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DRIVEN ROUND THE BEND
We live by the UK’s WORST roundabout – speeding drivers cause petrifying crashes… it’s hell on earth
RESIDENTS who live next to the UK's worst roundabout have described it as "hell on earth" where speeding drivers cause petrifying crashes.
The "crazy" Army and Navy junction in Chelmsford, Essex, is a five-arm roundabout, which until 2019 had a 40-year-old tidal flyover.
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The roundabout was used by around 70,000 vehicles a day and 72 buses an hour prior to the pandemic and has a reputation among locals as being busy.
The junction is already over capacity during the morning and evening peak times and as a result it suffers from severe congestion.
Named after a music venue that used to be nearby, drivers also struggle to navigate the many exits and entrances, particularly when approaching from Chelmer Road.
Essex County Council have even proposed a hamburger roundabout - one with a road through the centre of it - and have asked the Department for Transport for funding of £67 million.
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Now residents have detailed what it's like to live right next to the notorious roundabout.
Darren Sainsbury, 39, who has lived in his property for three years, told the Sun: "I've experienced people having crashes there.
"That's generally because I don't think people know how to use the roundabout. Every time you use it people are in different lanes."
The father-of-three continued: "There's been two particularly bad crashes in the last three years. One of them was during the evening when a car clipped loads of parked vehicles.
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"Another one was about two months ago when a Tesla went up over another car and landed on the barrier."
Ryan Chomiak, 44, has lived next to the roundabout for 14 years after moving from London where he used to work.
The married father-of-one said: "You can see the state of the road railings where people have smashed into them here and there.
"There's been instances where someone has spun out and nearly come onto our front drive. The main thing is the speed of it.
"It's 40mph here and then some. People will go above that revving their cars and racing up and down here.
"It's the speed of people coming off and on - that's why you get crashes. I would like to see it slower.
"I've had a collision because it's just so hard to get out because it's so fast. You have to get off the drive so quickly you end up going into someone else."
Leanne Phillipou, 43, described the roundabout as "hell on earth" and said she won't let her 18-year-old daughter learn to drive in the area.
She said: "It's crazy living next to this roundabout as you can imagine. You just feel like you're being watched constantly every time you leave the house.
"It's not my favourite. It's just hectic all the time. I've only been here for a year and half but getting your car on the drive is like hell on earth.
"I've got an 18-year-old. She's learning to drive. My parents live in Ongar and I'm getting her to do her driving lessons there because I don't want this to be her first experience of driving.
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"I think it's quite petrifying here, even for a driver as long as I have been."
In 2019, filmed 82 people using the wrong lane at the Army and Navy roundabout over just a couple of hours.
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