Roundabout fun

[Bella_Vixen]

By fun, I mean not fun.

Becks and I were driving home from out brother's house when we got to a 2 lane roundabout. Roundabouts are bad enough without being at a 2 lane one at rush hour.

Anyways...People were treating it like it was a real controlled intersection. First, people going N/S would go in a huge group, then vehicles going E/W would go in a group. I'm talking 4-5 cars at a time.



That is NOT how it works, people!

So of course we FINALLY get through it and the cars around us start flipping US off and screaming at us.

[blas]

Oh, roundabouts don't work well on people who don't know them or can't learn them.

Nearby me, there's only one, a smaller one lane roundabout. It's been there for 20some years, it was the very first roundabout in this area. Yet somehow, people still think you can just barge right in no matter what.....or that you have to yield at every. single. outlet. NO!!!! AND NOOOO!!!

Then they put in double roundabouts, one on the edge of town going into the boonies and that has caused a ton of confusion. Also, another one towards the end of town in the city I work in, serves as an easier way to get on/off of the freeway and into town.

[Bella_Vixen]

The day before yesterday, we saw this one chick tailgating her way through a roundabout.

I KNOW they teach you how to negotiate a roundabout in driver's ed. Don't get me started about the one literally outside a high school.

[Shalom]

I KNOW they teach you how to negotiate a roundabout in driver's ed. Don't get me started about the one literally outside a high school.

Not when I took it, they didn't.

I learnt to drive in Brooklyn, circa 1986. The borough of Brooklyn has exactly three "traffic circles" that I know of, and all of them are on the perimeter of Prospect Park: Park Circle, Grand Army Plaza, and Bartel Pritchard Square. These are all multiple-lane roundabouts, and the distinguishing factor (which you can see in Street View) is that they are all traffic-light controlled, exactly as if they were ordinary intersections. This means two things: 1, if you want to go right (90°) or straight (180°), you can go on through unimpeded, but if you want to go 270° around, equivalent to making a left, you have to wait for a light; and 2, there are lights at the entrances, so sometimes you have to wait for a light just to get into the damn thing. (Which, as I understand it now, kind of defeats the whole purpose of a roundabout.)

So these were the only kind of roundabouts I'd ever seen, until I moved to Buffalo, NY, where I first encountered the "ordinary" sort of roundabout (this one). I had no idea that incoming traffic had to yield to traffic already in the circle, but I found it out damn fast, let me tell you.

(There's a similar one near me which was only recently (~7 years ago) put in to replace a busy intersection, and I remember thinking the first time that I came across it, that anyone could, if they wanted, enter the thing and just keep driving round and round forever, or until they got dizzy/ran out of gas, and there's nothing there that can stop them. There isn't even a sign prohibiting this asininity, which only means that nobody's tried it yet.)

[Bella_Vixen]

I remember when I took DE...it was mentioned in class and in the booklets, etc. I was confused because I didn't think there was a roundabout in the entire state 16 years ago.

[Chromatix]

Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6NDLQ-aq4U

[Bella_Vixen]

Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6NDLQ-aq4U

This video contains content from Mr Bean (MVR), who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
Sorry about that.

[blas]

I avoid the bigger roundabout in the city I work in because the one way is so damn confusing. Going in, there's two different lanes, and if you aren't in the one you need to be in, and traffic is coming and you've got people behind you.....well, you're on your way to Wausau.

The way out....is easier. You actually keep going straight, just curve a tad, if you aren't getting on the freeway. So it's like a lopsided roundabout in that direction.

[bhskittykatt]

We have a few roundabouts in town. They've been adding more and more over the years. You can definitely tell who's used to it and who's never encountered one before. (We have 4 big ones on a highway leading up to Canada...very full of tourists this time of year who are plenty lost without encountering a roundabout.)

Just yesterday, I was going to college approaching a two-lane one. Either lane you can go straight through, and they merge together once you're out. Everyone except me and the truck was suddenly cutting over to the left lane. Slowing down, cutting, over, wth? In the circle, the truck ahead of me changed to the left lane. Every single one went straight. Why the mad rush to move over when both lanes go straight? I just stayed in my lane and shook my head.

I will say, I love them personally. The first one was added next to the community college a few years ago. Before, you'd have to wait no less than five minutes to get through the four-way stop with all the traffic backed up. Now, there's no waiting period.

[BrenDAnn]

They put the first round-about in the city I frequently shop in last year. So far, no one has had any accidents that I know of on it. Of course, it's a two-lane one--yield, turn right onto it, turn off of it at the road you want to go onto. My sister was with us last weekend when we went through it, and complained, wanting to know WHY they created the darn things to start with. Apparently, she's actually gone round and round and round and round on one before.

[protege]

Unless you count the dozen or so detours, there's exactly *one* traffic circle in the PA/OH/WV area. The one at the main entrance to South Park. Oddly, it seem that most people actually know how to *use* the damn thing

[Flying Grype]

I don't think there are any roundabouts here. We talked about them in driving class, but when I'm in the car with the instructor I've never seen one. (Or when I'm out in the car with my husband, or on a bus, etc.)

I suspect that the vast majority of people are not smart enough to learn how to use roundabouts. Or too nervous. I'm the latter, but I'm a new driver. Why do we have to have roundabouts?

[Bella_Vixen]

Don't get me started on the people who don't use their blinkers, either.


And I lied. I think that when I was taking DE, there WAS one roundabout in the state. In Madison. I heard people got stuck in that thing for ages.

[Mikkel]

That reminds me of this roundabout in Elsinore. I only heard about it in the radio, but apparently, in the beginning, the authorities hadn't put enough signs up. The roads to the north lead to and from the ferries to Sweden and all those travellers filled the roundabout until it was blocked, milling around unable to find the right exit .
For some weeks the police had to go rescuing bewildered and dizzy drivers and show them the right exits.

[Pagan]

I KNOW they teach you how to negotiate a roundabout in driver's ed. Don't get me started about the one literally outside a high school.

I think it depends on where you live. I don't remember it when I took Driver's Ed in high school in 1986. I know for a fact that there's no roundabouts in Las Cruces (where I grew up). There's one that I can think of in ABQ and that's downtown where I hardly ever go (well, there's a shopping center on my side of town that has them), there's 2 in Rio Rancho, and I can't think of any in Santa Fe.

Personally, I like them. They make sense....providing that you can get everybody to cooperate and use them properly.