i hate circles

[LionMan]

Of the ones around here, I really hate the ones that you can't see until you're actually in it. At least if you can see it ahead of you, you can react.

Now if you want a really bad one, there is one nice one here that handles a major road and traffic coming on and off a highway. So naturally the geniuses have decided there should be two more roundabouts within a .1 mile range, so when construction ends there, you will have 3 roundabouts where when you leave one, you enter the next immediately (there might be room for a few cars between them).

[AriRashkae]

Yield, what is this yield thing you mention?

Yield = realizing the 1 ton diesel pickup will probably not notice running over your '89 Cavalier (RIP! ), but you most definitely will notice the truck.

[smileyeagle1021]

umm, if I may the first one to speak from experience as a transit/road geek and former civil engineering major... roundabouts actually are theoretically safer than traditional intersections with lights. There are fewer potential points of conflict and when a collision does occur it is more likely to be a rear end or sideswipe, not a t-bone so damage will be horrendous, but occupants will be safe.

I like them

[Kogarashi]

Of course, from my experience all the roundabouts in northern Utah are much more reasonable and easily navigable than some of the ones out here on the East Coast.

[wolfie]

Circles in NJ are the worst in the country, know why? Because as of the time i moved from there (7 or so years ago), while they'd been installed in the first half of the 20th century to control traffic (cheaper than traffic lights), no one bothered to write any traffic laws that specifically applied to them, the means everyone has the right of way.

What I really hate are the old, small circles (like the ones you described) which have never been increased in diameter to take into account thing like, let's see, the standard trailer going from 28 feet long to 53 feet long. These tend to have planters in the middle, so that if you need to go anywhere except the exit immediately after you got on, you're scrubbing your right steer against the curb at the outside while simultaneously dragging your trailer wheels through the flowers on the inside. It's a simple matter of geometry - a trailer will track inside the path followed by the tow vehicle, and the longer the trailer, the further inside it will track.

This tracking difference is why big rigs frequently turn right from the 2nd lane, and into the left lane of the "target" street (on minor streets, it's frequently necessary to turn right from, and into, the opposing lanes). Of course, there are always morons who try to do a right turn from/to the rightmost lane at the same time, not realizing that A) the right side of a big rig is called the "blind side" for a reason B) the space they are planning to use will be closed off from the side when the truck makes its turn C)their full-size SUV may have 3 tons of steel to protect their family, but the big rig has 10 tons of tractor, 7 tons of trailer, and 20 tons of cargo to turn them into a red smear.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm not a fan of circles, either. There aren't too many around me anymore, but there is one I have to go through to get to Ex's house (which, now that Pablo is no longer with us , I don't have much reason to anymore). There used to be a big one in Freehold, right by the mall, that was a huge pain. I was glad when they replaced it with a light by the time I started driving, so I never had to actually deal with it.

I've heard them called 'Round-A-Bouts' have only encountered 2 in my experience.

What I hate are 'Jug Handles.' See those alot in NJ.

Maybe it's because I grew up here and have done most of my driving here, but I like jughandles, for the most part. Maybe I'm just used to them. The biggest pain is when you have to go way past where you're trying to get to, just to get to a jughandle and turn around because you can't turn left. I used to get my hair cut at a place that was on the other side of the highway, just about midway between two jughandles. That and making a left off of some of them, especially at rush hour. But then I have ways around them in most of my day-to-day travels. I'm also not above making a right, going down a bit and turning around in a parking lot.

This tracking difference is why big rigs frequently turn right from the 2nd lane, and into the left lane of the "target" street (on minor streets, it's frequently necessary to turn right from, and into, the opposing lanes).

I work at a warehouse, and there is a Costco distribution center down the road as well (the road we are on - called Costco Dr. - has no outlet at the other end, either...technically it does but it is closed off with a fence to keep trucks off the little side street back there...I wish they would let the cars through, though. It would be so much easier for me in the morning. ), so there are a ton of trucks. I have many times sat in the left turn lane at the light and watched a truck turn right from Costco Dr. and held my breath until I was sure they wouldn't hit me. Luckily the handful of accidents I've seen at that intersection have all involved only cars, and not the huge trucks.

[smileyeagle1021]

Of course, from my experience all the roundabouts in northern Utah are much more reasonable and easily navigable than some of the ones out here on the East Coast.

you should see the ones in Northern Nevada (and yes, the capital N in Northern is intentional... Northern Nevada is completely separate from Las Vegas )... some of the circles in Reno and Sparks are incredible... I saw one there that has like 5 roads feeding into it Traffic flows smoothly, I've never seen problems during the few times I've been there. If only every intersection could be as well built as the circles in Reno/Sparks.

[MoxisPilot]

I like roundabouts when they're used properly - more so than I do intersections with stolights, anyhow.

Now, when you get to Naples and drive in a two-lane roundabout which the drivers have somehow managed to turn into a SIX LANE roundabout...THEN I freak out.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

They've started putting in more roundabouts in Cheeselandialand and I don't mind them. They're nothing like the ones raw posted.

The thing to remember is you yield to traffic already in the roundabout.

[Vickitoria]

I live in NJ. God. I hate circles so much. I was driving to go to a college visit. My mom was with me and she told me there were a few circles, so be careful because for some the yield is the incoming traffic, and some it's for the exiting traffic. She failed to inform me that 'a few' meant no less than 7.

Also, over the summer break right before I started college, they installed a circle at the main entrance. I only used it twice and took the side entrance every other time. It was an all commuter school, and I'm sorry, I may trust myself in circles, but I didn't trust the other people I was going to school with.

As far as jug handles go, I love them. I was in OH recently and it took forever to get used to making left turns from the left lane.

[ADoyle90815]

There is a traffic circle in my city, and I avoid it whenever possible because so many people don't understand that you have to yield to traffic already in the circle. There's a local urban legend that says that a family member of the designer of that circle was killed there.

[bean]

My apartment complex is at the end of a street, with a roundabout in front of it.

Serving 2 other apartment complexes.

It also has 3 "ONE WAY" signs, one at the beginning and 2 in the middle.

I almost hit a gas company truck head on going through it once, along with a COP.

[smileyeagle1021]

I almost hit a gas company truck head on going through it once, along with a COP.

I've gone the wrong way in a circle before

to give me credit... it was inside the parking lot where my other works... and I was following her... blame her

[mattm04]

Beat this one. seven, count em, 7 streets and no light. Years ago their weren't even STOP signs.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...title&resnum=1

[DerangedHermit]

Traffic circles aren't too bad in my neck of the woods except for two, both in the same town: Old Country Road/Roanoke Avenue, and NY Route 24 and three other roads, Ah, I love Long Island. Nothing like keeping relics from the past even though the road using it is way too busy for a traffic circle.