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.
@@MatttH95 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.
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 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.
It may work, but it requires all road users to understand. One inexperienced driver can mess it up for everyone. Any congestion can create significant issues as well. Road signs are a mess as well, too much information with very little time to read and react. I don't think there is a better way to do it with the infrastructure in place, but it must be terrifying for drivers when they first stumble onto it.
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
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.
It was built by a small local construction company. It took 8 years because the materials to build it were in short supply because of the M6, M1, M45 and M69 being built. Thanks to the Germans remodelling my city (while sadly killing my Great-Grand-Parents, several uncles and aunts), it gave the city planners the opportunity to plan and build a city-wde road system. As a Coventrian, I love the Ring Road, never get a traffic jam on it and you can navigate through the city on one of the spoke roads.
I live in Coventry and have driven all over the country. The ring road is absolutely brilliant and works fantastically well. The unwritten rule at the slip roads is that whichever car is in front, goes first. I can literally get anywhere in Coventry within 15 mins (except at major rush hour times). The worst part of the ring road is the Foleshill Road roundabout bit, as it aways backs up there. The council are doing their best to ruin things though. They have f**ked up the bit around the railway station (they removed the upper roundabout) and they have also made a hash around the Allesley Old Road junction, removing the roundabout and adding a really bad traffic light system.
Totally agree with you, I live in Cov too. As long as you remember to ‘ merge in turn’ when entering or exiting and stay in the right hand lane until you’ve passed the junction before the one you want to exit at - you’ll be fine. Unfortunately so many drivers don’t get it .. hence.. sudden braking, horns blaring, rude hand gestures etc , etc. Don’t panic!
Certainly agree about the station junction; it is terrible both for traffic flow and simple safety. Priorities aren't clear and you either get stalled as drivers try to figure out who goes first or the more oblivious just cruise through regardless. What was wrong with the roundabout? It's not like it even makes pedestrian access to the station any easier.
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.
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!
Also Coventry people are generally quite nice. There's a number of roads where the lanes suddenly change (or have cars parked in lane 1) and I've only ever had drivers waiting for traffic to move in front of them. The other day I was in a chip shop in Canley and was struggling to get coins out of my pocket and another customer immediately offered to give me money to pay. Obviously not everyone is like this, but enough are to make a difference
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!
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! 😀
Hopefully it's no longer the case, but it used to be none of the test routes out of Bayton road went on the ring road. As a result, a lot of instructors didn't see the need to take their students near it.
@fubarmalarky3061 it is not on any test route in Coventry because it is too far from the test centre in Bayton Road, however I believe that any new driver I teach who lives in or around Coventry should know how to use it. I also take my learners on motorways at the earliest possible time and do a full lesson A46, M40, M42 and M6. FYI. Since 2018 learner drivers are allowed on motorways with a qualified driving instructor (ADI) in a vehicle fitted with dual controls.
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
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!
I worked on the Coventry ring road as an apprentice electrician. All of the elevated sections (60% of the ring road) were heated by electric heating mats as was every pedestrian subway ramp. This was to stop the use of salt on the roadway due to the steel box construction of the support girders. The ring road was a great success and won many awards for its high level lighting and the low level barrier lighting. Before the ring road it could take 30 minutes to cross the City Centre due to the many converging roads and this was cut to a few minutes after it opened. A great project to work on especially the wonderful summer of 1973 but a brutal place to be in the winter, especially as there was no protective clothing issued such as boots, gloves, overalls or jackets.
Thank you, fascinating. Do you know if the heating still works? I heard the issues with the Hammersmith Flyover in London were caused by salting the road because the heat mats didn't work/weren't maintained/gritter lorry drivers were too thick to stop salting over bridges/it was too expensive to run.
@@AllenTaylor-lu9buwow, you'd think they'd work out the cost in advance before spending a fortune installing it 😮 "how much electricity will these 2kW heaters use"...
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 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.
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
Correct, I drive from Wales to Coventry several times a month. The traffic on the A46 north from the M40 junction is far scarier than on the ring road in my experience.
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.
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!
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I would actually put it as one of the best ring roads in the country, so many of them are ridiculously slow to get around but in my 2 years of delivering around Cov in a truck, never came to a standstill once!
