I love how some channels have to do death defying antics to get 150k subscribers, Jon just has to stand next to a road in Coventry, so kind of the same thing.
I have the ‘pleasure’ of living about 30 minutes away. It’s not a ring road, it’s a particle accelerator, probably owned by the University. Upon entering the road, one travels faster and faster in circles until an escape velocity is reached, then exit in a random direction. I think that’s how a particle accelerator works?
@@insertusernamehere6025 Yes, all that stuff with big lasers, liquid helium, positron beams, x-rays, etc. is all terribly dull, a bit like videos about the Coventry ringroad, I suppose. 🙂
I live in Coventry and negotiate the ring road pretty much everyday. I don't understand why so many people have a problem with the ring road. Close your eyes, slam the accelerator to the floor and pray... No Problem! 😊
I worked in Coventry for 10 years and used to use the ring road daily and often more than once. I don't find it intimidating at all, it just requires drivers to be attentive and positive. I suspect that it was designed for a more sedate pace but during 1980s it really was a Scalextric track. Then they placed hidden speed cameras all around it, but not all had film in them.
That ring road is SO bad I love it. The trick to leaving/joining it is to make eye contact with the driver joining/leaving it and then, through eye contact alone, establish who is going to speed up and who is going to slow down. You have about 4 seconds. If you fail, you will either miss your junction, collide with the adjacent vehicle or hit the end of the barrier. It's also obligatory to listen to The Specials whilst proceeding round the ring road.
@@Matttzx Worked at "Jag Eng Ctr", Whitley for 10+ years, living in Leam, Cov & Nuneaton, so know it well, as well as the A44444444 with its ice-cream roundabout.
I was born in Coventry and most of my family still live there, so I've driven on the ring road quite a few times. The trick is to drive at EXACTLY the speed limit, any faster and you'll crash into slower drivers who are unsure of what the hell is happening (understandably), and any slower and someone is likely to crash into you! Stay in the right lane until you need to exit, and remember to not slow down when you do!
I never had a problem as a youngster, driving my every-panel-a-different-colour rusty early 1960s bought-on-a-rainy-night-for-£45 Mini round there with all the care and consideration you'd expect from a teenager. Strangely once I graduated to a more... presentable car I found other drivers less willing to let me slip on to the ring road 🤷♀
Went to Uni in Coventry Ok it was a Polytechnic in the 80s really good memories of living in G block by the back of the leisure centre and the campus straddling the ring road. Love the video
The cov ringroad is the only road I am aware of where you are supposed to drive in the right hand lane, leaving the left hand empty to ease the situation for those leaving and joining the ringroad.
I don't know if you're meant to but it's common practice on Newcastle's Central Motorway, which was probably designed in the same drug-influenced planning session.
I used to work in Coventry and, with the help of local and knowledgeable colleagues, learned how to negotiate the ring road. It certainly isn’t a road to stop concentrating as it’s easy to get in the wrong lane until you’re familiar with it. The great thing about it is that it’s a short road so you can always go round again if you miss a junction.
"it’s a short road so you can always go round again if you miss a junction" or - from the video and some comments - feel like getting another heart attack!
Bejesus, even being familar with the ring road-on more than one occasion I found myself going back in the direction I just came from and not really understanding how or why!
You're being ingenuous. Cox street isn't connected. And Gosford Street isn't connected ...directly. It merely ends in that roundabout at the end of junction 3. So one and a half a roads out of the 11 possible roads are not connected.
My wife spent most of her childhood, teenage years and early twenties living near Coventry. Having had to drive along the Cov Ring Road quite a lot when visiting her, I can attest to the fact that "Batsh!t crazy" constitutes a fair, reasonable and accurate description of this masterpiece of civil engineering.......
Yup, I did my driving lessons there, so much fun... I was really under the impression that "every car getting on and off a road at the same time and place" was normal, until I moved out.
@@nathanw9770 It most certainly is an extreme sport. I've married a Woman from Coventry twice and it was the same Woman both times. That's probably about an extreme sport as you ever want to engage in.
I moved to Cov 20 years ago and to be honest I love the ring road. I've driven in many cities (and the bits inbetween) all over the UK and Cov ring road actually works - unlike the one in Wolverhampton for instance which doesn't flow well at all. I can see why people find it daunting but... There are two things to do in order to sucessfully manage using it with no stress and no accidents: 1) When on the ring road stay in the right hand lane unless you are getting off at the next junction. The road signs and markings indicate this (although they used to be clearer). There is often an article saying the same in the local rag. There really is no need to keep left unless you are about to leave. The left lane is for those merging when they enter or leave the ring road. 2) Be confident. The speed limit is 40mph - use it. The few times when merging goes horribly wrong (I've seen a car stuck on the barriers at the end of the merge points twice now) is when people are too slow. This cause chaos. If entering build speed confidently and be ready to make a decison - are you going before or after the car coming off? And keep your head on a swivel when entering or leaving/ Look in front of you for sure but remember whats there and spend time looking sideways and behind too. It does work. When we get to junction 7 in the next video you might see how new and shiny it is. And it's a bad change. It used to be a grade separated roundabout/island with no lights. Roundabouts were designed purely to improve traffic flow. Some moron decided that they would remove that and the subway that kept cycles and pedestrians safely away from traffic and install traffic light controlled junctions and crossing instead. So now, even at 5am when there is nobody around, you sit there waiting. Ironically they did this to reduce pollution - how does creating traffic jams, even building extra capacity (lanes) to fill with stationary traffic, reduce pollution? It's an odd step backwards. In rush hour there is now stationary traffic on the ring road waiting to exit.
Excellent. My driving instructor told me it's not a dual carriageway, it's a single lane giratary with a continuous slip road. Treat it as such it's great. It's the numbnuts that can't read the overhead or speed limit signs and overtake on the left that give it the sense of being dangerous at times.
The Cov ring road is nuts!!! I was at Lanchester Poly (now Coventry University) in 1979. At 1:45, the shot showing J2 has part of the halls of residence in the shot (the long green building at the top of the screen…it wasn’t green when I was there!). My room was at the right hand end on the top floor and one glorious day I watched a fire engine with blues and twos going , come from the bottom of the screen, round the bend and roll gracefully over on to the wall of the bus station. No injuries luckily, but several waiting passengers got their feet wet as the tanks of the fire engine emptied across the bus station. Happy days!!
I was in priory hall too, in 2000. I hated my first room which overlooked the bus station, I got moved to a much nicer room, looking at the back of the cathedral
Auto Shenanigans in my home town? Woop woop! 😁 The ringroad is ace in how it lets you navigate around the town easily, but the junctions are ridiculously short, which makes it terrifying for the uninitiated. The biggest problem is when someone panics and slows down…otherwise it seems to flow ok.
Well described it, I noticed in Xmas, we have too many RTC, due tourist "I mean" people of other cities visit family in Coventry and they ignore how to drive it, I don't blame them, I always take more 👀in December.
The West Midlands is an absolute treat for people who love having to merge or switch lanes into fast moving traffic in a very short distance. There’s this of course, and the Aston Expressway in neighbouring Birmingham. The local city planners seemed to have a much higher level of optimism regarding human behaviours in the automobile age than common sense would suggest to be appropriate.
@@stevieandthebarbies To be fair, Stourbridge's isn't too bad but the speed cameras take all the fun out of merging at breakneck speed. Lose those and the traffic lights and you have a lovely, conventional racetrack.
@egbront1506 the cameras haven't been on for 7 years, the lever on the back is up, its slide down when on. None of the Gatso cameras are used anymore but he average speed check and mobile van will will get you.
@@Phuc_Yhou Thanks for that. I know they turned all the cameras off years ago in the West Mids but some came back on and you never know when they sneakily might reemploy one as they don't announce it. Not seen any of the vans yet.
