‘Expect the sudden’ on Britain’s most-hated roundabout, driving teacher warns: ‘Birthday cake’ junction with 36 units of site visitors lights is sparking site visitors jams and driver fury

A controversial roundabout equipped with 36 sets of traffic lights to supposedly increase safety has instead left road users having to ‘expect the unexpected’, an experienced driving instructor has warned.

The junction in Cambridge has been dubbed ‘the birthday cake roundabout’ because of the dizzying array of traffic controlling measures around it.

Furious locals say traffic used to flow through the spot but it has been blighted by tailbacks as drivers halt at red lights since they were switched on earlier this month.

Now local driving instructor Sue Papworth has joined the chorus of complaints about the ‘complicated’ new layout, warning it was causing a ‘lot of anger’. 

The birthday cake roundabout, in Cambridge, has left road users having to ‘expect the unexpected’, an experienced driving instructor has warned

The changes have sparked anger from locals who say it is now causing more traffic jams than it solves. Pictured: The pedestrian light on red warning people on foot not to cross the road

The roundabout is equipped with 36 sets of traffic lights to supposedly increase safety – but locals are furious. Local driving instructor Sue Papworth has joined the chorus of complaints about the ‘complicated’ new layout

She said: ‘There are too many distractions by way of traffic lights.

‘We’ve now got cycle lanes that are going both ways round the roundabout [and] because of the confusion you’ve really got to expect the unexpected.

‘We’ve got a signalised parallel crossing that allows people to walk and cycle across the road separately, special paved and coloured surfaces that separate the crossings and it’s just too distracting. There’s too much to look at.’ Ms Papworth, who runs Toad’s School of Driving, also told the BBC queues were now common at the roundabout.

Other road users complained using the junction today/yesterday(THUR) branded it ‘a joke’ and ‘plain dangerous’.

One woman in her 30s, who regularly drives into the city from a nearby village to visit the shops, told the Mail: ‘I’ve driven through here more times than I can remember and it’s never been as bad as this.

The reworked junction on Milton Road and Elizabeth Way now has pelican crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. Pictured: A cyclist uses the newly installed pedestrian crossings

One woman in her 30s, who regularly drives into the city from a nearby village to visit the shops, told the Mail: ‘I’ve driven through here more times than I can remember and it’s never been as bad as this

Locals have fumed that the traffic lights are leading to more queues than before as they remain red even if there are no vehicles on the roundabout. Pictured: A set of traffic lights on red at the roundabout

‘There were queues there at rush hour before but now you get them at all times of day – and it is plain dangerous. There are too many lights and crossings.’ 

There are four sets of pedestrian crossings, as well as dedicated cycle lanes, although some cyclists go against the flow of traffic on them or use the road anyway.

Local businesses have also complained about the impact on trade. A nearby carpet fitting firm has complained the council is ‘trying to push out cars… unfortunately my fitters cannot fit carpets on the back of a bike’.

The roundabout is among an array of what critics claim are ‘anti-car’ that have been introduced in Cambridge – the UK’s cycling capital – by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), a group of local authorities including the county council, plus Cambridge University.

They include another junction with four zebra crossings, four pedestrian islands and eight sets of traffic lights for cyclists and pedestrians that is so complicated a video tutorial has been posted online by council officials.

There are also ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes that residents say cause traffic jams and delay emergency vehicles and floating bus stops that leave waiting passengers inches away from busy cycle lanes installed on pavements.

A widely condemned plan for a congestion charge was kicked into touch last year amid concerns about its impact during the cost-of-living crisis.

Horrified visitors have threatened to boycott the city, with one commenting online: ‘They make travellers feel so unwelcome. I am certainly able to take the hint.’ The GCP said the birthday cake roundabout was part of a £31.9 million scheme in the area that would improve safety, following 90 accidents involving between March 2013 and April 2018.

It added: ‘Our challenge has been to develop a scheme so parents, children and commuters can have the confidence to walk and cycle along Milton Road… as well as to manage traffic flow along the road.

‘There will be a period of on-site monitoring in order to make adjustments to ensure both the traffic flows smoothly and the new pedestrian and cycle crossing points have adequate time to accommodate the many movements made at certain times of the day.’