So I'm sitting in traffic minding my business and

[Rustyt1953]

Yesterday I had an appointment that consumed 75 minutes of roundtrip drive time. We encountered and navigated 4 roundabouts.

We live to tell the tale.

To repeat; they work.

 

[RobertJ.]

I found this driver's education video, and it's just full of useful information:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2vgfqV_htc&t=217s[/ame]

 

[LVSteve]

we have the round-abouts here in NW Ar they are only safe if they are only one lane not two lane you should only be able to turn right from the outside lane. i have been almost hit by a twit turning right from the inside lane I told my agent it should not be that way, he said look at the sign, he was right. Now they are removing the inside lane. Jeff

Another indication of the lack of driver training and the lack of forward planning by the great majority of US drivers. Pile on some more with the local jurisdiction being unwilling to spend money on the necessary signs. Ideally, you read the signs and road markings and are in the correct lane BEFORE the roundabout. But sometimes even the right signs don't help. For example, if someone is effectively turning right, why are they in the left lane coming to the roundabout? Easy answer, they see the left line is shorter and HAVE to go for it, regardless of whether it puts them in the wrong place in the next 50 yards.

Yes, you when turning "left" at a roundabout there may be a need to slide right before your exit, but that only becomes a problem when some yahoo thinks you can take the same left exit having entered the roundabout in the right lane. Sorry, but once there, you are committed to either turning right or going straight on. But as I have noted by the gore cutting antics of so many at freeway exits, admitting you made an error and following the road markings does not sit well with many drivers, threatens their sense of control.

I watched similar lack of forward planning on and off in 2500 miles of driving to TX and back recently. It's like nobody ever explained that the first aim of driving is to arrive in one piece having driven as smoothly as possible, and that requires looking ahead and anticipation. I blame stop sign indoctrination, nobody is thinking about what to do next, only the now.

One of the reasons my late sis-in-law hated being with me when I took a roundabout was that the entire process of me looking at the traffic and judging where it would be in the next 10-20 seconds all to PREVENT us having to stop was utterly alien to her. She was never taught to think any further ahead than the next stop sign or red light. I don't call that driving.

 

[BRL40]

I have a story to tell you guys, and I'm not even sure there's a lesson to be learned here but:

I was driving down this rural highway at 50 mph which is the posted speed limit, and I was pacing another driver doing about the same speed, maybe 100 yards or more ahead of me, when suddenly a deer darted out from the woods on the left and by some miracle of fate the two didn't collide.

Something must have been chasing that deer because it was MOVING! and by the time that guys taillights lit up the deer had just cleared his grill by inches.

I don't speed out here and if somebody goes to pass me I might just give them a friendly wave and hope they arrive at their destination safely.

 

[biku324]

In Albuquerque, you count "one one thousand, two one thou..." before proceeding after your light turns green. Notice that you don't complete the second "thousand" unless you want everyone behind you to honk at you.

Also, we have a continual shortage of "blinker fluid" here.

The cheapest New Mexico insurance company is Aggravating Hit & Run.

 

[Greyman50]

Wow after reading all this I wish I had a M-88 that would do about 70 mph, LOL.

 

[Old cop]

It’s reported that my neck of the woods has some of the worst drivers & traffic in the country, and I don’t live in NY!

 

[NYlakesider]

It’s reported that my neck of the woods has some of the worst drivers & traffic in the country, and I don’t live in NY!

Wow, that is one of the nicest things I ever saw about NY traffic and drivers!-

 

[dave1918a2]

Come to southern Colorado some time. Same basic driver behaviors with the addition of taking a hit from a bowl or joint of weed. Traffic cameras ignore anything that won't allow a traffic ticket to be mailed out to the registered owner of the vehicle.

You need to, like, mind your own business, dude! Drive, like, defensively, man! Make sure you have good insurance because nobody else at the scene of the crash will, you know?

Another reason I left Colorado.

 

[dave1918a2]

That's why I like it up here. Rush hour consists of 6 semi's, 8 pickups, 3 cars, and 2 ATV's. All spread out between the three stoplights in town.