The Ring Road gets you across the city quite quickly, stay in the right hand lane until you've passed the exit before the one you want and move to the left hand lane to then leave, make sure you look in relevant mirrors and shoulder checks. I'm a driving instructor in Coventry and regularly do a very intense 90 mjnute lesson with all my learners that entails driving clockwise from Jct 1 in the right hand lane then u-turn around the roundabout, at Jct 1, and back anti clock wise before returning to Jct 1, around the roundabout exiting at Jct 3, then through city centre rejoining at jct 9 anti clockwise, off at jct 5, u-turn (5th exit) around roundabout rejoining ring road in clock wise direction, exiting at jct 8, straight across roundabout (2nd exit) then return to ring road, clockwise, leave at jct 4, around the roundabout (3rd exit) returning on to ringroad clockwise in right hand lane, then leave at jct 6, find somewhere to have a breather, then return to ringroad at Jct 6 before leaving and rejoining at Jct 2... simples 😊
I lived in Coventry for 8 years in the 1980's and 90's. Never once did I ponder on how a driving instructor might teach learner drivers how to negotiate the ring road. It's a serious consideration though, that very few other places in the UK have to deal with. Thanks for answering a question that I had never even thought of! 😀
I had some of my first driving lessons in Coventry. As someone with only a few hours experience behind the wheel of a car, the Coventry ring road was frankly terrifying. Thanks for the flashbacks.
I lived in Coventry in the mid-seventies and the ring road apparently had not long been completed. It was kinda a local joke that Coventrians would know every back road cut through around the city but get hopelessly lost on their ring road. The advice I heard was - nose in front - goes. The saving grace is - if you miss your exit (so easy) it does not take long to drive around to have another go.
I've found that providing you drive with confidence that the Coventry ring road works very well. And using Google maps to measure the current journey time for a complete circuit it's showing 4 minutes anti-clockwise and 5 minutes clockwise at 17:10 on a Wednesday evening - so an average of about 30mph, which is pretty impressive
Have to remember it is not a dual carriageway, it's a ring road. Driving in the RH lane means the left lane is kept clear for those merging on and off. As long as people leave enough room and don't bunch up, like so many do, exit and entry is a doddle. I had to explain this to a copper once who pulled me over and accused me of lane hogging. It was late evening on a Sunday, so pretty clear. I pointed diagonally up to the road signs and suggested I took him on a ring road specific driving course. I read some years ago that it's second only to the M25 for daily traffic volume. I think it works really well
30mph is indeed impressive. Considering that on a road with traffic lights you go about half the speed limit on average. So to reach 30, the speed limit would need to be 50-60 or so. At that point you're looking at something like a US arterial road, which have intersection densities of a mile or more. The Coventry ring road has junctions every 0.35 miles.
@@UrbExGear 40 is the speed limit (according to google street view), 30 is the average speed you can achieve over one round, according to the original commenter's google maps test. The difference is you having to slow (and probably wait) for one roundabout, and there being a lot of merging traffic and some of the off-ramps probably being slightly jammed on a Wed afternoon.
That black tank with the flickering LED sign shown in the end credits stores hot oil, carried by a pipe from the waste incinerator on London Road. It's used to heat buildings in the city centre.
The LED display shows how many tons of co2 it has saved (by replacing boilers in the properties it heats). There is a similar one behind the ICC in Birmingham, next to the canal. I had a tour of it once.
Love the Cov ring road. Unironically perhaps the thing I miss the most from my university days in the city. It's so chaotic, so dodgy, so unusual that there ends up being an unwritten rule where everyone pays full attention of each other - and it works! Break your neck doing the blind spot checks, be bold with the acceleration and you'll get complete respect from fellow zipper mergers.
I was born and bred in Coventry, and it’s thrilling to see Jon having a look at our wonderful Ring Road. I have never used numbers for the junctions, but are used to live in Park Road next to the junction of the Ring Road with Quinton Road. I actually watched the Ring Road been built from start to finish and interestingly the style of construction changed as it made its way round the city centre. The junction near where I lived was in fact, torn down once because the brickwork was wrong. Actually finding the drive around the city centre rather stimulating. once you’re on the Ring Road stick to 40 miles an hour and some stay in the right-hand lane to avoid all the shenanigans going on as people try and negotiate getting on and off at the many junctions. Yes, the Coventry Ring Road is epic ‘auto shenanigans’. Is Jon going into the city centre to explore the flat roundabouts with no markings and no signs where is the free flow between pedestrians cyclists and motorists, which in fact seem to work quite well?
It's a small world sometimes...guess which street in Cov I live on? They've opened up the end of it now, where it used to be a closed-off dead-end. I'm a non-driver so not fully sure whether this means you now drive out of Park Road directly onto the ring road, but I THINK so. (If you use Streetview on Google Maps, you can check it for yourself.)
I lived at the end of Park Rd right next to the junction in my first year at uni. The people next door were in a band and used to practice at 3AM. Every so often some blokes with crewcuts, built like brick shithouses and wearing sheepskin jackets, would knock on our door asking if our noisy neighbours were in. We weren't sure if they were the bailiffs, mob or CID - but whichever they were clearly bad news.🤔😐
As a regular user of the Coventry Ring Road, it's not quite as scary as it appears. If you look up from underneath the many raised sections, you can spot lots of rusty spanners encased in the concrete. It's also quite cool when they close it off and use it as a race track for the Coventry MotoFest.
Annual Cov ring road events include... Moto fest. (ring road mostly closed) The cycling event. (sections between a few junctions closed in one direction) Illuminated tractors at Christmas. (not closed at all so you can keep wizzing round and try to lap them) I love it.
I used to work in Coventry. In 7 years I managed to have 0 car accidents on the ring road. It was quite a challenge! The other challenge is most people don't realise that the right hand lane is to be used for not turning off. However most people don't understand this leading to even more cars in the crunch zone! When you have people who understand it it looks very impressive! Sadly most people don't!
Happy memories of living in Cov. Thing is John, it works! But much like a lot of Cov culture, you got to have some balls! It works if you go for it. It fails if you chicken out.
When I find a video that points out the only sign mentioning a ring road's number, I know I'm home somehow. Thanks Jon. As a first year planning undergraduate I wrote an essay for the transport component that included an enthusiastic reference to the main pedestrian route from the railway station into the centre, through a wide subway under the ring road and then the gardens of Greyfriars Green. My lecturer's dry margin note: "Coventry isn't all good news".
Cov ring road only works if you drive fast. Everyone else will think you know where you're going and stay out of your way. You can then mask your lane discipline ignorance with sheer confidence. Ask me how I know.
That is why it was at its most dangerous when they put speed cameras on it! I think they caused more accidents than they prevented as you have more than enough to worry about without trying to set the cameras off.
I love this! I moved to Coventry as a student in 1985 and distinctly remember the first time I had to negotiate the ring road in my 1976 Ford Escort. Trying to exit at Junction 6 (clockwise) was absolutely terrifying. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it though. Within a few weeks, negotiating the crossing traffic at the junctions just becomes second nature. And in eight years of living in Coventry, I never saw a single accident on the ring road.
My home town, when the road was criticised, a Councillor said, 'there is nothing wrong with the road, providing you are the only one one it'. Also when the bus station (pool meadow) was described as the worst in the country, the reply was, 'no the Wolverhampton bus station is worse'
I have driven a bus (the 405, I think) into Wolves Bus Station, from Walsall, it was a lot easier than getting an Articulated Lorry around Cov Ring Road!!! 😮
@@petermumford265 Wouldn't have been the 405, that used to be Walsall to West Bromwich, now numbered the 45. The main route between Wolves and Walsall is the 529, so it was probably that.
I was brought up in Coventry, cycling everywhere, but gained a Dutch driving licence in 1964 as a British Soldier serving in Germany. When I returned on leave with my trusty Beetle, the Coventry ring road just took a bit of extra care, but presented no real problem to my left hand drive car. There is a little more traffic now, so when I return home from Yorkshire, I tend to avoid this road whenever possible, at least I now have a right hand drive car!
Once a year Cov ring road (or part of it) is closed to traffic and opened up to cyclists only. It's great, The route changes most years and loops through the city centre. Once it even went through the university library - that was something else, cycling through a building. There is sometimes a 'disco tunnel' with bubble machines and coloured lights and usually a sprint section with breakers and a time board for you to see how fast you went. There is also a procession of illuminated tractors just before Christmas - happened last Saturday.