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 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 don't understand why people find it crazy, it's so easy to drive around the ring road, to enter or exit the ring road the rule of thumb is if there is a car wanting to exit from the ring road and another wanting to join the ring road whoever is ahead of the other makes the move first, normally the person exiting the ring road is going slighter faster, so turns off the junction and merges left ahead of you, as you merge right behind them onto the ring road, if you are at the same speed whoever is behind, (as not level with the other car) then you just ease off slightly to let them exit left ahead of you and you then merge right and just join, it's dead easy, i don't know why this guy is dramatising the whole thing, it's easy to fly around, I've lived in Coventry 50 years and can't remember seeing an accident on the cross over parts, only ever seen rear enders when people have left the ring road and drove down normal slip road like any other roads to traffic lights and bump, but only seen a couple of them, so the ring road is really safe and quick to drive around, any incompetent drivers should not be driving and post there licence back to dvla Swansea 😂
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 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.🤔😐
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.
I lived in Coventry for 10 years. One evening we, the people, took back the Ring Road. It was after the FA Cup final that Coventry won. We walked up onto the Ring Road and walked along it. A very special evening probably never to be repeated.
side quest on the sport centre. it had one of the very few 10m diving platforms in the country but this was opened and then promptly closed from ANY use. Pool depth must be minimum 5m for a 10m board. As the diving pool was a side pool added to the main 2m deep swimming pool the designer just sloped the shallower 2m depth down to the 5m diving pool. unfortunately and unbelievably half of the 10m diving platform was directly over the slope so you could theoretically dive from 10m into little more than 2m of water at the far right of the board. certain death for all patrons. this pool got closed and diving lessons moved to Sandwell for the Birmingham Commonwealth games
Also: "We've built a brand new swimming pool, why not bring your races here, international swimming organisations?" "How long is the pool?" (Proudly) "50 yards." "The Olympic standard is 50 metres." (Coventry baths closes for a year to be lengthened a *very* expensive 14' 1/2")
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 met drivers , living in Coventry which avoid it. they are scare of it. personally, I love it. it is so smooth. I think, sadly, a lot instructors, driving school did not teach in Coventry how to drive in the ring road. For me is very weird see a driving school on it with a student. I teach to drive on it.
I love the way they've alerted drivers of the approaching junction 1 (the only roundabout) by scattering tail light glass and the odd bumper on the carriageway.
Many years ago I was training for a Lands end to John O'Groats bike ride. To spice things up I decided to ride from Nuneaton to Cov and back. In a moment of sheer lunacy when I got to Cov, I got on to the ring road at jct 1. I had been round it before in a car, but it hadn't prepared me for the white knuckle ride I was about to endure. Much scarier than anything they've got at Alton towers.
I live in Coventry and have to drive on the ring road every day. I love it. I find it oddly satisfying when I exit behind one car and infront of another car entering. Extremely dangerous but really fun
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.
your Brit geography show is the best Brit geography show ive seen in years, who would have thought Coventry was interesting, but at least we now know why they send people there, to suffer the roads
Coventry is incredibly interesting. It's just not pretty. It's like a multi-century long architectural/urban planning experiment that went a bit sideways.
You're right. I moved back to Warwickshire 5 years ago and recently had to grapple with the Ring Road on a dark raining evening. On exitting, I mounted a new kerbed cycle lane that restricted the (tight enough) vehicle lanes. And people go at furious speeds - perhaps to play musical cars in the traffic melee. Our local residential road is now 20mph and the Ring Road should be no more than 30: you'd still get right round in just 5 minutes.
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.
The first minutes of me ever driving a car in England after having moved here, was on the Cov ring road (lived near Jnct 6). Did the whole loop. My local friend with me in the car said that if I can survive the Ring Road, I can drive anywhere in the country. 25+ years later, he was right. Even navigating the Swindon magic roundabout was a simple after the Cov ring road baptism. 😄
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!
Being a local driver in Coventry one occasionally sees some incidents along this ring road. Merging on and off J2 is sometimes tricky when encountering other traffic due to the short distances and sharp bending inclines. Just the other day I saw someone reversing down that sharp bending incline at J2! Absolutely Bonkers!!! I have rarely had to do a ‘go around’ after failing to merge at a junction due to other traffic
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.
I don't think I've ever seen a video about coventry that I loved. Your discripton was brilliant. I'm also glad I haven't been there in some time as a driver. Was that your own drone work too? Looked awesome.
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 live about 10 miles away from here and it's honestly like taking your life in your own hands once you join this ringroad! First time I drove to the Skydome, I was petrified 😂
I started travelling on the early ring road in the 1960s - by bike!! it was the quickest way to get to school from the other side of town. I remember having a look round its construction and remarked to the engineer that the intersection distances were pretty short and noticed on one flyover that it 'bounced' up and down when a little dumper truck rumbled through (I guess it was incomplete). The only hairy time was being sent home early because of thick fog and I declined going over the longest flyover and went round the island underneath. Remember dicing it with Saracen troop carriers and other Alvis fighting vehicles with their huge tyres .... and lived to tell the tale!!
