how it affects the traffic and how it might be prevented. 

However, it is achieved, the traffic past Stonehenge has to be prevented from stopping to get a better view of the stones, to take a snap...

or even, as in the case of one of Norbert Dentressangle's finest, slowing to a stop to pull off the A303 at Stonehenge Bottom to have a nap (there are proper lay-bys only a km or so east or west of this point)!

So, the grand plans to cope with large volumes of traffic didn't survive contact with the "enemy", because by and large, the "enemy" chose not to come to Wiltshire this Easter.  However, what we have learned this weekend is that none of the measures that have been instituted, so far, survived contact with even the few westbound 'enemy" that did put in an appearance.  That isn't good news and doesn't bode well for high summer.

 Perhaps simply blocking the view of Stonehenge from the A303 - however incomplete and imperfect that would have to be, as a short-term, temporary, and expedient measure - might be the only realistic option.

There's No Accounting for Stupidity

As soon as Wiltshire sees the first flecks of golden sunshine in the Spring, SWMBO takes it upon herself - and every other hale and hearty individual within easy grabbing distance - to remodel WiSBAng Towers - or at least the garden.   It also means that yours truly gets called upon to head for Amesbury and the tip  to get rid of all that old clutter that has been waiting outside the kitchen door for just such an opportunity.

It was Mother's Day as well, so how could I possibly refuse such a request?  I couldn't, could I?

Car duly laden with rubbish - the greatest volume being all those non-bottle plastic containers that are eminently recyclable, but which Wiltshire Council haven't the wit to recycle - off I went.

Not the actual event!

The first hurdle was, of course, Longbarrow Roundabout, the A303 was almost empty as I approached in the middle lane (the far left hand one is way too hard to negotiate at anything over 20mph) , the car behind appeared to want to go to Salisbury as he kept to the far right.  The car coming south on the A360 from Shrewton, carrying Mr and Mrs Miggins on a nice day out in the country, clearly expected me to go north onto the A360, so lurched onto the roundabout, intending to go left onto the A303.  Mr Miggins panicked when he saw me still heading east and pulled into the right-hand exit lane onto the A303 - as if to give me a bit of room - I moved left to avoid him.

That might have been alright - except Brain Dead Brian in the blue Astra who had appeared to want to go to Salisbury, had in fact headed straight across the roundabout at high speed - only to find Mr Miggins doing 20 mph in his path. Oh, dear.  What could Brain Dead Brian do?  Pull left in front of me and try and undertake Mr Miggins of course.   It didn't work.  Mr Miggins saw the blue Astra in his rear view mirror and also pulled into the left hand lane.  Thankfully, no contact was made.

As we drew alongside Stonehenge, Mr Miggins stopped - not on the roadside, but bang in the middle of the carriageway.  Brain Dead Brian kept his hand on the horn for some time - the first responsible thing he had done.  Mr Miggins took notice and slowly drove down into Stonehenge Bottom - before predictably, trying to turn on to the verge.  

I say trying, as he clearly didn't have enough revs to get over the kerb and so started rolling backwards towards Brian.   Brian, Brain Dead to the last, pulled onto the westbound carriageway, almost headlong into a small camper van.  Again, for the second time, a near miss.

The rest of the trip and my time at the tip was almost uneventful.  Going home, we had to slow to a crawl to allow a driver to take a snap of the stones - if it appears on Twitter, I'll post it here with the name of the photographer attached!   We then came to a standstill as 3 cars in convoy decided to turn right, then left, then not bother at Byway 12.

When I finally got home, SWMBO asked if would like to make a second trip.  I gracefully declined!

On Trying To Make A Silk Purse From A Pig's Ear

It has been apparent, since the closure of the A344 last summer and the opening of English Heritage's new Stonehenge Visitor's Centre back in December 2013, that the summer of 2014 stood a great chance of becoming an annus horribilis; as far as the A303 is concerned.  All in all, it's a bit of a pig's ear.

There are several factors that either together, or singly, could prove a nightmare:

1)   Closure of the A344 has caused additional westbound traffic on the A303 to pass Stonehenge before having the opportunity to leave the A303 to go and see the stones. Whereas lots of people once stopped on the A344, or in the old Stonehenge carpark for a few minutes for a quick look at the stones before they continued their journey, they now don't have that opportunity.  So now they slow down on the A303 as they pass Stonehenge to take a quick photo.  All too often it is the driver doing this - dumb people on smart phones.  Just take a look on Twitter to see the number of folks who do it.