I used to have a job that involved me driving the Coventry Ring Road several times a week, at various times of the day, for about four years. The first time it was absolutely terrifying, but I soon got used to it - if everybody matches speed and drives staggered at the changeovers it just flows. The point I wanted to make is that, during that time, I never once saw a collision on the ring road and never once found it to be closed due to an accident. I believe this is because the road is scary enough to force anyone navigating it to pay attention to other road users and treat them with respect instead of driving around in their own bubble like they tend to do on "normal" roads. And I am pretty sure this ring road must be unique in that people don't try and text or whatsapp while they are navigating it!
Grew up in Coventry, left before I learnt to drive. Visiting family in my 20’s as a driver your intro perfectly sums up my 1st experience. The ring road is a bomb scare, I now try to only venture onto it as a passenger, not putting my vehicle into the lotto of escaping unscathed.
Spent 4 years living in and around central Coventry. The best bit about leaving at junction 3 is immediately having to cross two lanes of traffic to go left/right at the roundabout that often has queues. Also Glamorous featured
I think I've worked it out - its an "homage" to that ultimate nightmare of an urban ring-road, the Paris Peripherique. It's got all the hallmarks - junctions far too close together, traffic merging from both sides, and a requirement for 100% concentration and some courage!
As someone who commutes from Worcestershire to Coventry weekly for work, it’s actually a decently designed place to drive in. What lets it down is the fact that half the population got their license in a cereal box, plus the constant roadworks on the A46 ☹️, got nothing against the ring road itself lol
There are a lot of ubers. Despite Cov City Council refusing to licence them at all (most are licencesed in Wolverhampton). These are the majority of your cereal box folk
Hope he roasts J7 - the old version flowed well. The new one creates stationary traffic at any hour of the day. And they justified it by saying it was to reduce pollution, lol.
Great video look forward to the follow up, having lived in Coventry for 35 years from the late 50's to the early 90's I must have got used to the ring road, as during my early working life I used traverse the city from home on the western edges to work on the eastern edges, so never found it scary. In fact my wife and I used to get extremely frustrated with Gloucester drivers when they tried to deal with a similar merging junction at the Westgate Roundabou here in Gloucester. Not being used to merging at normal traffic speeds they would suddenly stop dead in the middle of the manouver. Meaning us seasoned mergers would quite oftem nearly run into the back of them. In addition the short circuit like nature of the ring road meant that as car and bike mad youths we had an ideal late night speedway, happy days.
What a privilege for my old home town of Coventry to get two videos dedicated to it! I've only used the ring road a few times, and the distance for filtering traffic at the junctions is quite hair raising!
Given the traffic chaos prior to the ring road opening this was a marvel for the people of Coventry. Many will remember the terrible congestion around St. Patrick’s Road where, the then Coventry Police, had to place an officer on point duty at strategic times just to keep traffic moving complete with white gloves and sleeves!!! Once you get used to the ring road it is easy to navigate but I know visitors find it difficult road.
About 35 years ago I had to drive through Coventry often to get to Gamecock Barracks. I was going there to teach army cadets how to drive. And as a driving instructor yes I can tell you Coventry ring road was always scary for me.
I really enjoyed this video, thank you. I live quite close to Coventry and have always found this road to be a nightmare and it’s just reassuring to know that everybody else does too! I look forward to part two, thank you for all the hard work that you do, I was a journalist and I used to travel many miles on a motorway network and you really bring them to life as well as recording for me, many memories. Cheers, Peter.
I lived in Coventry for 6 years and hated the ring road. You always seemed to be in the wrong lane with cars cutting you up crossing over to another lane. I avoided it like the plague. Loved the video.
You are absolutely correct about Coventry being "bombed to buggery" but keep in mind that the Inner Ring Road was designed and built in the 1960s when traffic volumes were about 20 - 25% of what they are now. BTW, Coventry is a City and not a Town. 🙂
My gran lived in Rugby and was a young girl at the time of the second small disagreement. She remembers seeing the fire that was Coventry all the way from her house in Rugby.
Ah my home town! The ring road isnt that bad if your local. If your not from Coventry then its weird. Remember we speak with an accent exceeding rare and if you want a cathedral we've got one to spare! PUSB!
I had to drive on this road a number of times in 1990 when I was working in the area. I can confirm the merge junctions were terrifying! This video brought it all flooding back......
Ah, the Ring Road. As a kid this was about as exciting as it got. On the occasions my dad had cause to drive to Coventry I made sure I was alongside. After the traffic lights of the Foleshill Road, driving this was like driving into the future. That fact that I've said all this, and the fa t that I still love the Coventry Ring Road, to this day, perhaps doesn't paint the best picture of me.
I was born in 1945, and remember the horrific road layout prior to the ring road, and remember it being built. There had been considerable city centre development before it was built. This rather constrained the road builders when the ring road was actually constructed.
Back in the early 2000s, my job sent me to Coventry to help install a massive amount of logistic gear at a customer site on the outskirts of Birmingham. The commute between hotel and Baginton took me on the stretch from junction 8 to junction 4. I totally agree that this road is an acquired taste. It didn't help one bit, that this was also my first time driving a RHD car. I't a miracle I'm still alive.
This was a big one for me, waited for this disaster of a road to be featured! Driven this many times and every time nearly ended up in a smash! Great work Coventry.
Poor Jon, getting sent to Coventry 😂 The description of the ring road in the first 23s is pure comedic gold. There's a similar layout of @4:21 in Derby, except the outer two lanes come out of a 270° loop. Come and check it out one day, Jon
I lived all my life in Coventry (passed my test 32 years ago) so well used to it. It works really well. Only been hit twice - Junc 1 Foleshill Rd from behind and side-swiped by a Royal Mail lorry at the entry to J4 London Rd. Both occurred many years ago.
Love that you’ve done Coventry ring road Jon. I think the ghost slip at junction was to do with a scheme which would have seen direct access to roof top car parks from the ring road, how the car park between junction 8 and 9 is although not roof top. In terms of junction four I believe there was a plan that the ring road would have gone around the other side of Coventry station, which would have kept a smoother curve. This was objected because of noise from wealthier residents who lived in the suburb of Earlsdon. Also a couple of the junctions have been modified in the last 15 years from the original plan. Still think it’s a really novel road. Keep up the great work.
I love it! Reminds of when I lived in Akron Ohio decades ago and the area around I-76 and Route 8 had exit and entrance ramps that shared the same lanes and many occurred every city block.
Now you're giving me flashbacks to when I visited Coventry, and tried to use the ring road to get about on a motorbike with bent handlebars. Not fun. Better once I'd had it fixed, but the road layout was still shit. Fortunately, traffic was heavy enough for high-speed impacts not to be an issue, and I could manage most of the junctions by filtering straight down the middle until I could figure out which way I needed to go. I still overshot basically every single exit, but I got there in the end.
Used to be a regular part of my commute - was always amusing to see first-timers looking terrified. On my route the most dangerous part wasn't the ring road at all - it was people coming off at junction 3 and then taking a racing line across 3 lanes of traffic on the roundabout at the end! The ring road itself works a treat though - as others have said, keep right until you need to leave and you're sorted.
There would be a very trivial fix to the weaves at junction 4 in the counter-clockwise direction. Just don't allow vehicles that joined at junction 5 to exit at 4, and don't allow vehicles that joined at 4 to exit at 3. That would mean that you have 3 lanes: one for leaving, one for continuing around and one for joining. With that change it would actually be a pretty decent design for tightly spaced interchanges. The only remaining disadvantage being that the on- and off-ramps are on the "wrong" side of the road. The latter single-segment trip (4 -> 3) is especially stupid because both junctions only connect to the outside of the ring road. I.e. you'd be coming from the outside and going to the outside if you're joining at 4 and leaving at 3. If you want to make a trip like that, you can just use the roads to the east of the ring road (Gulson Road/ Humber Road/ Allard way); or if you have to go through the city center, use Puma way to join at 5 instead, from where you can lave at 3.
Argh…. too many memories of that ring road, none of them good. In my worst nightmare I still recall being extra cautious of swapping lanes and circumnavigating Coventry, twice, during rush hour when I missed my exit from the A45 to the A46 and thinking I can go through the city instead. But I did get to see the Jaguar factory and the city cemetery. Thanks John, looking forward to part 2.