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.
This is the best road ever, there's plenty of time to merge or come off/ join, I don't know what the problem is? Ask anyone from Cov and they'll tell you it's great as I can get to the other side of town in 15 mins. Anyone struggling needs to retake their test or just plainly read the signs.
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.
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.
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 😂
My first experience of the Coventry ring road left me shouting a few f words! I’ve always been amazed that there are not more accidents. Newcastle’s central motorway system also has some similar design features but not as many!
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 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
@@MatttH95
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?
Basically:
1. Aim for the gaps.
2. Don't stop.
Good, keep in lane 2. 👍
Laconic, Approved.
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 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 😅😅😅😅😅
It may work, but it requires all road users to understand. One inexperienced driver can mess it up for everyone. Any congestion can create significant issues as well.
Road signs are a mess as well, too much information with very little time to read and react. I don't think there is a better way to do it with the infrastructure in place, but it must be terrifying for drivers when they first stumble onto it.
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
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.
It was built by a small local construction company. It took 8 years because the materials to build it were in short supply because of the M6, M1, M45 and M69 being built. Thanks to the Germans remodelling my city (while sadly killing my Great-Grand-Parents, several uncles and aunts), it gave the city planners the opportunity to plan and build a city-wde road system. As a Coventrian, I love the Ring Road, never get a traffic jam on it and you can navigate through the city on one of the spoke roads.
@@leecooper8589 Well the ring-road is a replacement for the old city wall. It keeps us safe from outside invaders!
I live in Coventry and have driven all over the country. The ring road is absolutely brilliant and works fantastically well. The unwritten rule at the slip roads is that whichever car is in front, goes first. I can literally get anywhere in Coventry within 15 mins (except at major rush hour times). The worst part of the ring road is the Foleshill Road roundabout bit, as it aways backs up there. The council are doing their best to ruin things though. They have f**ked up the bit around the railway station (they removed the upper roundabout) and they have also made a hash around the Allesley Old Road junction, removing the roundabout and adding a really bad traffic light system.
British councils eh, a modern marvel
Totally agree with you, I live in Cov too. As long as you remember to ‘ merge in turn’ when entering or exiting and stay in the right hand lane until you’ve passed the junction before the one you want to exit at - you’ll be fine. Unfortunately so many drivers don’t get it .. hence.. sudden braking, horns blaring, rude hand gestures etc , etc. Don’t panic!
Certainly agree about the station junction; it is terrible both for traffic flow and simple safety. Priorities aren't clear and you either get stalled as drivers try to figure out who goes first or the more oblivious just cruise through regardless. What was wrong with the roundabout? It's not like it even makes pedestrian access to the station any easier.
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.
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!
Also Coventry people are generally quite nice. There's a number of roads where the lanes suddenly change (or have cars parked in lane 1) and I've only ever had drivers waiting for traffic to move in front of them. The other day I was in a chip shop in Canley and was struggling to get coins out of my pocket and another customer immediately offered to give me money to pay. Obviously not everyone is like this, but enough are to make a difference
Oh, thank Heavens! Jon's finally been sent to Coventry!
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!
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! 😀
Hopefully it's no longer the case, but it used to be none of the test routes out of Bayton road went on the ring road. As a result, a lot of instructors didn't see the need to take their students near it.
@fubarmalarky3061 it is not on any test route in Coventry because it is too far from the test centre in Bayton Road, however I believe that any new driver I teach who lives in or around Coventry should know how to use it. I also take my learners on motorways at the earliest possible time and do a full lesson A46, M40, M42 and M6.
FYI. Since 2018 learner drivers are allowed on motorways with a qualified driving instructor (ADI) in a vehicle fitted with dual controls.
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.
I was in J 5 38
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
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.
I worked on the Coventry ring road as an apprentice electrician. All of the elevated sections (60% of the ring road) were heated by electric heating mats as was every pedestrian subway ramp. This was to stop the use of salt on the roadway due to the steel box construction of the support girders. The ring road was a great success and won many awards for its high level lighting and the low level barrier lighting. Before the ring road it could take 30 minutes to cross the City Centre due to the many converging roads and this was cut to a few minutes after it opened. A great project to work on especially the wonderful summer of 1973 but a brutal place to be in the winter, especially as there was no protective clothing issued such as boots, gloves, overalls or jackets.
Thank you, fascinating. Do you know if the heating still works? I heard the issues with the Hammersmith Flyover in London were caused by salting the road because the heat mats didn't work/weren't maintained/gritter lorry drivers were too thick to stop salting over bridges/it was too expensive to run.
