Road Rage, revisited.

[MH8675309]

Zipper and roundabouts common in Europe.

Drivers must know about zipper because I was amazed how everyone ques and seamlessly merges.

I saw many of them in Ireland - but they drive on the other side of the road there. There I was shifting with the left hand and steering with the right and then came up to a round about. That will test your skill as a driver. The round abouts seem to work very efficiently there

 

[MH8675309]

Raul - you're not wrong. As a former MA resident (currently work there), I can honestly say driving here is the worst. NJ and NY are congested, but not as entitled or aggressive. I'll add drivers from southern NH to that group too.

For nearly the last ten years I have had beater/commuter cars. These cars take the brunt of daily driving in the New England area, and take the salt, terrible parking, job sites and ridiculous drivers on the road. The best car was a 2003 Malibu with V6, rust and dents everywhere and faded red paint. I called it Nothing to Lose. I could leave the keys in it in Dorchester with no worries about being stolen. But it had the zip to really get around idiots on the road. Loved that car. Ironically, due to looking like it was owned by a careless teenager, people would stay FAR away from me!

I'm actually a pretty calm driver, but what really gets me absolutely fuming is the speed-checkers. The folks that get in the left lane and match speed with the right lane. Not folks that are simply driving a similar speed, but actually match speed and stay there. If their right lane counterparts exit or move, they blast ahead at ridiculous speed to the next right lane occupant, slow down and block the lane again.

I refuse to let them "pinch "me and speed up when they are trying to

 

[ultrarunner]

I saw many of them in Ireland - but they drive on the other side of the road there. There I was shifting with the left hand and steering with the right and then came up to a round about. That will test your skill as a driver. The round abouts seem to work very efficiently there

Never driven on the other side of the road but I have a manual shift right hand drive car and takes a little adjusting when I take it out…

Round Abouts tried in my city but removed but other cities have a few.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We spent a week in St. Thomas, USVI and rented a car there. I was elected to drive, and believe me, it takes all of your concentration driving on the left hand side of the road. Thank goodness we didn't get in any heavy traffic.

 

[MossRoad]

Wife and I went to the Bahamas. Took a taxi. They drive on the left side of the road. But the taxi had left-hand drive. So me, sitting in the right front passenger seat, got treated to being the first to see oncoming traffic right in my face each time the taxi driver pulled out far enough to see if she could pass!

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Time a few of them get shot it would slow that crap down.

Justification for high capacity magazines. 50 rounds should slow them down.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

How does that go Lou.... 'An armed society is a polite society' Had a hard time watching that video. People like that are all bottom feeders preying on society and should be plugged.

Heinlein was wrong. The polite part didn't work out so well.

 

[Oaktree]

Never driven on the other side of the road but I have a manual shift right hand drive car and takes a little adjusting when I take it out…

Round Abouts tried in my city but removed but other cities have a few.

We call 'em rotaries (or sometimes traffic circles) in this part of the country, but it's just the opposite...a lot of them were removed (80s maybe?) and replaced with 4 way stop intersections. Didn't work out very well, so last 10-15 years ago they've been putting the rotaries back in, often in places that never had them before. For the most part, traffic does seem to move more smoothly, a lot fewer long backups on holiday weekends.

As far as right hand drive vehicles go, our mail lady has one. I asked her once if it was weird driving it, she said it was at first, but you get used to it. Hers is automatic, I'd imagine a stick shift would add a considerable layer of complexity to it.

 

[5030]

Never driven on the other side of the road but I have a manual shift right hand drive car and takes a little adjusting when I take it out…

Round Abouts tried in my city but removed but other cities have a few.

Michigan is on a round about kick lately. Don't care for them at all. Think it's a way to save on traffic lights and signage if you want to know the truth.

 

[mrmikey]

I wasn't a fan of them but I don't mind them now and like them better than rotaries.
As for driving on the left side of the road, I wouldn't. I'd be nervous that should I have to make a sudden, instinctual move I'd go the wrong way....

 

[MossRoad]

Michigan is on a round about kick lately. Don't care for them at all. Think it's a way to save on traffic lights and signage if you want to know the truth.

Yes! That’s exactly what it’s meant to do.
- No stoplights to maintain or fail. Better for the taxpayer.
- Also, much fewer head on and T-bone accidents, since most accidents are now at angles less than 90 degrees. Much safer for the motorist.
- Also, it’s proven traffic moves faster, less time stopping and going, better fuel efficiency. Better for everyone.

