What do you think of traffic "Roundabouts"?

[LVSteve]

I lived in France for four years on a work assignment which also required that I travel to Scotland several times a month. Both France and the UK have lots of roundabouts.

Taking the Scotish roundabouts was a challenge at first driving on the "wrong side". The rule of the road there was that the cars on the roundabout had right of way and the incoming vehicles had to yield.

However, in France while you drive on the proper side of the road, the rules were just the opposite. The incoming vehicles have the right of way and those on the roundabout have to yield. The merging cars would fly onto the roundabout at full speed expecting the other cars to yield.

This was difficult for me at first but I soon learned to fling myself into the frey. The most difficult was around the Arc de Triomphe which had six lanes in the roundabout and twelve merging streets. It was always vehicular chaos but surprisingly had few wrecks.

The French rule of the road is priorite a droit , those coming from the right have the right of way. This is very disturbing when barreling down a straight country road and Gaston pulls out in a 2CV with no acceleration right under your nose.

 

[duppie]

I came from England and I happen to think cruise control is an invention up there with the wheel and sliced bread. After driving in Nevada for a couple of weeks my right ankle came to appreciate it, that's for sure.

Never been to Arizona but I suspect long,straight expanses of tarmac so cruise control is indeed valued.
I drive to Montreal from Central New Jersey perhaps 4 to 6 time a year, a journey of about 225 miles one way through some of the most beautiful country in the north East, with the Adirondacks as a back drop with all it's twisting roads.....cruise control would be a crime in that instance.

 

[finesse_r]

Looks a lot like bumper cars for adults to me.

 

[NYlakesider]

They have a fecal load of them in my immediate area and many more planned... IF, BIG IF you know how to drive they are not that big of a deal. On exit 12 on I- 87 they have 5 in less than a mile and a couple more not too far from those, you can just about induce vertigo in that short of a distance.

I did a lot of driving in that area as after I retired I drove large delivery truck for a few years + much pleasure driving and I have seen a lot.

A couple pet peeves:

Follow some ding bat at the speed limit no other vehicles even remotely close and said dingbat stands on their brakes inches from going into the roundabout. Then they look a couple time in all directions and if by chance no other cars/trucks are within couple hundred yards then drive slowly into the circle.

Another is my basic observation of drivers; follow a 18 wheeler and he does his thing no problem stays in his lane and bothers no one. Same for large straight job trucks no problems .Now take some ding bat that is driving some ultra small econo box car and they either drive right on the line between the two lanes that circumnavigate the circle or they zigzag from one lane to the other.

This person is most likely my favorite person at the boat launch. That is the smaller the boat and the more people helping the more problems and the longer it takes. In the case of the roundabout driver the smaller and more nimble the car the more idiocy like described above will happen.

 

[ChuckS1]

Just came back from two weeks in Scotland and wish we had them everywhere in the States. Once you get the concept down, they can't be beat. Who wants to wait in intersections?

 

[A10]

My big issues with them:

1. They are a solution to a non-existant problem

b. They take up a heck of a lot more real estate than a stop sign

3. Stupid people fail to yield then it upsets the whole apple cart

d. They are another attempt to turn us into Europe

There is nothing more efficient at an intersection than a 4 way stop.

 

[LVSteve]

There is nothing more efficient at an intersection than a 4 way stop.

Tell that to my brake pads and gas tank.

Point b in your list is quite true, but outweighed by the advantages, IMHO.

 

[Straightshooter2]

A big Ram truck or a HumVee could clean out that mess in a hurry.

For those of you who have driven in Atlanta, think of Peachtree Street,. Now think 5 o'clock. Now imagine it was all roundabouts!!!!

CW

 

[ChuckS1]

Looks a lot like bumper cars for adults to me.

If I recall, the Wermacht just marched straight through, rather than making the circle.

 

[jkc]

Have the French ever had an successful invasion of anything, in the last 100 years

I suspect them as the origin of the recent bedbug outbreak ...

 

[carpe pugna]

As previously stated, those here in the US tend to have the random moron wander through them, not quite sure what they are. When used correctly they are wonderful time savers.

I have driven them in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Rome plus a bunch of little towns in between. The first time you drive a right-hand drive car, clockwise through one you will have to think it through [I don't recommend it just after getting off an eight hour flight].

As for Rome...don't even try, they don't have a concept of lanes or the general laws of physics.

