I have a theory on why the traffic is so bad here in the ATLANTA suburbs.. mornings. Sure, there's a lot of traffic but the American system contributes to long queues greatly.

I can't remember the science exactly but it's something like, it takes 10 minutes to create a 1 mile tail back of stopped traffic and 50 minutes to get it going again.

So, why here in Atlanta do:-

* We have 4 way stops EVERYWHERE, where the intent is to STOP everyone at once. Backlogs get created quickly, even if there's no other traffic on 3 out of the 4 roads intersecting!!

* In Atlanta, they pay as much attention to automation at stop lights as they do to snow ploughs - ZIP. Why is it here, they put stop lights on even the smallest intersection and then make them 6-way with a green/red STOP arrow for every almost every left turn. The WORST part is, the automation sensors are NEARLY ALWAYS broke. Meaning EVERYONE is waiting the for nearly 90 seconds because lights are RED when nothing is coming the OTHER WAY or the sensors don't realize people are there and turn red when you ARE waiting...

* Also, at 6am in the morning why do I have to sit at, at least 10 RED STOP LIGHTS when there is NO other friggin traffic. This creates the bottlenecks that the 7am commuters back up to... Grrrr...

* Last but not least, school buses. Safety first and all that but I used to walk 2 miles to school so I think the "moms" or kids could go to a safe place where a bus can stop WITHOUT HOLDING UP ALL TRAFFIC IN ALL DIRECTIONS - just so the kids don't have to walk and the lazy parents don't have to get out of their dressing gowns and slippers.

Fix these things and I bet'ya, my commute every morning would be cut in HALF.. I have to laugh because when we have a storm and all the STOP lights start flashing amber / red, I get to work/home in half the time - LOL

I am thinking of starting a web site, linked to GOOGLE MAPS where people can report traffic lights where the sensors are borke. You'd click on the map / intersection and the fault would be sent to the relevant juristiction IMMEDIATELY and track how long it takes them to fix.

End of Friday RANT.

Just think youself lucky you have sensors on traffic lights...even if they are broken...there's none around here.

Makes you miss roundabouts doesn't it. Couldn't have them spread across the US though, much to complicated with that "give way to the traffic to the left" thing and that other...er...rule...er....hmmm.....well that "give way to the left" thing is complicated enough.

Thought it had something to do with one person per car too. Not much car pooling going on.

lol you are not alone.... 4 way or 3 way stop signs in abundance around here with just 2 roundabouts that i know of, mind you the way they drive here maybe it's best there are no more roundabouts...lol

out in the burbs in the city of katy etc there are many more dreaded school buses blocking the roads also the many parents choosing to take their kids. thank goodness i don't have that to contend with

i'm just back from the uk and even my usc hubs comments on how much better we drive even on the M25...it's like the dodgem cars here on I10 anytime of day

(sigh)

Roundabouts would solve most of those problems.

But I doubt that mericans would ever 'get' roundabouts. Probably would lead to total chaos if they tried them here.

there's a few in Augusta, ME....there pretty nice, but a lot of people don't know what there doing and I've seen people close there eyes and just go, which tends to lead to a few accidents which add to the traffic...doesn't help that there isnt' anything in the driving test about them..

Whooaaa!!! There's SOMETHING in the driving test? About anything?

When I worked in Hemel we had Americans come to visit. The fun thing to do was to see the sheer terror in their faces when you took them on the magic roundabout. You half expected their heads to explode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_R...l_Hempstead%29

They are removing some of the roundabouts here because of all the accidents...it could take 5 hours to get off Cape because no-one knew how to use them...now we have a flyover and it takes mins.........

We actually have a round-about on a subdivision ihere in Atlanta and GUESS WHAT... all the roads leading INTO it have a STOP sign instead of Yield :scared: In other words, by law you have to STOP before driving onto the road-a-bout.... Friggin idjuts...

There's a reason UK calls them TRAFFIC lights and the US calls the STOP lights. In the UK they control traffic, here everybody has to STOP....

Actually, there are quite a few round-abouts in BOSTON and also in Hilton Head (lots of tourists). Most people get used to them.

therefore I don't buy into that round-abouts won't be something they could learn real fast. It's no friggin different then turning right but yeilding...

UNLESS IT'S THIS ONE...

FUNNY ROUNDABOUT

aye....there removing parallel parking, which consists of parking behind one car and having 50 feet behind it....because it's to difficult a maneuver and something people don't do in maine....

Americans don't know the meaning of Yield...they still use the rules of a stop sign....and the Cape has had roundabouts forever....and they are still not used right....its a nightmare sometimes...they wait let one car pass then pull out into the traffic on the roundabout...horns are going ...brakes are going...they can't get rid of the things fast enough for me....

Maybe because they don't have many give way signs here. If you think back home we tend to have a road designated as 'major', perhaps one with a bus route, where you can drive without stopping and everything turning onto it would be 'minor' and have to give way.

Here it seems at every T-junction or crossroads it's an all-way stop, causing the backlog, rather than the traffic on the heavier-used road passing through without stopping.

The other confusion is on the rare occasion where this is the case, the driver with the STOP sign assumes the other drivers have one and will slow down, so pull out and SLAM...

Yield here means "don't bother with the brakes, don't look for any other road user who might have right of way, just plough out into the traffic because yield must mean that they will yield to you".