I totally concur with you. I lived in Walsgrave Coventry in the 1970s and used the ring road a lot because there were no other options and it's scary, very scary especially those mergers at the slip roads
Last time, I praised San Antonio, TX for their Texas Flyovers... and I just realized, they have something even more egregious: They have a 3x2 side-by-side junction as well, but the really crazy part is that after the junction, it is a 2x3 split. Meaning, you come from the left and want to go right, you just stay in the utmost left lane and never have to change. You come from the right, you need to switch over 2 lanes. Speed limit there is 60mph (100km/h) and the length? Maybe 70m (not kidding; I looked it up on the satellite pics). It's part of the US-281 / I-10 / US-281 interchange, and if you don't make it, you still can go the right way, but if you are not familiar, you don't know that. And you know, metropolitan drivers are known for their restraint and friendliness - they surely let you cross... right? I mean... right?
I have 'experienced' this ring road on a grand total of one occasion, thankfully as a passenger. I very quickly came to the conclusion that it is one of the few roads I've been on that I do not want to ever have to drive on.
I learned to drive in an old Sherpa van around the Coventry ring road as a daily occurrence, so never bothered me. I was once told by a friend of the designer that it was built in a way that if we moved to driving on the right the ring road and all its junctions would still work.
Great fun in the pre speed camera 70s, it certainly sharpened your driving skills! After a showing of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry at the Odeon the punters took to the ring road thinking they were driving Chevvy Impalas, proper foot to the floor action
My partner is from Coventry and we are frequently down there visiting family. It's was a complete nightmare when I first drove it, but I'm used to it now on the stretch I drive on.
I used to call Junction 2 "the helter skelter". I was also told a story once that when the ring road was first constructed, there were heating elements under the road surface on the slip-roads to stop snow settling. Apparently the first time this was put to the test, it caused the bottom layer to melt but the top layer still froze, making the slip-roads far more dangerous than if it was just snow. Despite being installed at great expense, it was apparently only used once and never again due to the chaos it caused.
They did this on the Westway in London as well. Lasted until GLC got their first energy bill and it was never used again! So legend has it .. a London cabbie told me this story, so it must be true 😂
Cracking video, can't wait for part 2. I had the misfortune to have to use the IRR in a wagon when I was working - hated it. Now it's straight down the 444 onto the 46. 😀
In the mid eighties I lived and worked in Coventry and even used the Elephant building on a regular basis. Back then traffic flowed quite well on the ring road in spite of those short "merge" junctions but in more recent times I have been on the road and it is utter chaos.
Just what it was designed for (courtesy of Top Gear Magazine) the ring road is going to be used as a race circuit ............ "the FIA is currently holding negotiations with MotoFest Coventry to make it happen, with the proposed track (pictured) taking drivers right through the heart of Britain’s Motor City. Should the plan materialise and a proposed date in 2025 bear fruit, it would be the first time since 1990 that Britain has hosted a street circuit race"
Motofest happens every year and is a great event. At the old junction 7 layout they used to have a drifting 'arena'. The sound echoing around under the flyover, especially in the pedestrian underpass, was just awesome. They've messed J7 up now though.
Oh joy. Coventry ring road. I got diverted and very lost on here earlier this year when the A46 was closed. Sadly my diversion route was also closed due to a police "incident" so ended up having to go back around and towards the arena & M6 to get to the M69...so basically the route of the unfinished motorway.
Born and raised in Coventry, moved to Devon in 2005 so interesting to see the changes. But the ring road is actually easy to use, stay on the inside lane as you go around and only move to the outside when changing lanes. You don't generally go fast and there's more than enough visibility to merge. As an outsider, it's going to feel with the Swindon magic roundabout... easy for locals, but the one time I strayed on to it one night I shat myself and legged it down the first available junction and went down side streets to pick up the route.
Hello jon, I'm all agog with my senses having been scintillated, i don't know if i can wait a whole week for next week's second scintillating and final episode
Its a gripper to be sure. Excited for the next part. (Nurse! Nurse, the screens!) What a Horlicks. I think you may be being over-generous to the road designer in saying it was a Friday afternoon job. The evidence suggest the whole thing was a "first job out of road designing college". Now you know why being "sent to Coventry" is such a threat.
Used to drive it a lot. The main problems are that it is utterly punishing for the uninitiated and the hesitant. If you're more used to it, decisive in your merges, use the right lanes and know where youre going, it (almost) works well. The real issues come when these two groups of drivers end up sharing the same space.
100% spot on, 100 correct. lane 2. You are like me watching everybody in lane 1 so close to each other, making hard exit and merge to Ring Road lol. 🤦♂.
Had to drive from junction 1 to 6 on the weekend which is exceptionally rare for me having not lived in Coventry for 20 years and even when I did, I mostly used the western half. My wife got a bit annoyed by the fact I used the right lane to allow cars to merge onto the ring road and she couldn't understand why I did it.
You are in the 5% of the good drivers. Excellent. well done. Tell her we have the "R" signs there, plus the gantry sign say "All ring road traffic keep in lane 2" Be in lane 2 avoid RTC, the RTC I watched are all in lane 1.
I like the bit onthe slipway opposite the fire station where they replaced the double amber flashing light, (to beware of fire engines), with a green traffic light invighting you to smash into anyone who has right of way on the traffic island.. welcome to Coventry !
I love how some channels have to do death defying antics to get 150k subscribers, Jon just has to stand next to a road in Coventry, so kind of the same thing.
There’s also the very tightly controlled wardrobe budget.
If you don't find comedy gold in today's video, look for it in the comments
And venturing into a city centre pedestrian underpass! Not for the fainthearted anywhere in the UK.
@@stevieandthebarbiesBut the characteristic UK underpass fragrance was not referred to. Oversight or just good manners?
@NewCastleIndiana I am relieved he isn't going a calendar like the WI!
I have the ‘pleasure’ of living about 30 minutes away.
It’s not a ring road, it’s a particle accelerator, probably owned by the University. Upon entering the road, one travels faster and faster in circles until an escape velocity is reached, then exit in a random direction. I think that’s how a particle accelerator works?
Almost how one works except particle accelerators are designed to smash the particles together. Oh... hang on a minute 😂
I have a PhD in physics and commend you for your excellent explanation. Have you considered doing a physics degree? 🙂
@ I have a degree in agricultural engineering. I play with tractors and cows - much more fun!
@@insertusernamehere6025 Yes, all that stuff with big lasers, liquid helium, positron beams, x-rays, etc. is all terribly dull, a bit like videos about the Coventry ringroad, I suppose. 🙂
@@cdl0 Exactly
I live in Coventry and negotiate the ring road pretty much everyday. I don't understand why so many people have a problem with the ring road. Close your eyes, slam the accelerator to the floor and pray... No Problem! 😊
I worked in Coventry for 10 years and used to use the ring road daily and often more than once. I don't find it intimidating at all, it just requires drivers to be attentive and positive. I suspect that it was designed for a more sedate pace but during 1980s it really was a Scalextric track. Then they placed hidden speed cameras all around it, but not all had film in them.
That's my default for navigating life.
Ditto! Mirrors, accelerator, and a prayer!
@@simonkenny7054no time for mirrors. Just go!
Wonderfully put. Get your foot down and go for it. I love it - especially the flyover bit going clockwise from Gosford St.
That ring road is SO bad I love it.
The trick to leaving/joining it is to make eye contact with the driver joining/leaving it and then, through eye contact alone, establish who is going to speed up and who is going to slow down. You have about 4 seconds.
If you fail, you will either miss your junction, collide with the adjacent vehicle or hit the end of the barrier.
It's also obligatory to listen to The Specials whilst proceeding round the ring road.
Ghost Town especially?
This guy knows cov, 😂. What a shit show that road is haha
@@Matttzx
Worked at "Jag Eng Ctr", Whitley for 10+ years, living in Leam, Cov & Nuneaton, so know it well, as well as the A44444444 with its ice-cream roundabout.
@@spotty_cat26
Goes without saying.
@@lewis72 That bit thats 40mph, but most people do 80 on?
I was born in Coventry and most of my family still live there, so I've driven on the ring road quite a few times. The trick is to drive at EXACTLY the speed limit, any faster and you'll crash into slower drivers who are unsure of what the hell is happening (understandably), and any slower and someone is likely to crash into you! Stay in the right lane until you need to exit, and remember to not slow down when you do!