@chriswaites1222 it doesn't work. I've worked on the ring road in the last 10 years. It was too expressive to run and maintain
@@chriswaites1222 I believe they only used it for 1 winter season due to the cost!!
@@AllenTaylor-lu9buwow, you'd think they'd work out the cost in advance before spending a fortune installing it 😮 "how much electricity will these 2kW heaters use"...
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 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
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.
Brilliant. I live in Coventry. Love the ring road and everything Jon says about it.
Never has the Coventry ring road been so enthralling that I'm buzzing for part 2 next week! Merry Christmas 🎉
This is the best video I've _ever_ seen about anything
the pause before the word "delightful" - genius comic timing!😆
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.
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
Correct, I drive from Wales to Coventry several times a month. The traffic on the A46 north from the M40 junction is far scarier than on the ring road in my experience.
In a world of bad news, a little ray of my sunshine.
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.
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.
I worked in cov for years. The ring road is amazing. It really helps to get round the city once you have learned it.
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.
You're joking about the spanners and racing?
@@SleepExports nope.
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.
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! 😂
Lol some of these comments are perfect 👌😂
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.
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.
Lol pretty accurate 🤣
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.
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!!!
Brilliant, funny video and spot on with the details. As a Coventrian I just take it for granted but it is definitely reminiscent of Wacky Races
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.
Easily one of the best designed ring roads in the entire country. Never any congestion unless there is lane closures. Always just works. 10/10
Cov's ring road is the best road in the city. It's so simple. I have never understood why people have a problem with it.
I would actually put it as one of the best ring roads in the country, so many of them are ridiculously slow to get around but in my 2 years of delivering around Cov in a truck, never came to a standstill once!
Keep to the right unless you're pulling off, cheers!
2:01 yep done that, it's not far back to the junction you've just passed so turn round & have another go
Your vibe is awesome.
I’m from Coventry and both love and hate the ring road but glad to see it on this channel can’t wait for part 2
auto shenanigans upload right as my dinner is ready 🙏
Thanks
Nice one, thanks a lot mate
Elephant's trunk? Yes, I think the planners must have been 😝
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 😂
This is a top top top piece of investigative journalism - great content
Love to the family
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 don't understand why people find it crazy, it's so easy to drive around the ring road, to enter or exit the ring road the rule of thumb is if there is a car wanting to exit from the ring road and another wanting to join the ring road whoever is ahead of the other makes the move first, normally the person exiting the ring road is going slighter faster, so turns off the junction and merges left ahead of you, as you merge right behind them onto the ring road, if you are at the same speed whoever is behind, (as not level with the other car) then you just ease off slightly to let them exit left ahead of you and you then merge right and just join, it's dead easy, i don't know why this guy is dramatising the whole thing, it's easy to fly around, I've lived in Coventry 50 years and can't remember seeing an accident on the cross over parts, only ever seen rear enders when people have left the ring road and drove down normal slip road like any other roads to traffic lights and bump, but only seen a couple of them, so the ring road is really safe and quick to drive around, any incompetent drivers should not be driving and post there licence back to dvla Swansea 😂
I always 'got' the Coventry ring road, which is more than I can say about parts of the Derby ring road. That's a real mystery.
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?
deeply grateful for this addition in the series. my partner lives in coventry so i had to quickly learn the nuances and intricacies of the ring road 😂
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!
Technically only half of 1 spare 😂
@@SteveG-k8qRounding up 😂😂
@@user-fq8tt2tm6q lol I see what you did there 😏 🤣
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.🤔😐
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.
I lived in Coventry for 10 years. One evening we, the people, took back the Ring Road. It was after the FA Cup final that Coventry won. We walked up onto the Ring Road and walked along it. A very special evening probably never to be repeated.
side quest on the sport centre. it had one of the very few 10m diving platforms in the country but this was opened and then promptly closed from ANY use. Pool depth must be minimum 5m for a 10m board. As the diving pool was a side pool added to the main 2m deep swimming pool the designer just sloped the shallower 2m depth down to the 5m diving pool. unfortunately and unbelievably half of the 10m diving platform was directly over the slope so you could theoretically dive from 10m into little more than 2m of water at the far right of the board. certain death for all patrons. this pool got closed and diving lessons moved to Sandwell for the Birmingham Commonwealth games
Also:
"We've built a brand new swimming pool, why not bring your races here, international swimming organisations?"
"How long is the pool?"
(Proudly) "50 yards."
"The Olympic standard is 50 metres."
(Coventry baths closes for a year to be lengthened a *very* expensive 14' 1/2")
Thanks, Jon, for another fantastic video!