Here is one taken on March 21st - though we've no idea if this one was taken by a driver or a passenger.

2)  The design of Countess Roundabout at Amesbury is still a problem, as east-west traffic still stops on it at peak periods - blocking north-south movement.

3) Frustrated by the A344 closure and egged-on by insistent satnavs, some drivers have taken to turning off the A303,  just west of Stonehenge Bottom,  on to Byway 12.  Signage has been used to discourage right turns, but blow-me-down, some 'enterprising' drivers (including local taxi drivers) have taken to turning left off the A303 and either turning round and crossing the A303, or even reversing across the A303 to comply with the turning restrictions.

4)  The Highway Agency A303 diversionary sign on the westbound A303, just before Longbarrow roundabout,  has already caused chaos on at least three occasions since Christmas, when the A303 was closed due to flood or accident.  The signs take westbound travellers off the A303, onto the A360, towards the Stonehenge Visitor's centre - and there the "follow the black triangle" route vanishes.  STAG have rescued a number of lost travellers on the infinite loop between Longbarrow and Airman's Cross in recent months.

5)  The design of the new Longbarrow Roundabout is still contributing to westbound and eastbound tailbacks.  Too many approach lanes and badly thought out approach and exit corridors.  The Highway Agency is already on design 3  and it's still a mess.

6)  When too many folks turn up at Stonehenge, traffic backs up onto the A360, blocking it in both directions.  This effect could be exacerbated by the new Stonehenge booking system.  If jams do occur, then people may miss their booked slots, face not being admitted, and adding to congestion on the A303 before sitting outside Stonehenge on the A360 - eager to vent their spleens in the direction of English Heritage.

7)  People are people.  Even though English Heritage have introduced a booking system, people are still going to turn up on spec - the English Heritage website even points this out as a possibility for those who haven't booked - so turn up they will.  Not to mention the 30,000 locals who are entitled to free entrance and who certainly won't book.  What will they all do and where will they go when they find they can't get on to the Stonehenge site?  They'll roam the local roads to find anywhere they can dump their cars and walk - creating additional congestion and chaos.  A lot of these opportunistic sites are closer to the stones than the Visitor's Centre - and they are free.

8)  To avoid the jams on the A303, travellers are trying any and all alternative routes past Stonehenge, placing additional pressures on small country roads and villages  never intended for such levels of use.  If it continues, the chances are some poor innocent is going to be killed or injured as a result.

9)  When we don't have the jams and congestion, we have speeding through the local villages - particularly Shrewton on the A360 and Winterbourne Stoke on the A303.

10)  We didn't even mention the additional traffic the new distribution centre at Solstice Park and the Army re-basing exercise are going to throw into the equation - but it isn't going to make life any easier.

We all know the long-term answer - dual the A303 and somehow get it past Stonehenge.  All well and good, but it isn't going to happen soon.  We need to do something before the summer.

Recognising this, Inspector Christian Lange of Wiltshire Police called a meeting last night to bring together all the stakeholders: English Heritage, the Highways Agency, Wiltshire Council, local Parish Council's, the National Trust, English Nature, STAG and others (apologies to any we haven't mentioned) to try and identify any measures that might alleviate the situation.

A brave idea, given the depth of feeling and one that could have easily been rail-roaded, but Christian chaired a good meeting.  At the end of the day though, it is trying to make something of a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

Once we had got beyond the "English Heritage created this mess and it's up to them to sort it out" mentality, we did get a few good ideas and some less good ones.  Broadly they were:

Try signage from the A303 exit of the M3, through to Longbarrow, to warn when there are no parking slots at Stonehenge - but these would need to be reactive enough to allow for sudden changes in parking availability at Stonehenge.

Try and sort out the A360 issues as close to the Stonehenge as possible - with English Heritage looking into planning permission for additional overspill car-parking spaces, or renting adjacent fields.  The Highways Agency were keen to not move the problem onto the roads, but to deal with it as close to the source - the Stonehenge Visitore's Centre - as possible.