 

[CaptPete]

I have mixed feeling about them. There was one installed about 20 miles from me at an intersection where there have been quite a few accidents with fatalities....people blowing through the stop sign with a flashing light. It serves it's purpose to slow traffic and ending fatalities at that intersection(so far).
On the other side of the coin I know plowing snow off the thing in my single axle truck with a 12' blade would be a pain in the butt. Running a tandem axle truck with a 14' blade and an 8' side wing(that's what the guy that plows it runs) would just plain suck.

 

[Marshwheeling]

They make terrific good sense, keep traffic moving, save fuel. You do have to be able drive better than the typical chimp with an opposable thumb.

 

[j a]

I do not like them

Try to get a 70 foot 18 wheeler on one in rush hour traffic. It backs traffic up for a long ways.

 

[MH8675309]

They might be ok if common sense prevails but the way things are going that could be an issue.

 

[finesse_r]

They make terrific good sense, keep traffic moving, save fuel. You do have to be able drive better than the typical chimp with an opposable thumb.

If you consider there are about 45,000 traffic deaths a year in the USA, how many people driving on the roads out there do you think can or do "drive better than the typical chimp with an opposable thumb"? Clearly roads should be designed to accommodate all drivers not just those who have exceptional skills.

Lets face it with the influx of illegal and legal aliens from countries with either no driving skills or with different driving habits than those of the USA we need roads that are designed to accommodate the worse drivers, not just those that can accommodate the most skilled.

It does not matter how skilled you are if some one just plows into you or cuts across three lanes to make their exit, or gets confused and jut stops to think about it. These "suicide circles" work well enough if there is light traffic AND everyone understands how to use them correctly, AND everyone drives without talking on their cell phone, or without changing the station on their radio, or without dropping a burning cigarette ask in their lap, or does not get distracted by a child or other passenger, or is not checking out the blond in the convertible, or is not thinking about some problem at work or at home, or any of the thousands of things that can momentarily distract a driver. It is bad enough driving in basically a straight line, but in a suicide circle of many lanes it is downright bizarre.

The only miracle is how few people these things have killed so far. I bet far more than have been killed by these suicide circles than by guns shot by law abiding citizens.

If the progressives are so concerned about our safety, let them go after the builders of suicide circles, not the manufacturers of firearms.

 

[houdini26]

they just put one in close to me they stink, people has no idear how to use them, you what longer in lines to get threw. THEY JUST STINK!!!!!!!!

 

[duppie]

If you consider there are about 45,000 traffic deaths a year in the USA, how many people driving on the roads out there do you think can or do "drive better than the typical chimp with an opposable thumb"? Clearly roads should be designed to accommodate all drivers not just those who have exceptional skills.

Lets face it with the influx of illegal and legal aliens from countries with either no driving skills or with different driving habits than those of the USA we need roads that are designed to accommodate the worse drivers, not just those that can accommodate the most skilled.

It does not matter how skilled you are if some one just plows into you or cuts across three lanes to make their exit, or gets confused and jut stops to think about it. These "suicide circles" work well enough if there is light traffic AND everyone understands how to use them correctly, AND everyone drives without talking on their cell phone, or without changing the station on their radio, or without dropping a burning cigarette ask in their lap, or does not get distracted by a child or other passenger, or is not checking out the blond in the convertible, or is not thinking about some problem at work or at home, or any of the thousands of things that can momentarily distract a driver. It is bad enough driving in basically a straight line, but in a suicide circle of many lanes it is downright bizarre.

The only miracle is how few people these things have killed so far. I bet far more than have been killed by these suicide circles than by guns shot by law abiding citizens.

If the progressives are so concerned about our safety, let them go after the builders of suicide circles, not the manufacturers of firearms.

So if I understand you correctly...We have to cater to the lowest common denominator in all things,one being the design of roads instead of educating drivers in the proper operation of vehicles.Forgive me but that seems defeatist and exactly why we're in the state we're in......No?

 

[imjin138]

They have been putting them in all over the place here in Wisconsin and nobody likes them except the planners. I went through a few on a major highway and as soon as the speed limit hits 55 you have to slow down for one.

 

[chez323]

I first came across them when I was stationed in Saudi Arabia in 94-95, we called them the circle of death! Had to force your way in ( aim your vehicle at a smaller vehicle in the circle and pray) and force your way out or end up like Chevy Chase in National lampoon European vacation and be stuck in the circle forever. Lol