I'll remember that incase I ever get my driving license back.
I used to (in the 80s) cycle round the ring road to get to work and back. I must have been insane.
I am absolutely with you on that. Having lived in Coventry for a number of years now, I've got the 'knack' for that exact speed required!
I never had a problem as a youngster, driving my every-panel-a-different-colour rusty early 1960s bought-on-a-rainy-night-for-£45 Mini round there with all the care and consideration you'd expect from a teenager. Strangely once I graduated to a more... presentable car I found other drivers less willing to let me slip on to the ring road 🤷♀
Went to Uni in Coventry Ok it was a Polytechnic in the 80s really good memories of living in G block by the back of the leisure centre and the campus straddling the ring road. Love the video
The cov ringroad is the only road I am aware of where you are supposed to drive in the right hand lane, leaving the left hand empty to ease the situation for those leaving and joining the ringroad.
Correct
bloody hell! Remind me never to visit Coventry!
Sensible to do this on parts of the mancunian way as well
The A38 Queensway in Birmingham has a similar layout, I believe
I don't know if you're meant to but it's common practice on Newcastle's Central Motorway, which was probably designed in the same drug-influenced planning session.
I used to work in Coventry and, with the help of local and knowledgeable colleagues, learned how to negotiate the ring road. It certainly isn’t a road to stop concentrating as it’s easy to get in the wrong lane until you’re familiar with it. The great thing about it is that it’s a short road so you can always go round again if you miss a junction.
"it’s a short road so you can always go round again if you miss a junction" or - from the video and some comments - feel like getting another heart attack!
Except that going around it counter-clockwise means that you'll also have to do the two weaves at junction 4 one extra time.
Bejesus, even being familar with the ring road-on more than one occasion I found myself going back in the direction I just came from and not really understanding how or why!
Coventry - we need a ring road.
Planners - which streets do you want it connected to as junctions?
Coventry - ALL OF THEM!
You're being ingenuous. Cox street isn't connected. And Gosford Street isn't connected ...directly. It merely ends in that roundabout at the end of junction 3. So one and a half a roads out of the 11 possible roads are not connected.
@@jsnsk101 What route should we take?
Oh just roughly follow the old City Wall, it'll be fine. There isn't much of it left.
Oh, thank Heavens! Jon's finally been sent to Coventry!
My wife spent most of her childhood, teenage years and early twenties living near Coventry. Having had to drive along the Cov Ring Road quite a lot when visiting her, I can attest to the fact that "Batsh!t crazy" constitutes a fair, reasonable and accurate description of this masterpiece of civil engineering.......
Yup, I did my driving lessons there, so much fun... I was really under the impression that "every car getting on and off a road at the same time and place" was normal, until I moved out.
Must be an extreme sport having a wife from Coventry lol
@@nathanw9770 It most certainly is an extreme sport. I've married a Woman from Coventry twice and it was the same Woman both times. That's probably about an extreme sport as you ever want to engage in.
I moved to Cov 20 years ago and to be honest I love the ring road. I've driven in many cities (and the bits inbetween) all over the UK and Cov ring road actually works - unlike the one in Wolverhampton for instance which doesn't flow well at all. I can see why people find it daunting but...
There are two things to do in order to sucessfully manage using it with no stress and no accidents:
1) When on the ring road stay in the right hand lane unless you are getting off at the next junction. The road signs and markings indicate this (although they used to be clearer). There is often an article saying the same in the local rag. There really is no need to keep left unless you are about to leave. The left lane is for those merging when they enter or leave the ring road.
2) Be confident. The speed limit is 40mph - use it. The few times when merging goes horribly wrong (I've seen a car stuck on the barriers at the end of the merge points twice now) is when people are too slow. This cause chaos. If entering build speed confidently and be ready to make a decison - are you going before or after the car coming off? And keep your head on a swivel when entering or leaving/ Look in front of you for sure but remember whats there and spend time looking sideways and behind too. It does work.
When we get to junction 7 in the next video you might see how new and shiny it is. And it's a bad change. It used to be a grade separated roundabout/island with no lights. Roundabouts were designed purely to improve traffic flow. Some moron decided that they would remove that and the subway that kept cycles and pedestrians safely away from traffic and install traffic light controlled junctions and crossing instead. So now, even at 5am when there is nobody around, you sit there waiting. Ironically they did this to reduce pollution - how does creating traffic jams, even building extra capacity (lanes) to fill with stationary traffic, reduce pollution? It's an odd step backwards. In rush hour there is now stationary traffic on the ring road waiting to exit.
Excellent, you are the 2nd who commented correctly how to drive on it. specially keep in lane 2. 100% 👍. I love too drive there. it is so smooth.
Excellent. My driving instructor told me it's not a dual carriageway, it's a single lane giratary with a continuous slip road. Treat it as such it's great. It's the numbnuts that can't read the overhead or speed limit signs and overtake on the left that give it the sense of being dangerous at times.
I read this in the voice of a 1970s government information video
🏆 ✍ 📃👀 🚗 👌
This comment should be compulsory reading for anybody contemplating driving in the CV postcode area 😅😅😅😅😅
The Cov ring road is nuts!!! I was at Lanchester Poly (now Coventry University) in 1979. At 1:45, the shot showing J2 has part of the halls of residence in the shot (the long green building at the top of the screen…it wasn’t green when I was there!). My room was at the right hand end on the top floor and one glorious day I watched a fire engine with blues and twos going , come from the bottom of the screen, round the bend and roll gracefully over on to the wall of the bus station. No injuries luckily, but several waiting passengers got their feet wet as the tanks of the fire engine emptied across the bus station. Happy days!!
I was in priory hall too, in 2000. I hated my first room which overlooked the bus station, I got moved to a much nicer room, looking at the back of the cathedral
@@JamesKelter Me too, Priory Hall 1989. Room J1-31, overlooking the bus station.
Basically:
1. Aim for the gaps.
2. Don't stop.
Good, keep in lane 2. 👍
Laconic, Approved.
Auto Shenanigans in my home town? Woop woop! 😁 The ringroad is ace in how it lets you navigate around the town easily, but the junctions are ridiculously short, which makes it terrifying for the uninitiated. The biggest problem is when someone panics and slows down…otherwise it seems to flow ok.
Well described it, I noticed in Xmas, we have too many RTC, due tourist "I mean" people of other cities visit family in Coventry and they ignore how to drive it, I don't blame them, I always take more 👀in December.
The West Midlands is an absolute treat for people who love having to merge or switch lanes into fast moving traffic in a very short distance. There’s this of course, and the Aston Expressway in neighbouring Birmingham. The local city planners seemed to have a much higher level of optimism regarding human behaviours in the automobile age than common sense would suggest to be appropriate.
Stourbridge!
@@stevieandthebarbies To be fair, Stourbridge's isn't too bad but the speed cameras take all the fun out of merging at breakneck speed. Lose those and the traffic lights and you have a lovely, conventional racetrack.
@egbront1506 the cameras haven't been on for 7 years, the lever on the back is up, its slide down when on. None of the Gatso cameras are used anymore but he average speed check and mobile van will will get you.
Oh gosh! Yes ! Has John done one on the Aston express way! That’s totally insane!
@@Phuc_Yhou Thanks for that. I know they turned all the cameras off years ago in the West Mids but some came back on and you never know when they sneakily might reemploy one as they don't announce it. Not seen any of the vans yet.
the pause before the word "delightful" - genius comic timing!😆
The Ring Road gets you across the city quite quickly, stay in the right hand lane until you've passed the exit before the one you want and move to the left hand lane to then leave, make sure you look in relevant mirrors and shoulder checks.