 

[/pine]

Yes! That’s exactly what it’s meant to do.
- No stoplights to maintain or fail. Better for the taxpayer.
- Also, much fewer head on and T-bone accidents, since most accidents are now at angles less than 90 degrees. Much safer for the motorist.
- Also, it’s proven traffic moves faster, less time stopping and going, better fuel efficiency. Better for everyone.

A big factor in this regard is how accustomed the majority of drivers are...heck...these days it's normal at 4-way stops
to have both men and women (mostly women) looking at other drivers for a signal wave that it is their turn...!

 

[dstig1]

They have been on a roundabout kick here the past few years, too. One of Moss's points I have heard but there is a corollary to it. Roundabouts reduce high speed impacts. The 90 deg T-bones that can end up with one or more dead from the 60 mph side impact. But they INCREASE the total number of accidents significantly. It is just that those accidents are much lower speed so fatalities and injuries are reduced greatly. I can see the logic there, but the risk of getting in a fender bender is much increased.

What I have noted is that while they can work well in many situations they work poorly when you have a main road with a high volume of traffic and a crossing side road with very little traffic. It can become near impossible to get into the roundabout from the side road as it can fill up for long periods of time with the high volume main road traffic. If this was a stop sign on the side road (not a 4-way) then there are naturally gaps in the main road traffic that occur from time to time where you can cross/turn in, but the nature of the roundabout causes all that high volume approaching traffic to slow down and bunch up coming into it. As a result, you get a solid stream of cars going slowly into the circle from the high volume road and there is no way to break into this from the side road as there are no gaps. There is one in particular that I frequent and see this at and it gets real bad in rush hour.

Ones that are really busy from all 4 directions almost seem like hold your breath and pray as you enter and if you do that successfully then you are generally OK. Lower volume intersections seem like a great fit for these, IMO.

 

[5030]

Interestingly, the two I go around regularly are off the Interstate and the side road is not heavily travelled and invariably there is a fender bender on at least one, every time I get off the freeway. I prefer traffic lights myself.

The other thing they are doing around here (that I like) is, they (road boards and local communities) are installing illuminated with red LED's around the edges, stop signs and speed limit in town signs with white LED borders that come on with proximity controls to remind motorists of the reduced speed limits in towns or it it a stop sign (mostly on cross roads crossing busy roads), which I think is a good idea actually. The old 'I didn't see the sign' excuse goes right out the window.

 

[coobie]

Interestingly, the two I go around regularly are off the Interstate and the side road is not heavily travelled and invariably there is a fender bender on at least one, every time I get off the freeway. I prefer traffic lights myself.

The other thing they are doing around here (that I like) is, they (road boards and local communities) are installing illuminated with red LED's around the edges, stop signs and speed limit in town signs with white LED borders that come on with proximity controls to remind motorists of the reduced speed limits in towns or it it a stop sign (mostly on cross roads crossing busy roads), which I think is a good idea actually. The old 'I didn't see the sign' excuse goes right out the window.

I assume you are speaking of the round about on at US23 and M-52 never seen accidents there.But its your story.

 

[Hay Dude]

I returned recently from a diving vacation in Aruba and all they have there is roundabouts. Once you get used to them they are a breeze. The traffic moves through them very well and you never feel like you have to stop or wait very long.
We have a couple roundabouts in our area. IMO, they are ideal.

 

[groundcover]

We have had a lot of roundabouts installed . There was a learning curve for a while ,the occasional driver would want to go down the road to the left and take a left ! After a few low speed head on entanglements they figured it out and they work quite well now.
Friend of mine has a wrecker and was talking to a woman about them . He said he wished they would install them at every intersection. He said they had them right in stock at the state DOT shed ! She thought they were terrible and why would he want that ? He said they were great for business!

 

[Oaktree]

I'm actually a pretty calm driver, but what really gets me absolutely fuming is the speed-checkers. The folks that get in the left lane and match speed with the right lane. Not folks that are simply driving a similar speed, but actually match speed and stay there. If their right lane counterparts exit or move, they blast ahead at ridiculous speed to the next right lane occupant, slow down and block the lane again.

If you think left lane hogs are bad here in New England, try taking a road trip down I-85 thru Virginia. They put Mass. drivers to shame. Didn't notice it anywhere near as much in other states.

 

[Oaktree]

We have had a lot of roundabouts installed . There was a learning curve for a while ,the occasional driver would want to go down the road to the left and take a left ! After a few low speed head on entanglements they figured it out and they work quite well now.

I can see how they might be a bit confusing the first few times you encounter one, but once you get used to them they move traffic along much better.