Anyone like traffic circles-roundabouts?

[bcp]

There are quite a few around here, and almost every one is different. Driving through a new one is like solving one of those interlocking wire puzzles. Sometimes through traffic is left lane, sometimes right lane. Some are one lane, some are two lane, and some are mixtures.

I drove through this recently finished one twice yesterday, for the first time each way. No fun. This replaced a simple 3-way signaled intersection. I was told there have been accidents by confused drivers.

Bruce

 

[Username Taken]

That particular design is known, technically, as a Charlie Foxtrot

 

[oosik]

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING. The traffic engineers think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are dozens and dozens being installed in and around Spokane. LEO's were at two of these things when I went into town this morning. Fender bender accidents.

I've seen folks blow right across the entire roundabout to get into the desired lane.

 

[ultrarunner]

They take some getting use to and scare the daylights out of some elderly...

Washington seems to have embraced these...

 

[Farmer495]

They've gotten carried away with them here. I personally hate them as most people can't/won't use them properly so when you do try to use it right you end up almost getting hit or have to slam your brakes on for people who stop in the wrong places.

Best ones? Two local ones: One on a truck route they didn't design for an 18 wheeler to fit and one made in a former 4 way stop just bby making a large paved area with NO physical island and only painted markings. Worked real good first snow fall.....

 

[Oz-Kioti]

Spare a thought for the Poms at Swindon:

 

[4570Man]

They’re not common here but I was on vacation recently and went through several of them. I don’t really like the multiple lane ones but the single lane ones are much more efficient than a 4 way stop.

 

[Rustyiron]

I think they are great, especially in light traffic. Nothing like waiting for your turn for a green light and watching an empty intersection for 2 minutes.

 

[Doofy]

I'm just a country boy and traffic circles confuse me. You are expected to read signs and dodge other confused drivers all at the same time while trying to herd a 5K pound vehicle thru the maze. Traffic planners and their engineers need to be staked out in the middle of their idiotic creations.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I like the ones where they create a big mound in the middle and landscape it so you can't see what's going on in any direction. There's a couple of those near here.

Read an article a few years ago when they started installing these. One of the traffic engineers commented that they expected to have MORE accidents using roundabouts, but they thought injuries would be less severe due to lower speed (as compared to people running stop signs and T-boning opposing traffic).

 

[Gee Ray]

I think the biggest problem is people no longer respect the concept of a stop sign. So a 4 way stop with an low island in the middle seams to be a better alternative. That is, to stop people from running the stop signs. And I hope some one comes up with a way to enforce "Right on Red" laws. Somehow the "after coming to a full stop" part has gotten lost.

I like the concept of traffic circles but the implementation stinks in most of them here in Fl. The diameter on most is to small to allow for a truck and trailer of any size to fit. And the multi-lane ones are to small to allow the move over to the inside lane and then get back to exit.

 

[ponytug]

Try Boston, where I have seen someone go 60mph+ through a four lane 35mph roundabout, using both lanes. The wrong way.

Personally, I like them, but they do take getting used to and they do more less require courteous drivers.

All the best,

Peter

 

[old and tired]

One of the first 2 lane traffic circles in the city, caused an increase the number of accidents by 100% so Raleigh city dot had to change it to only one lane. They still have plenty of accidents but not sure if they have gone down...

I love to watch a noob who will stop in the circle to let another driver into the circle. For the record, when traffic backs up into a circle ALL traffic comes to a complete halt.

After people get used to them, yea they work OK... I saw tonight a driver that STOPPED before the circle even though no one was even in the circle. Had no clue what to do... or what a yield sign means.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

Roundabouts near international airports are fun when arrivals from "other side of the road" countries, hop into a hire-car...

 

[ning]

I think they're great in theory. Often in practice, however, they suck.

Unfortunately I think too many of them are too small, because cities try to shoehorn them into a preexisting intersection without changing anything else; too small of a roundabout with any appreciable traffic is indistinguishable from a 2-way stop until someone gets really gutsy and goes for it.

We've got one intersection here in town near the high school which most of the day gets... perhaps 10 cars per minute? maybe... and at that rate, a roundabout would be vastly preferable to the really poorly timed light it's got. However, the light probably works pretty well during the crush immediately before and after school, but this could be solved by placing a traffic officer in the middle of the roundable helping govern it.

When I've driven overseas where there were more of them, I had no issues, though I'll admit I haven't driving in Swindon. Though as David St Hubbins sang, can't go back to Swindon, so I guess I'm safe.

 

[old and tired]

On a separate note... Another circle as it was being built... an 18 wheeler didn't like the circle at all. It had dozens of cones around the circle. The 18 wheeler driver did a complete circle (collecting about a dozen cones under his truck) before exiting (basically doing a 360* circle). He stopped a few 100 yards down the street to extract a half dozen cones before continuing on down the road with the rest of the cones still lodged under his trucks axle...

I guess he made his statement clear about the round-a-bouts!!!

 

[civilian]

Spare a thought for the Poms at Swindon:

View attachment 714390

Is this for real? Do I see 5 separate roundabouts within the larger one? Not sure, which side of the road is on? Right hand like USA? I would probably find a different way around that mes. Jon

 

[the old grind]

These are apparently designed in 2D for people operating in 3D without the same perspective.

Stop sign? "Nobody's looking."

Often said to LEO when pulled over for speeding, "I didn't see you."

 

[rademamj1]

When I worked in Middle East, traffic circles were extremely common. They were everywhere. For light to medium traffic, the traffic circles worked fine. But for speedy heavy traffic, they were dangerous and serious bottlenecks to traffic flow.

As Middle East grew in the last 20 years, traffic flow became quite high and so traffic circles became inefficient. It was not uncommon for 50 car backups and many accidents. Road rage incidents almost always occurred at traffic circles. So entry lights (Red/Green) were added to the traffic circles and controlled entry into the circle on a timed rotation basis. This cleared up many problems, but eventually, some circles were removed in favor of convention intersections.

 

[Root Cause]

That is the equivalent of using Mel Tillis as your GPS voice.