Americans need SCHOOLED by the Europeans on roundabouts

[recDNA]

It is in Massachusetts! We get a lot of tourists who have no idea how to maneuver a rotary, who has the right of way, nor even the road signs warning of an impending rotary because they think "rotary" is a club for republicans!

 

[markr6]

First lesson is it is called a rotary!

LOL rotary!! I think I've heard that before, but not around here with us good ol redneck folk in Indiana

 

[recDNA]

My sister lived in Indiana and brought up her kids there. They both attended college there but now have returned to civilization! LOL J/K

The sky turning green sometimes freaked her out...and the communities had rules about what color your fence could be and how big your pool could be and what color grass you had to have and so forth.

I didn't know you had rotaries there. All she spoke of was flat land as far as you could see. We're not used to flat in MA. All hills.

Anyway it actually sounded beautiful and she found people much friendlier than in MA. Of course she didn't tell them that she is a Democrat!

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

My sister lived in Indiana and brought up her kids there. They both attended college there but now have returned to civilization! LOL J/K

The sky turning green sometimes freaked her out...and the communities had rules about what color your fence could be and how big your pool could be and what color grass you had to have and so forth.

I didn't know you had rotaries there. All she spoke of was flat land as far as you could see. We're not used to flat in MA. All hills.

Anyway it actually sounded beautiful and she found people much friendlier than in MA. Of course she didn't tell them that she is a Democrat!

They knew.

~ Chance

 

[LGT]

she found people much friendlier than in MA.

In my travels, I find very few states where there are generally people less friendly then Massachusetts.
There's a reason why the term "Masshole" was recently added to the Oxford dictionary.

 

[recDNA]

Ever been to NYC or Paris?

 

[nbp]

Going through roundabouts daily, I have figured out why some folks have a problem and still crash into things in them, when this is completely avoidable.

There are two kinds of people: the person that assumes they will have to stop at the yield sign and wait for someone already in the circle, and therefore approaches at an appropriate speed and can easily stop if needed or can continue on if the circle is empty upon arrival. This is the way it SHOULD be done, and it eradicates nearly all incidents. The second kind of person assumes long before getting to the roundabout that it will likely be empty and so they continue toward it at a high speed and without looking to see who is already in the circle. They generally don't see the person coming around until they are mere feet from the yield sign and must either lock up the brakes or accelerate even more to try to rip through the circle before the other person gets to them. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't. These people are idiots.

Moral of the story: ASSUME that there will be be people in the roundabout when you get there and you will have to stop. Prepare accordingly. If you don't have to stop, hurrah, count your good fortunes and carry on. Don't assume it will be empty and speed toward it oblivious to the world around you and then have to do something stupid at the last moment. :shake:

 

[markr6]

Going through roundabouts daily, I have figured out why some folks have a problem and still crash into things in them, when this is completely avoidable.

There are two kinds of people: the person that assumes they will have to stop at the yield sign and wait for someone already in the circle, and therefore approaches at an appropriate speed and can easily stop if needed or can continue on if the circle is empty upon arrival. This is the way it SHOULD be done, and it eradicates nearly all incidents. The second kind of person assumes long before getting to the roundabout that it will likely be empty and so they continue toward it at a high speed and without looking to see who is already in the circle. They generally don't see the person coming around until they are mere feet from the yield sign and must either lock up the brakes or accelerate even more to try to rip through the circle before the other person gets to them. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't. These people are idiots.

Moral of the story: ASSUME that there will be be people in the roundabout when you get there and you will have to stop. Prepare accordingly. If you don't have to stop, hurrah, count your good fortunes and carry on. Don't assume it will be empty and speed toward it oblivious to the world around you and then have to do something stupid at the last moment. :shake:

Thank you! That's exactly it. I almost want to stand out there with a sign explaining this to people!! I always say to almost treat it like a stop sign...a rolling stop...so there's no slamming on the brakes.

BTW, I got my Jeep back from the body shop and it looks great especially on a 10 year old vehicle. Now to get my deductible back...

 

[MODDAN]

As a European myself (well, Scandinavian to be precise) I really like roundabouts and how they ease the flow of traffic if they are implemented where needed with planning and reason. They can however be implemented in the wrong place with the wrong logic, like in my hometown where a two-land roundabout exited into a one-lane road (one lane in each direction, that is). Guess how clogged-up that thing got during rush hour?

By contrast, here's a stupid one (there's another one near the other end) grafted onto what was once a stop for the east-west road butting into the through road (it's how every other road butting into that north-south road works).

Just throwing a roundabout into a junction or placing a makeshift one where it has no logical use or planning is bound to cause disasters. Your examples shows this well.

The noramlly, vehicles entering into the roundabout have to yield, not in Colomiers France. There vehicles in the roundabout have to yield to vehicles entering. The same thing applies to granting right aways to vehicles on the right.

In all honesty: That's France for ya.

Also, nbp; couldn't have said it better myself. There need to be more competent people on the roads.

 

[PartyPete]

It is in Massachusetts! We get a lot of tourists who have no idea how to maneuver a rotary, who has the right of way, nor even the road signs warning of an impending rotary because they think "rotary" is a club for republicans!

Rotary might be a New England thing, but roundabout, traffic circle....same thing.

There are actually quite a few in that area, so growing up I learned to maneuver them early on.

Same with parallel parking. Learned early, practiced a lot...came in handy living in the city. I could do it juggling a cup of coffee in my hand, even in a stick shift, it just becomes second nature after practice.

With that said, now living in the rural south folks are confused by such driving situations. Theres virtually no need to parallel park and roundabouts are virtually unheard of here.

 

[NoNotAgain]

Rotary might be a New England thing, but roundabout, traffic circle....same thing.

With that said, now living in the rural south folks are confused by such driving situations. Theres virtually no need to parallel park and roundabouts are virtually unheard of here.

Everything takes longer in the south. Atlanta has quite a few roundabouts. The traffic engineers get with the road construction companies and then figure out where they can disrupt traffic the most for the longest amount of time at the highest cost.

Rural areas are perfect for roundabouts provided they calculate the size for tractor trailer trucks, unlike some of the ones implemented on the east coast in suburban areas. When I can't take an exit from a roundabout while towing a 22' utility trailer, the designer didn't do something right.