You absolute tease making this a 2 parter.
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.
As someone who used to work in Coventry, this road gave me PTSD.
I met drivers , living in Coventry which avoid it. they are scare of it. personally, I love it. it is so smooth. I think, sadly, a lot instructors, driving school did not teach in Coventry how to drive in the ring road. For me is very weird see a driving school on it with a student. I teach to drive on it.
I love the way they've alerted drivers of the approaching junction 1 (the only roundabout) by scattering tail light glass and the odd bumper on the carriageway.
Many years ago I was training for a Lands end to John O'Groats bike ride. To spice things up I decided to ride from Nuneaton to Cov and back. In a moment of sheer lunacy when I got to Cov, I got on to the ring road at jct 1. I had been round it before in a car, but it hadn't prepared me for the white knuckle ride I was about to endure. Much scarier than anything they've got at Alton towers.
I live in Coventry and have to drive on the ring road every day. I love it. I find it oddly satisfying when I exit behind one car and infront of another car entering. Extremely dangerous but really fun
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.
Wonderful Jon, can't wait to visit Coventry to drive this. Or maybe not...
your Brit geography show is the best Brit geography show ive seen in years, who would have thought Coventry was interesting, but at least we now know why they send people there, to suffer the roads
Coventry is incredibly interesting. It's just not pretty. It's like a multi-century long architectural/urban planning experiment that went a bit sideways.
You're right. I moved back to Warwickshire 5 years ago and recently had to grapple with the Ring Road on a dark raining evening. On exitting, I mounted a new kerbed cycle lane that restricted the (tight enough) vehicle lanes. And people go at furious speeds - perhaps to play musical cars in the traffic melee. Our local residential road is now 20mph and the Ring Road should be no more than 30: you'd still get right round in just 5 minutes.
I liked this button so I pressed the video specifically for that 🥴👉🏻
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.
lovely video 😍 watched it with my partner, we both love your videos 🙏 keep up the good work 🎉
The first minutes of me ever driving a car in England after having moved here, was on the Cov ring road (lived near Jnct 6). Did the whole loop. My local friend with me in the car said that if I can survive the Ring Road, I can drive anywhere in the country. 25+ years later, he was right. Even navigating the Swindon magic roundabout was a simple after the Cov ring road baptism. 😄
Love the Cov ring road!
Love these videos - clever guy, extremely well put together content!
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!
Being a local driver in Coventry one occasionally sees some incidents along this ring road. Merging on and off J2 is sometimes tricky when encountering other traffic due to the short distances and sharp bending inclines. Just the other day I saw someone reversing down that sharp bending incline at J2! Absolutely Bonkers!!! I have rarely had to do a ‘go around’ after failing to merge at a junction due to other traffic
I did some of my driving lessons on this road, now that was an experience.
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.
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.
I don't think I've ever seen a video about coventry that I loved.
Your discripton was brilliant.
I'm also glad I haven't been there in some time as a driver.
Was that your own drone work too? Looked awesome.
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 live about 10 miles away from here and it's honestly like taking your life in your own hands once you join this ringroad!
First time I drove to the Skydome, I was petrified 😂
'ordinarily, we wouldn't give a toss'
Nice turn of phrase. Succinct and hard hitting.
I started travelling on the early ring road in the 1960s - by bike!! it was the quickest way to get to school from the other side of town. I remember having a look round its construction and remarked to the engineer that the intersection distances were pretty short and noticed on one flyover that it 'bounced' up and down when a little dumper truck rumbled through (I guess it was incomplete). The only hairy time was being sent home early because of thick fog and I declined going over the longest flyover and went round the island underneath. Remember dicing it with Saracen troop carriers and other Alvis fighting vehicles with their huge tyres .... and lived to tell the tale!!
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.
I have always enjoyed your content glad you finally did a video on the road that rings around my town
This is the best road ever, there's plenty of time to merge or come off/ join, I don't know what the problem is? Ask anyone from Cov and they'll tell you it's great as I can get to the other side of town in 15 mins. Anyone struggling needs to retake their test or just plainly read the signs.
My first experience of this marvel was 80 miles into a 100 mile trip on a bicycle on a Saturday afternoon. Next level scary, bordering on traumatic!
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.
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.
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 😂
Thank you for explaining where there is duch a motorway like a dual carriageway through the middle of Coventry.
OOOH - Can't Wait! Literally I can't wait as I have to leave!
My first experience of the Coventry ring road left me shouting a few f words! I’ve always been amazed that there are not more accidents. Newcastle’s central motorway system also has some similar design features but not as many!
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.