There was a suggestion of using a TRO to close Byway 12.  This could be done for up to 18 months.  This is one we are dead against without a legal undertaking, by English Heritage and the WHS, to NOT pursue the permanent closure of Byway 12.  We also proposed other measures to prevent most vehicular traffic from using the route.   A compromise should be possible, but closure by diktat is a recipe for grief.

There was an idea to intentionally route westbound Stonehege traffic towards Durrington at Countess Roundabout and then through Larkhill along the Packway t- o approach Stonehenge from the Bustard junction.   As you might imagine, this wasn't at all popular with local councillors.  However, it does make you wonder if enough thought is being given to using Woodhenge and Durrington Walls as diversionary holding areas?  As it is only intended as an interim measure, could there be compromise here as well?

There has been a suggestion that English Heritage puts up some sort earth bund or sight screen to prevent Stonehenge being seen from the A303 - which might keep the traffic on the A303 flowing a little better.  English Heritage have rejected this idea as it conflicts with the World Heritage Site Management Plan to return the area to open downland.  Of course, we aren't talking a permanent solution here, just interim measures to solve a short-term (hopefully) problem.  Again, some lateral thinking is needed here.  If EH aren't prepared to shield the road from Stonehenge, then the Highways Agency should erect sight screens on their side of the fence outside the World Heritage site to shield Stonehenge from the road - giving WHS a legally enforceable assurance that these would be removed, once the A303 issue is resolved.  Another opportunity for compromise?   

UPDATE 1: We've been advised that as the World Heritage Site encompasses both sides of the fence, unilateral action by the Highways Agency is out of the question.

UPDATE 2: Life, of course, is never simple.  Ownership of the land that would need to be screened from the A303 is mainly English Heritage/DCMS.  The National Trust would be involved if screening was needed east of Stonehenge Bottom.  However, ownership of the A303 -and what constitutes the road, would seem to be the the real issue here.  So whilst EH/DCMS own the subsoil under the northern side of the A303 and probably the air above it,  the Highways Agency effectively owns the road bed and "the top two spits" down.  That's enough to keep the road bed repaired, install drainage under it and signage and safety features (eg. Armco barriers) alongside it.  What we are proposing here is another safety feature. 

Regardless of the rights and wrongs,  we still feel that EH and WHS should be encouraged to compromise on this temporary issue.   They could still make an offer to do this before the Area Board meeting on 27th March.

We also looked at solutions for the other problem of slowing the traffic on the A303 - particularly through Winterbourne Stoke.  Wiltshire Council and the Police have an initiative for local A roads, but it is the Highways Agency that will need to engage with us and the Police to sort it out on the A303.  The Highways Agency insist the A303 at this point is in an "urban setting"'  As such, there should be a 20mph max as it passes by the requisite number of dwellings to meet government guidelines for this.  Another compromise perhaps - lower the speed limit to 30mph and introduce some traffic calming measures instead?

OK, if we are honest, none of these measures will solve the problem entirely on their own and even if they are all implemented, they are, at best, only going to ease things - and we have no idea by how much.  We also need to be realistic about what measures Wiltshire Police has the legal basis, manpower, or even inclination to enforce. But if we don't at least try, at best the local villagers are going to have a horrendous summer.  At worst, the road casualty figures may increase.

It's going to take some rapid action, an awful lot of co-operation and, inevitably, compromise by all parties including English Heritage and the World Heritage Site.  That's short term compromise to solve immediate issues and compromises that might help provide a longer term solution to the long-term A303 problems and World Heritage Site aspirations.

The next few weeks are going to be very instructive indeed, particularly in view of the A303 feasibility study.  If that compromise can be achieved, then Inspector Lange will have achieved a minor miracle.  We wish him well.

English Heritage Create Traffic Chaos at Airman's Cross

Well, much as anticipated, the poor design of the entrance to the new Stonehenge Visitor's Centre is creating a new choke point for traffic.  Visitors trying to get to Stonehenge are blocking the new Airman's Cross roundabout, preventing traffic moving along the A360 and the B3086 Bustard road.

JMcK, a kindly correspondent from Shrewton,  took some snaps from the passengers seat of a car on Sunday 29th December.

You can see stationary traffic in both directions in the shot above...

...and as you might expect, people were getting fed up and turning back towards Shrewton and then join the A303 after cutting through to Winterbourne Stoke.