I'm a driving instructor in Coventry and regularly do a very intense 90 mjnute lesson with all my learners that entails driving clockwise from Jct 1 in the right hand lane then u-turn around the roundabout, at Jct 1, and back anti clock wise before returning to Jct 1, around the roundabout exiting at Jct 3, then through city centre rejoining at jct 9 anti clockwise, off at jct 5, u-turn (5th exit) around roundabout rejoining ring road in clock wise direction, exiting at jct 8, straight across roundabout (2nd exit) then return to ring road, clockwise, leave at jct 4, around the roundabout (3rd exit) returning on to ringroad clockwise in right hand lane, then leave at jct 6, find somewhere to have a breather, then return to ringroad at Jct 6 before leaving and rejoining at Jct 2... simples 😊
Excellent. I am very happy read you, We need more instructors doing it. 🚗
I lived in Coventry for 8 years in the 1980's and 90's. Never once did I ponder on how a driving instructor might teach learner drivers how to negotiate the ring road. It's a serious consideration though, that very few other places in the UK have to deal with. Thanks for answering a question that I had never even thought of! 😀
I had some of my first driving lessons in Coventry. As someone with only a few hours experience behind the wheel of a car, the Coventry ring road was frankly terrifying. Thanks for the flashbacks.
I lived in Coventry in the mid-seventies and the ring road apparently had not long been completed. It was kinda a local joke that Coventrians would know every back road cut through around the city but get hopelessly lost on their ring road. The advice I heard was - nose in front - goes. The saving grace is - if you miss your exit (so easy) it does not take long to drive around to have another go.
This is a top top top piece of investigative journalism - great content
I've found that providing you drive with confidence that the Coventry ring road works very well. And using Google maps to measure the current journey time for a complete circuit it's showing 4 minutes anti-clockwise and 5 minutes clockwise at 17:10 on a Wednesday evening - so an average of about 30mph, which is pretty impressive
True, you have to drive a bit like a rally driver. Makes sense why once a year it is partially closed for the racing events 😂
Have to remember it is not a dual carriageway, it's a ring road. Driving in the RH lane means the left lane is kept clear for those merging on and off. As long as people leave enough room and don't bunch up, like so many do, exit and entry is a doddle.
I had to explain this to a copper once who pulled me over and accused me of lane hogging. It was late evening on a Sunday, so pretty clear. I pointed diagonally up to the road signs and suggested I took him on a ring road specific driving course.
I read some years ago that it's second only to the M25 for daily traffic volume. I think it works really well
30mph is indeed impressive. Considering that on a road with traffic lights you go about half the speed limit on average. So to reach 30, the speed limit would need to be 50-60 or so. At that point you're looking at something like a US arterial road, which have intersection densities of a mile or more. The Coventry ring road has junctions every 0.35 miles.
@Pystro its 40, not 30mph
@@UrbExGear 40 is the speed limit (according to google street view), 30 is the average speed you can achieve over one round, according to the original commenter's google maps test. The difference is you having to slow (and probably wait) for one roundabout, and there being a lot of merging traffic and some of the off-ramps probably being slightly jammed on a Wed afternoon.
That black tank with the flickering LED sign shown in the end credits stores hot oil, carried by a pipe from the waste incinerator on London Road. It's used to heat buildings in the city centre.
The LED display shows how many tons of co2 it has saved (by replacing boilers in the properties it heats).
There is a similar one behind the ICC in Birmingham, next to the canal. I had a tour of it once.
Brilliant. I live in Coventry. Love the ring road and everything Jon says about it.
Love the Cov ring road. Unironically perhaps the thing I miss the most from my university days in the city. It's so chaotic, so dodgy, so unusual that there ends up being an unwritten rule where everyone pays full attention of each other - and it works! Break your neck doing the blind spot checks, be bold with the acceleration and you'll get complete respect from fellow zipper mergers.
Well put
because you forget drive on lane 2 ? and only use lane 1 to exit.
@ very presumptuous lol - I was aware of lane etiquette
This is almost poetic - and absolutely spot on! 😂
I was born and bred in Coventry, and it’s thrilling to see Jon having a look at our wonderful Ring Road. I have never used numbers for the junctions, but are used to live in Park Road next to the junction of the Ring Road with Quinton Road. I actually watched the Ring Road been built from start to finish and interestingly the style of construction changed as it made its way round the city centre. The junction near where I lived was in fact, torn down once because the brickwork was wrong. Actually finding the drive around the city centre rather stimulating. once you’re on the Ring Road stick to 40 miles an hour and some stay in the right-hand lane to avoid all the shenanigans going on as people try and negotiate getting on and off at the many junctions. Yes, the Coventry Ring Road is epic ‘auto shenanigans’. Is Jon going into the city centre to explore the flat roundabouts with no markings and no signs where is the free flow between pedestrians cyclists and motorists, which in fact seem to work quite well?
It's a small world sometimes...guess which street in Cov I live on? They've opened up the end of it now, where it used to be a closed-off dead-end. I'm a non-driver so not fully sure whether this means you now drive out of Park Road directly onto the ring road, but I THINK so. (If you use Streetview on Google Maps, you can check it for yourself.)
I lived at the end of Park Rd right next to the junction in my first year at uni. The people next door were in a band and used to practice at 3AM.
Every so often some blokes with crewcuts, built like brick shithouses and wearing sheepskin jackets, would knock on our door asking if our noisy neighbours were in. We weren't sure if they were the bailiffs, mob or CID - but whichever they were clearly bad news.🤔😐
In a world of bad news, a little ray of my sunshine.
This is the best video I've _ever_ seen about anything
As a regular user of the Coventry Ring Road, it's not quite as scary as it appears.
If you look up from underneath the many raised sections, you can spot lots of rusty spanners encased in the concrete.
It's also quite cool when they close it off and use it as a race track for the Coventry MotoFest.
Annual Cov ring road events include...
Moto fest. (ring road mostly closed)
The cycling event. (sections between a few junctions closed in one direction)
Illuminated tractors at Christmas. (not closed at all so you can keep wizzing round and try to lap them)
I love it.
I used to work in Coventry. In 7 years I managed to have 0 car accidents on the ring road. It was quite a challenge!
The other challenge is most people don't realise that the right hand lane is to be used for not turning off. However most people don't understand this leading to even more cars in the crunch zone!
When you have people who understand it it looks very impressive! Sadly most people don't!
Brilliant, yes, we have "R" sign there, but nobody read the famous book lol
Happy memories of living in Cov.
Thing is John, it works! But much like a lot of Cov culture, you got to have some balls! It works if you go for it. It fails if you chicken out.
When I find a video that points out the only sign mentioning a ring road's number, I know I'm home somehow. Thanks Jon.
As a first year planning undergraduate I wrote an essay for the transport component that included an enthusiastic reference to the main pedestrian route from the railway station into the centre, through a wide subway under the ring road and then the gardens of Greyfriars Green. My lecturer's dry margin note: "Coventry isn't all good news".
I don't know why, Chris, but your lecturer's acerbic wit has made me laugh - I think it's the way you told it 😂
Best ring road ever.
Got pulled on it and somehow managed to pull into the only layby on the whole thing.
Pure fun for all the family.
Never has the Coventry ring road been so enthralling that I'm buzzing for part 2 next week! Merry Christmas 🎉
Cov ring road only works if you drive fast. Everyone else will think you know where you're going and stay out of your way. You can then mask your lane discipline ignorance with sheer confidence. Ask me how I know.
There's quite good logic to this!
How do you know?
Yeah, always worked for me in the 70s 😱
Go on, spill the beans.
That is why it was at its most dangerous when they put speed cameras on it! I think they caused more accidents than they prevented as you have more than enough to worry about without trying to set the cameras off.
I love this! I moved to Coventry as a student in 1985 and distinctly remember the first time I had to negotiate the ring road in my 1976 Ford Escort. Trying to exit at Junction 6 (clockwise) was absolutely terrifying. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it though. Within a few weeks, negotiating the crossing traffic at the junctions just becomes second nature. And in eight years of living in Coventry, I never saw a single accident on the ring road.
My home town, when the road was criticised, a Councillor said, 'there is nothing wrong with the road, providing you are the only one one it'.
Also when the bus station (pool meadow) was described as the worst in the country, the reply was, 'no the Wolverhampton bus station is worse'
I have driven a bus (the 405, I think) into Wolves Bus Station, from Walsall, it was a lot easier than getting an Articulated Lorry around Cov Ring Road!!! 😮
@@petermumford265 Wouldn't have been the 405, that used to be Walsall to West Bromwich, now numbered the 45. The main route between Wolves and Walsall is the 529, so it was probably that.
@ YES! I drove both, the 405 & the 529!!! You have just taken me back to 2006!!! Travel West Midlands! Nice route the 529! Not so the 405!!!
