What do you think of traffic "Roundabouts"?

[P&R Fan]

Where I live the traffic planners seem to be in love with those traffic roundabouts. We have several, and news reports say they are thinking of putting them on a very busy divided highway that runs through town that has three lanes in each direction. I see this as a disaster on a multilane heavily traveled road.
I hate those stupid things, and don't think they make traffic flow more smoothly. It wouldn't surprise me to hear there are a lot of accidents involving older drivers or those that have had a few too many drinks.
Do they have them where you live, and what do you think of them?
Jim

 

[Mazz]

There is one in the area that I live, and the big problem is, nobody knows what they are supposed to do when entering one. I was in England several years ago and they are quite common, but people are used to them.

 

[VM]

I travel alot and see/use them often. I like them so much that sometimes I just stay in the roundabout and pop in a good CD

 

[arjay]

They became popular here starting in the 90s in the more upscale areas,but lookout for the people who aren't used to them ;-)

 

[Andy Griffith]

They are too Limey for my taste.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

Have a few around here, 'circles' have been around a long time- the term 'Roundabout' I believe is a new term. We ran into them a LOT while in Ireland a few years back. Never found them a problem, even when driving on the 'wrong ' side of the road'. People need to stay off their cell phones and pay attention to what they are SUPPOSED to be doing.

 

[Straightshooter2]

I think they work quite well. In Ireland. In Atlanta, not so much. There are a couple of them out near Emory University where the people are more, uh, genteel. Put them in downtown Atlanta and you need to set a police sub-station in the middle of each one just to handle the accidents and shootouts.

CW

 

[Long Barrel]

Roundabouts

Several decades ago I chanced to drive across England in a US_built (LHD) VW Rabbit . It took two of us to drive the dang thing; one to look out for traffic and the other to work the controls.

After that day, my opinion of roundabouts was that they were there to prevent the French from successfully invading England. So far, they are working.

 

[snubbyfan]

There's a recently built hospital complex I go to get my monthly treatments. They have a couple of roundabouts there that work rather well at controlling traffic flow but on a 3 lane divided highway? Sounds like an accident magnet.
If we had something like that out here it'd be, "Hey Bubba hold my beer, watch this, yee haw!"

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I first encountered them in DC, and thought that they were horrible. Many years later, I encountered them in MA, and I have changed my thinking. They generally call them rotaries up here, and they are always marked with the law, that the vehicle in the rotary has the right of way. They still are a problem for idiots, but, in my opinion, they have one huge advantage over traffic lights or stop signs when used on high-speed roads. The advantage is that almost any collision will be a fender-bender rather than a vehicular homicide.

I could be wrong, but I don't think that there is much of a problem with them around here.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I hate em. People "take" the right of way instead of yielding to the person already in the round a bout. They are dangerous because they don't make people stop like a red light or stop sign.

They are merely an excuse to not spend the money on a regular intersection.

 

[P&R Fan]

They seem to be tolerable on a one or two lane road that is not heavily traveled. But the road they are talking about putting them on is incredibly busy, and three lanes in each direction. The businesses on that road are furious, as it will take up their land and make it a problem for people to access their stores.
I know how to use 'em....but I still hate 'em.
Jim

 

[Hobie1]

This what came to mind about "Roundabout"..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Xql99I1VSdI

 

[7shooter]

I think they are great. I've driven on them here in the U.S. and Scotland and Ireland and they seem to me to be a safe efficient solution to intersections. In my town there were predictions of how confusing they would be but everyone seems to have caught on quickly. There is a similar strategy called a diverging diamond which is being built near my town. It looks interesting on paper .

 

[Stevens]

I think they are good, as long as drivers entering know to yield to the cars going round inside. I first learned about them in Jamaica years ago. There aren't many in Louisiana, I did see a couple over in Caje's area near Lafayette.
Steve W

 

[feralmerril]

We even have some here. I hate them with a purple passion.

 

[Smitty357]

There are a few here around the Baton Rouge area. They seem to be making more and more of them while redoing some of the roads.

 

[Stevens]

This what came to mind about "Roundabout"..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Xql99I1VSdI

Wow, I hadn't heard that in years!
Steve W

 

[radar1972]

There's one in the county I live in and one in an adjacent county. All roads are small two-lane roads... no real issues.

When I lived in the Tampa, FL area a number of years ago, they installed a roundabout on a busy multi-lane intersection between Tampa and Clearwater. Big mistake. They removed it a couple years later.

 

[jkc]

Simple, easy to navigate and understand, efficient, baffling to many moron drivers around here...