Today, 2nd January 2014, the situation is exactly the same with the RAC reporting:

Errr - it looks as though no-one has told the RAC that the A344 no longer exists.  I guess that would be down to a combination of Wiltshire Council and the Highways Agency.  Either that, or the Stonehenge land trains have broken down yet again!


Goodness alone knows what the situation is going to be like in fine weather during the summer.  When we were demonstrating last month about the A344 closure and the A303 traffic problems; problems precipitated by English Heritage's desire to have the A344 closed without dualling the A303, Wiltshire Police were very keen to point out that we could be arrested if we caused an obstruction.  Fair enough, but shouldn't they now be applying the same standards to those blocking the Airman's Cross roundabout and those causing the A360 to be blocked - English Heritage?

Highway Agency Færies Indulge in Futile Night-time Frolic

 One of the things that we, STAG,  noticed, time and time again during the SH2 demonstrations to press for the urgent dualling of the A303 past Stonehenge and Winterbourne Stoke and an end to rat-running brought about by the premature closure of the A344, was just how dangerous negotiating the Longbarrow roundabout was.  Time and time again, eastbound and westbound vehicles on the A303 failed to stop, or even slow significantly, for the roundabout.  When they did stop, they were often several feet into the left hand lane - accidents in the making.

There were several near misses that we witnessed on Tuesday 17th December and it was only by dint of great good luck that none of these resulted in an accident.  This was largely due to the good nature and common sense of the STAG drivers, who frequently gave way to ill-mannered traffic from the left in situations when they were well within their rights to press ahead.

Then overnight on 17th/18th December, the Highways Agency Færies struck. As if by magic, new road markings had appeared.  "Aha", we thought,. "They must have been sprinkling magic dust to to improve safety on the roundabout, to improve traffic flow, to make everyone's life so much easier."

Clearly, after hours going round and round the Longbarrow and Airman's Cross roundabouts, then spent a night having nightmares about it, we were all somewhat delusional.  Far from improving things, the Highways Agency Færies had succeeded in making things worse.  Much, much worse.  It seems they intend to up the accident rate for the winter solstice and the Christmas rush to the West.  Merry Christmas one and All.

We thought we should illustrate the before and after state of the roundabout.  So here we go, travelling south from the Stonehenge Visitors Centre on the A360. On the 17th it looked like this:

 and on the 18th, like this:

Not too much difference here.  But let's go round the roundabout a bit.  Here is another shot from the 17th:

 and on the 18th:

 Oh look, the lanes leading past the westbound entrance of the A303 have changed and we have a new right-turn lane that suddenly starts of the right.  Look also at the two cars ahead of me.  They are, in both cases, following the natural line round the roundabout - which isn't defined by any of the white lines.

Going a bit further round the roundabout past the southern exit for the A360, we see this on the 17th:

 and on the 18th, we see this:

 We now have the appearance of a dotted line that cuts across the 3 lanes of moving traffic at 45 degrees - a recipe for disaster.  It seems to be there to encourage westbound traffic to plough into southbound or westbound traffic from the A360 - or to sit in lanes across the roundabout.   Note that there appear to be no "Keep Clear" signs any more.  These silly lines lead across to the westbound A303 exit from the roundabout.

And here we have the exit back north along the A360 on the 17th December.   Note how the natural route off the roundabout takes you into the left hand lane of the A360.  The right-hand lane is in the wrong place entirely - as it is on each of the other three exit lanes.  Obviously designed by folks who had never used a roundabout in their lives!

On the 18th, we get:

More dotted lines guiding the eastbound A303 traffic - which the northbound traffic has to cross at 45 degrees to leave the roundabout.  Again, the second vehicle follows the natural line off the roundabout and keeps in the left-hand lane.

I predict that from this weekend, we are going to see an increase in accidents where northbound and southbound traffic on the A360 is "T-boned" on the passenger's side by eastbound and westbound traffic on the A303.

Given that the roundabout planners employed by the Highways Agency don't appear to have much of a clue about road design and the Highways Agency themselves even less of one, judging by the way their randomly shoving down road markings seems only to have made matters worse, why don't they try the blindingly obvious for a week or two.  Stick a 360 degree video camera at high level in the middle of the roundabout and determine the consensus routes worked out by the road users themselves.  When you've got that information, mark the road accordingly!