I was brought up in Coventry, cycling everywhere, but gained a Dutch driving licence in 1964 as a British Soldier serving in Germany. When I returned on leave with my trusty Beetle, the Coventry ring road just took a bit of extra care, but presented no real problem to my left hand drive car. There is a little more traffic now, so when I return home from Yorkshire, I tend to avoid this road whenever possible, at least I now have a right hand drive car!
Once a year Cov ring road (or part of it) is closed to traffic and opened up to cyclists only. It's great, The route changes most years and loops through the city centre. Once it even went through the university library - that was something else, cycling through a building. There is sometimes a 'disco tunnel' with bubble machines and coloured lights and usually a sprint section with breakers and a time board for you to see how fast you went.
There is also a procession of illuminated tractors just before Christmas - happened last Saturday.
To be fair, you should compare Coventry's road network with that of Hamburg, where Sir Arthur Harris gave them a _completely_ blank slate. 😉
Do you reckon that's why Hermann Goering did it to Coventry?
Greetings CMDR o7
@@antonycharnock2993 Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft (AWA) was the _main_ airframe manufacturer in Coventry.
@@antonycharnock2993 I think the cause and effect was the other way round, event-wise. Coventry had its clearance-enabling opportunity first.
Hamburg in New Zealand?
I used to have a job that involved me driving the Coventry Ring Road several times a week, at various times of the day, for about four years. The first time it was absolutely terrifying, but I soon got used to it - if everybody matches speed and drives staggered at the changeovers it just flows. The point I wanted to make is that, during that time, I never once saw a collision on the ring road and never once found it to be closed due to an accident. I believe this is because the road is scary enough to force anyone navigating it to pay attention to other road users and treat them with respect instead of driving around in their own bubble like they tend to do on "normal" roads.
And I am pretty sure this ring road must be unique in that people don't try and text or whatsapp while they are navigating it!
Thanks
Grew up in Coventry, left before I learnt to drive. Visiting family in my 20’s as a driver your intro perfectly sums up my 1st experience. The ring road is a bomb scare, I now try to only venture onto it as a passenger, not putting my vehicle into the lotto of escaping unscathed.
Spent 4 years living in and around central Coventry. The best bit about leaving at junction 3 is immediately having to cross two lanes of traffic to go left/right at the roundabout that often has queues. Also Glamorous featured
Thanks, Jon, for another fantastic video!
I think I've worked it out - its an "homage" to that ultimate nightmare of an urban ring-road, the Paris Peripherique. It's got all the hallmarks - junctions far too close together, traffic merging from both sides, and a requirement for 100% concentration and some courage!
As someone who commutes from Worcestershire to Coventry weekly for work, it’s actually a decently designed place to drive in. What lets it down is the fact that half the population got their license in a cereal box, plus the constant roadworks on the A46 ☹️, got nothing against the ring road itself lol
There are a lot of ubers. Despite Cov City Council refusing to licence them at all (most are licencesed in Wolverhampton). These are the majority of your cereal box folk
@@thebrowns5337 I agree
looking forward to next weeks thrilling instalment..... 🙂
Hope he roasts J7 - the old version flowed well. The new one creates stationary traffic at any hour of the day. And they justified it by saying it was to reduce pollution, lol.
Wonderful Jon, can't wait to visit Coventry to drive this. Or maybe not...
Great video look forward to the follow up, having lived in Coventry for 35 years from the late 50's to the early 90's I must have got used to the ring road, as during my early working life I used traverse the city from home on the western edges to work on the eastern edges, so never found it scary. In fact my wife and I used to get extremely frustrated with Gloucester drivers when they tried to deal with a similar merging junction at the Westgate Roundabou here in Gloucester. Not being used to merging at normal traffic speeds they would suddenly stop dead in the middle of the manouver. Meaning us seasoned mergers would quite oftem nearly run into the back of them. In addition the short circuit like nature of the ring road meant that as car and bike mad youths we had an ideal late night speedway, happy days.
Elephant's trunk? Yes, I think the planners must have been 😝
What a privilege for my old home town of Coventry to get two videos dedicated to it! I've only used the ring road a few times, and the distance for filtering traffic at the junctions is quite hair raising!
It's like navigating other ring roads, but on Deity Mode.
Given the traffic chaos prior to the ring road opening this was a marvel for the people of Coventry. Many will remember the terrible congestion around St. Patrick’s Road where, the then Coventry Police, had to place an officer on point duty at strategic times just to keep traffic moving complete with white gloves and sleeves!!! Once you get used to the ring road it is easy to navigate but I know visitors find it difficult road.
About 35 years ago I had to drive through Coventry often to get to Gamecock Barracks. I was going there to teach army cadets how to drive. And as a driving instructor yes I can tell you Coventry ring road was always scary for me.
I really enjoyed this video, thank you. I live quite close to Coventry and have always found this road to be a nightmare and it’s just reassuring to know that everybody else does too! I look forward to part two, thank you for all the hard work that you do, I was a journalist and I used to travel many miles on a motorway network and you really bring them to life as well as recording for me, many memories. Cheers, Peter.
I lived in Coventry for 6 years and hated the ring road. You always seemed to be in the wrong lane with cars cutting you up crossing over to another lane. I avoided it like the plague. Loved the video.
You are absolutely correct about Coventry being "bombed to buggery" but keep in mind that the Inner Ring Road was designed and built in the 1960s when traffic volumes were about 20 - 25% of what they are now.
BTW, Coventry is a City and not a Town. 🙂
My gran lived in Rugby and was a young girl at the time of the second small disagreement. She remembers seeing the fire that was Coventry all the way from her house in Rugby.
Ah my home town! The ring road isnt that bad if your local. If your not from Coventry then its weird.
Remember we speak with an accent exceeding rare and if you want a cathedral we've got one to spare!
PUSB!
I had to drive on this road a number of times in 1990 when I was working in the area. I can confirm the merge junctions were terrifying! This video brought it all flooding back......
yes due average drivers inexperts drive on lane 1 all the way instead lane 2. so exit and merge is a mess without need.
Ah, the Ring Road. As a kid this was about as exciting as it got. On the occasions my dad had cause to drive to Coventry I made sure I was alongside. After the traffic lights of the Foleshill Road, driving this was like driving into the future. That fact that I've said all this, and the fa t that I still love the Coventry Ring Road, to this day, perhaps doesn't paint the best picture of me.
I was born in 1945, and remember the horrific road layout prior to the ring road, and remember it being built. There had been considerable city centre development before it was built. This rather constrained the road builders when the ring road was actually constructed.
Back in the early 2000s, my job sent me to Coventry to help install a massive amount of logistic gear at a customer site on the outskirts of Birmingham. The commute between hotel and Baginton took me on the stretch from junction 8 to junction 4. I totally agree that this road is an acquired taste. It didn't help one bit, that this was also my first time driving a RHD car. I't a miracle I'm still alive.
This was a big one for me, waited for this disaster of a road to be featured! Driven this many times and every time nearly ended up in a smash! Great work Coventry.
Poor Jon, getting sent to Coventry 😂
The description of the ring road in the first 23s is pure comedic gold. There's a similar layout of @4:21 in Derby, except the outer two lanes come out of a 270° loop. Come and check it out one day, Jon
I lived all my life in Coventry (passed my test 32 years ago) so well used to it. It works really well. Only been hit twice - Junc 1 Foleshill Rd from behind and side-swiped by a Royal Mail lorry at the entry to J4 London Rd. Both occurred many years ago.
Love that you’ve done Coventry ring road Jon. I think the ghost slip at junction was to do with a scheme which would have seen direct access to roof top car parks from the ring road, how the car park between junction 8 and 9 is although not roof top.
In terms of junction four I believe there was a plan that the ring road would have gone around the other side of Coventry station, which would have kept a smoother curve. This was objected because of noise from wealthier residents who lived in the suburb of Earlsdon.
Also a couple of the junctions have been modified in the last 15 years from the original plan. Still think it’s a really novel road. Keep up the great work.
