Americans need SCHOOLED by the Europeans on roundabouts

[idleprocess]

I don't have any complaints about them when they're well implemented. They're troublesome when they're grafted onto an existing intersection that had just enough room for a conventional 4-way stop or signal; coincident with this is usually an intersection where it's vanishingly rare to see more than 30 cars an hour. Otherwise they seem generally OK for medium-flow intersections.

 

[markr6]

Recently we also got the state's first "diverging diamond". I saw the diagram near the construction site and thought "god save us!" But it actually works out well since every intersection is protected with a light. Keeps things moving fairly well. It's actually on the next road south of the roundabout where I got hit. They had to put these in due to a large influx in traffic over the past few years. The 4-way stop was overwhelmed and a light would have been too messy having 3 in a row so close together.

$1300 to repair, so not as bad as I thought. I'm just going thru my agent for the repair, then getting my deductible reimbursed when/if they find the other person at fault. We'll see if they jack up my premiums.

 

[RBR]

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[Chicken Drumstick]

Bet you guys would have fun here:

 

[WarRaven]

Bet you guys would have fun here:

A river runs under it?
That is neat.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Yep. And note, it's 6 round abouts, not 1.

 

[RBR]

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[Kman314]

Kentucky actually distinguishes between traffic circles and roundabouts. In KY, a traffic circle has unimpeded flow of traffic, i.e. no yield or stops signs as you enter the circle; the roundabout has yield or stop signs before entering.

We seem to have the opposite problem here to what others are complaining about. Many locals here treat roundabouts like a four way stop. They stop before entering the roundabout, then wait their turn according to 4-way stop rules. It drives me nuts!

 

[bdogps]

You yanks really do not know what real roundabouts are. Where I live there is a roundabout inside the roundabout and inside of it, there is another one.

Well I took me a while to understand and not feel overwhelmed by them. I use to live in the states. Hey what better way to get your bearings by driving on the right side and getting into those multi-roundabouts? [emoji26]

 

[Me+Light=Addiction]

I went for a ride today and thought i'd put together a few clips showing how frequent roundabouts are in my country. I find them very usefull and safe, and it amazes me to hear so many Americans prefer four way stops over roundabouts. Stop signs would annoy the hell out of me.

Also check out the old Alfa Romeo driver ruining his rims at 2:35...

 

[TEEJ]

In NJ they have round abouts and circles and jug handles.

Drivers from other states (Indiana for example) are dumbfounded when they get to the cross street, and can't just make a left to go left...so they make an illegal left through two or three lanes of oncoming traffic and get T-Boned on their right by 2-3 cars at once.

The idea of going right to make a left seems counter intuitive to them for some reason.

Some have at least seen circles, etc..but jug handles seem to be inscrutable/alien.

 

[idleprocess]

I went for a ride today and thought i'd put together a few clips showing how frequent roundabouts are in my country. I find them very usefull and safe, and it amazes me to hear so many Americans prefer four way stops over roundabouts. Stop signs would annoy the hell out of me.

It's really a matter of implementation. A good roundabout joins roads with vaguely similar levels of traffic, has a bit of elbow room, and presents the minimum impedance to traffic flow. Here is a good local example. I've been through this on a bike a few times - there's enough traffic there that a stop sign for the east-west road butting into the north-south road would generate a nice traffic snarl, but a stoplight would be a bit much.

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). Traffic there might be as high as 60 cars per minute during the morning and afternoon commute. Might. It makes north-south traffic swerve to dodge the obstacle put up in the road. There's a freaking stop sign on the east-west road anyway. And in addition to having to yield to north-south traffic, someone stopped on the east-west road might need to back up to allow someone headed south to get around the traffic island. For some reason these were grafted into place and are far worse than just stop signs; suspect the neighborhood association got their hackles up about it being a through street and lobbied the city for them.

The three roundabouts here are kind of marginal. They're spacious enough that one can smoothly blend into and out of them ... but also seemingly installed just because. The third road on the north and south roundabouts is so minor that a more conventional bend with a stop sign on it should suffice. The middle one has recently seen a short road added going towards the lake to the west, but will see even less traffic than the other two due to obvious geographical limitations.

 

[G. Scott H.]

obligatory:

Classic! :twothumbs

 

[RBR]

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[NoNotAgain]

Having driven in most places in the world, I'd say that roundabouts have there place. 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. Traffic to your right even on a two lane road that's entering onto the road have the right away. Very strange place to drive.

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is probably the most dangerous place I've driven as the drive like a bat out of hill, and if involved in an accident, you better have the money on you to cover damages.

 

[Steve K]

Having driven in most places in the world, I'd say that roundabouts have there place. 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. Traffic to your right even on a two lane road that's entering onto the road have the right away. Very strange place to drive.

wow.... that seems to invite problems. What if the roundabout is full of vehicles but more want to enter? Seems like the traffic trying to enter would need to let vehicles exit the roundabout eventually.
Plus... there's the obvious problem of using a non-standard method, and the likelihood of accidents when you mix people who are accustomed to the traditional method and the local method because both vehicles thought they had the right-of-way.

We installed some small roundabouts locally, which were the first in the area. It went smoother than I expected; haven't heard of any accidents yet.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Having driven in most places in the world, I'd say that roundabouts have there place. 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. Traffic to your right even on a two lane road that's entering onto the road have the right away. Very strange place to drive.

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia is probably the most dangerous place I've driven as the drive like a bat out of hill, and if involved in an accident, you better have the money on you to cover damages.

Wow, that's crazy! Makes no sense whatsoever. Reminds me of people that try to enter an elavator before people attempting to exit get out. Stupid is as stupid does.

~ Chance

 

[nbp]

I was rear-ended in a roundabout a couple years ago (when I stopped to avoid hitting the car who cut me off) - despite that, and several other close calls, I wish we had a lot more roundabouts. They are so rare where I am that most people don't know how to navigate them, but they are clearly and unmistakably better for traffic flow. If we had a lot more of them, people would learn. Sure, you will always have some try to cut in, but that is true with any type of traffic control...it is hardly unique to traffic circles.

The other thing to consider is the severity of crashes. Even if they didn't reduce the overall number of crashes, they do tend to reduce the speed at which crashes happen. This is a very good thing...making an insurance claim is annoying, but being put in the hospital is another thing entirely.

Exactly. We have a bunch of them near my house. They do a much better job of keeping traffic moving, and they reduce fatalities and serious injuries to almost zero since collisions are low speed and almost never head on or t-bones but rather a side swipe or fender damage. People who blast into roundabouts without yielding or do other stupid things like that are the same ones that blow through stops signs or refuse to take their turn anyways so those clowns will cause accidents no matter what sort of intersection it is.

 

[LGT]

American drivers need schooling on a lot more than rotaries. The only thing that should matter while you're behind the wheel is DRIVING! Put the fn' phone away. You think you're doing fine. But you're just pissing off people.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

American drivers need schooling on a lot more than rotaries. The only thing that should matter while you're behind the wheel is DRIVING! Put the fn' phone away. You think you're doing fine. But you're just pissing off people.

Actually, people that talk/text while driving are killing people. $124 fine in Washington state, seems a ridiculously small amount.

~ Chance