JerseyBoy

Can't make up my mind whether it's inexperience with 'circles' or poor signage and no general rule as to who has right of way, that causes such poor driving around them.

Jan Alaska

waddya mean broken ashphalt / blacktop ?!?!?!! whats them ? we're on dirt roads up here matey, they leave a dust cloud a mile long in the summer, in the winter theyre only passable if a friendly neighbour has a plow and in the spring its like driving on a skid-pan / quagmire !!!!

As for traffic circles (roundabouts) they threatened to put one on a busy intersection here and the local hicks voted it down .... pretty happy bout that one coz i'm sure they wouldnt have had any idea how to use it in the first place

happy happy ... makes me feel like an expert driver hehehe

Jan

Pulaski

I think that the problem, linked to what you said, is that Americans are not used to "yield-type" junctions because there are so many friggin' STOP signs. Until they restrict the use of STOP signs to junctions where stopping is necessary then it will always be a problem for Americans to understand turning circles.

They put an experimental one in a town near where I used to live in Virginia, but nobody undestood it, and some idiots who were wanting to turn left did so by going the wrong way despite a large arrow sign opposite each road pointing right.

In the case above half the problem was that it was barely more than a mini roundabout and those cause crises of confidence even among UK drivers, because you are so very close to other cars if two or more cars arrive at the same time.

Lion in Winter

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Pulaski

They put an experimental one in a town near where I used to live in Virginia, but nobody undestood it, and some idiots who were wanting to turn left did so by going the wrong way despite a large arrow sign opposite each road pointing right.


Oh yeah, I've met that one. It's quite exciting really, isn't it.

Pulaski

That's the sort of excitement that I can live without!

Lion in Winter

That's the sort of excitement that I can live without! [/QUOTE]


More to the point, it's not the sort of excitement you can live with for very long, unless, of course, you have the proverbial SUV and the other person's driving one of those nice little Neons or something.

mattbutt

Could you imagine a double mini roundabout here, now that would be fun!

Stumpyguy

Portland has quite a lot of roundabouts (though I am sure they call them something else, "circles of apprehension" perhaps), and by and large people do tend to figure it out. They are mostly in quieter residential areas though, so I am sure they don't see a huge amount of traffic. I don't recall ever seeing them in any other American city though.

ladyofthelake

The fountain in the middle of Clearwater roundabout cost $2.1 million to build and has now been demolished due to the high occurance of crashes there. The roundabout itself is still there and was not as much a problem as the fountain which obstructed drivers views, and was empty most of the time due to water shortages.
The full story is here...http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/20/Ta..._pull_th.shtml
Here is a picture of one of the rare times when it was working.

ladyofthelake

Oops, lost the picture.....

Jan Alaska

The "Magic roundabout" near Swindon got me every time .... i just dont think Americans are ready for them yet

Jan

elfman

Is this the one you mean?

http://www.ksu.edu/roundabouts/ada/photos/swindon.htm

Lordy. Not even sure most British people are ready for that.

Jan Alaska

heh ! yeah ... cant get into Swindon town centre from the Oxford side without having to navigate it .... ohhh happy days .. going round n round n round

Jan

jaytee

can someone explain this?

It looks good in theory: two counter-flow roundabouts in one

It looks like it would be easy to get into the inner circle, but difficult to get out of in heavy traffic because you have to cross two streams of traffic around the calming circle of exit.

Also you have to look both ways at the entrance to the whole thing.

Pulaski

I loved that junction! The cowards' way (i.e. the popular way is to treat it like one big roundabout and navigate it by travelling clockwise around the outside until you reach the exit you want.

It is more fun to go further around the first mini roundabout you meet, then scoot counter clockwise around the inner edge of the "mini 'bouts" - and invariably quicker too! I worked in Swindon in 1991 and perfected the art of passing the two or three cars in front of me when taking the second exit (i.e. just left of straight ahead) by using the "center route" rather than the conventional one (around the outside).