I love it! Reminds of when I lived in Akron Ohio decades ago and the area around I-76 and Route 8 had exit and entrance ramps that shared the same lanes and many occurred every city block.
auto shenanigans upload right as my dinner is ready 🙏
Now you're giving me flashbacks to when I visited Coventry, and tried to use the ring road to get about on a motorbike with bent handlebars. Not fun. Better once I'd had it fixed, but the road layout was still shit.
Fortunately, traffic was heavy enough for high-speed impacts not to be an issue, and I could manage most of the junctions by filtering straight down the middle until I could figure out which way I needed to go.
I still overshot basically every single exit, but I got there in the end.
Used to be a regular part of my commute - was always amusing to see first-timers looking terrified. On my route the most dangerous part wasn't the ring road at all - it was people coming off at junction 3 and then taking a racing line across 3 lanes of traffic on the roundabout at the end! The ring road itself works a treat though - as others have said, keep right until you need to leave and you're sorted.
There would be a very trivial fix to the weaves at junction 4 in the counter-clockwise direction. Just don't allow vehicles that joined at junction 5 to exit at 4, and don't allow vehicles that joined at 4 to exit at 3. That would mean that you have 3 lanes: one for leaving, one for continuing around and one for joining. With that change it would actually be a pretty decent design for tightly spaced interchanges. The only remaining disadvantage being that the on- and off-ramps are on the "wrong" side of the road.
The latter single-segment trip (4 -> 3) is especially stupid because both junctions only connect to the outside of the ring road. I.e. you'd be coming from the outside and going to the outside if you're joining at 4 and leaving at 3. If you want to make a trip like that, you can just use the roads to the east of the ring road (Gulson Road/ Humber Road/ Allard way); or if you have to go through the city center, use Puma way to join at 5 instead, from where you can lave at 3.
The Coventry Ring Road is a brilliantly designed and thought out part of our wonderful road network.
Argh…. too many memories of that ring road, none of them good. In my worst nightmare I still recall being extra cautious of swapping lanes and circumnavigating Coventry, twice, during rush hour when I missed my exit from the A45 to the A46 and thinking I can go through the city instead. But I did get to see the Jaguar factory and the city cemetery. Thanks John, looking forward to part 2.
OOOH - Can't Wait! Literally I can't wait as I have to leave!
I totally concur with you. I lived in Walsgrave Coventry in the 1970s and used the ring road a lot because there were no other options and it's scary, very scary especially those mergers at the slip roads
Jon, do the Reading IDR (Ring Road) next, its basically the same as this but half unbuilt
Last time, I praised San Antonio, TX for their Texas Flyovers... and I just realized, they have something even more egregious: They have a 3x2 side-by-side junction as well, but the really crazy part is that after the junction, it is a 2x3 split. Meaning, you come from the left and want to go right, you just stay in the utmost left lane and never have to change. You come from the right, you need to switch over 2 lanes. Speed limit there is 60mph (100km/h) and the length? Maybe 70m (not kidding; I looked it up on the satellite pics). It's part of the US-281 / I-10 / US-281 interchange, and if you don't make it, you still can go the right way, but if you are not familiar, you don't know that. And you know, metropolitan drivers are known for their restraint and friendliness - they surely let you cross... right? I mean... right?
I have 'experienced' this ring road on a grand total of one occasion, thankfully as a passenger. I very quickly came to the conclusion that it is one of the few roads I've been on that I do not want to ever have to drive on.
I had cause to visit Coventry in the 90s a couple of times and went around the ring road. I've never forgotten
I learned to drive in an old Sherpa van around the Coventry ring road as a daily occurrence, so never bothered me. I was once told by a friend of the designer that it was built in a way that if we moved to driving on the right the ring road and all its junctions would still work.
How delightful. I must travel up from Dorset to give it a try...
Great fun in the pre speed camera 70s, it certainly sharpened your driving skills! After a showing of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry at the Odeon the punters took to the ring road thinking they were driving Chevvy Impalas, proper foot to the floor action
Driven around this many, many times in a former job. A bit of a ‘mare. I really don’t miss it!!
My partner is from Coventry and we are frequently down there visiting family. It's was a complete nightmare when I first drove it, but I'm used to it now on the stretch I drive on.
I don't think I've found another channel with as many laugh out loud comments, keep up the good work guy's.
I used to call Junction 2 "the helter skelter". I was also told a story once that when the ring road was first constructed, there were heating elements under the road surface on the slip-roads to stop snow settling. Apparently the first time this was put to the test, it caused the bottom layer to melt but the top layer still froze, making the slip-roads far more dangerous than if it was just snow. Despite being installed at great expense, it was apparently only used once and never again due to the chaos it caused.
They did this on the Westway in London as well. Lasted until GLC got their first energy bill and it was never used again! So legend has it .. a London cabbie told me this story, so it must be true 😂
This is perfect timing as I’m visiting Coventry later today 😂
Cracking video, can't wait for part 2. I had the misfortune to have to use the IRR in a wagon when I was working - hated it. Now it's straight down the 444 onto the 46. 😀
In the mid eighties I lived and worked in Coventry and even used the Elephant building on a regular basis.
Back then traffic flowed quite well on the ring road in spite of those short "merge" junctions but in more recent times I have been on the road and it is utter chaos.
Lived near Coventry and always impressed how close the the City Centre the Coventry By-Pass was. Certainly no help in avoiding Coventry traffic.
Just what it was designed for (courtesy of Top Gear Magazine) the ring road is going to be used as a race circuit ............ "the FIA is currently holding negotiations with MotoFest Coventry to make it happen, with the proposed track (pictured) taking drivers right through the heart of Britain’s Motor City. Should the plan materialise and a proposed date in 2025 bear fruit, it would be the first time since 1990 that Britain has hosted a street circuit race"
Coventry ring road would make a great F1 track😊
Motofest happens every year and is a great event.
At the old junction 7 layout they used to have a drifting 'arena'. The sound echoing around under the flyover, especially in the pedestrian underpass, was just awesome.
They've messed J7 up now though.
Oh joy. Coventry ring road. I got diverted and very lost on here earlier this year when the A46 was closed. Sadly my diversion route was also closed due to a police "incident" so ended up having to go back around and towards the arena & M6 to get to the M69...so basically the route of the unfinished motorway.
Born and raised in Coventry, moved to Devon in 2005 so interesting to see the changes. But the ring road is actually easy to use, stay on the inside lane as you go around and only move to the outside when changing lanes. You don't generally go fast and there's more than enough visibility to merge.
As an outsider, it's going to feel with the Swindon magic roundabout... easy for locals, but the one time I strayed on to it one night I shat myself and legged it down the first available junction and went down side streets to pick up the route.
Hello jon, I'm all agog with my senses having been scintillated, i don't know if i can wait a whole week for next week's second scintillating and final episode
Its a gripper to be sure. Excited for the next part. (Nurse! Nurse, the screens!)
What a Horlicks. I think you may be being over-generous to the road designer in saying it was a Friday afternoon job. The evidence suggest the whole thing was a "first job out of road designing college". Now you know why being "sent to Coventry" is such a threat.
2:01 yep done that, it's not far back to the junction you've just passed so turn round & have another go
Used to drive it a lot. The main problems are that it is utterly punishing for the uninitiated and the hesitant. If you're more used to it, decisive in your merges, use the right lanes and know where youre going, it (almost) works well. The real issues come when these two groups of drivers end up sharing the same space.
100% spot on, 100 correct. lane 2. You are like me watching everybody in lane 1 so close to each other, making hard exit and merge to Ring Road lol. 🤦♂.
"...so I would imagine it was a late Friday afternoon job" 😂😂😂
Had to drive from junction 1 to 6 on the weekend which is exceptionally rare for me having not lived in Coventry for 20 years and even when I did, I mostly used the western half. My wife got a bit annoyed by the fact I used the right lane to allow cars to merge onto the ring road and she couldn't understand why I did it.
You are in the 5% of the good drivers. Excellent. well done. Tell her we have the "R" signs there, plus the gantry sign say "All ring road traffic keep in lane 2" Be in lane 2 avoid RTC, the RTC I watched are all in lane 1.
Your vibe is awesome.
You absolute tease making this a 2 parter.
I like the bit onthe slipway opposite the fire station where they replaced the double amber flashing light, (to beware of fire engines), with a green traffic light invighting you to smash into anyone who has right of way on the traffic island.. welcome to Coventry !