Traffic at the Swindon Magic Roundabout for 56 minutes [video]

Little flashing orange/yellow lights that give other road users a hint of what the driver intends.

If the light closest to you on the car you're looking at is on, they're probably going to cross your path, and with roundabouts, you ALWAYS give way to the right.

Each one of those junctions is a mandatory "Give Way" so it's pretty easy so just scan right and if there's nothing there, proceed.

The first time I drove a magic roundabout (in the 90s) I was a fairly new driver, not in my own city, in a pretty busy part of the day.

Not overthinking it helped. Treat each mini roundabout like a new junction; watch for the road positioning, 'head on a swivel' for the usual last second lane changes from unprepared drivers.

You're right in what you say about British drivers being mostly prepared to give way to a mistake. People generally don't want to foul up their day by having an RTA. There are hotheads though, and bullies. Being prepared to let these idiots do their thing without antagonising them is essential to incident free motoring.

I'm from York, in the north of England. It's a tourist city where people get lost and confused easily. Just letting them merge and figure it out is better for your stress level than leaning on the horn and barging through the gap they're trying to get into, plus it helps traffic stay moving. That one idiot who can't read signs and the paint on the road will hold up a whole junction if someone doesn't let them in, so just do it for everyone.

When I travel south it's observable how the attitudes change. More expectation that a gap will be filled quickly, rather than hesitantly, more use of the horn, more amber gambling.

It dawned on me a long time ago that at a junction, it helps the whole traffic system flow if each driver on the main road let one driver join in front of them.