Where my sister lives they have roundabouts, but there the person has to yield to those already in the circle, which makes sense. The roundabouts there sometimes have 2 lanes going in and out so you have to pay attention and yield before you enter. Of the times we drove through one we never had any problem. If anything it is the out of towners that get confused and cause accidents because they didn't yield or didn't stay in their lane ( in 2 lane roundabouts) and collided with someone else. I like it because you don't have to wait for traffic lights and have the usual numb skulls who always go through the light after it's red.
Roundabouts are statistically safer and more efficient than traffic lights. And they look nicer.
What does drive me nuts though is when people, usually in America, put stop signs or traffic lights on a roundabout, thus defeating the ENTIRE purpose of a roundabout.
I've never seen a stop sign or light on a roundabout, just "yield" signs.
The problem with roundabouts is that people can't act when they can't follow rules.
You have to rely on nothing more than your intuition. Which is evidently a foreign concept for many. But can be quite dangerous for the feminine minded as it's a balance of active and passive energy. When to take the initiative and go, and when to be passive and let others go. Some people have difficulty going when they should go which is interesting because it is a reflection of their psychological weaknesses!
You must learn to use the force my dear. Trust your feelings. They shall not lead you astray!
Yes i think roundabouts are more dangerous but a lot of people like them simply because they are quicker than traffic lights and you don't have to wait as long as traffic lights.
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Speaking as a former truck driver- you have NO IDEA. They work okay in England, where vehicles are much smaller, and since you don't have to pay to maintain traffic lights, governments like them. But if you ever find yourself taking an American-sized semi through one of them, you'll never feel comfortable even being around one again.
To this day, I'll go MILES out of my way to avoid them. Unfortunately, they seem to be popping up all over the place- and likely will until the deaths start piling up.
I honestly prefer roundabouts. The purpose is actually to keep traffic flowing and more efficient to eliminate the times when people don't understand when it's there turn to go or who goes first. I'm not sure where you are but any roundabout I've used, the people already in the roundabout never yields. That would be extremely counter productive and dangerous. You go when there is an opening. If there are no cars in roundabout and multiple pull up, all could honestly go at once since there is only one direction you can go. It's much safer than intersections. I haven't seen any accidents.
They work quite well, if you don't put pedestrian crossings right next to them and have a sensible approach to indicating: First exit, indicate you're coming off, second exit (usually straight on), no indicating, third or later exit, indicate you're continuing around. Simple. Change as you pass the exit before yours.
But your picture is a wimp's roundabout, check this bad boy out!
In Swindon, they put roundabouts round their roundabout so you can go both ways around the roundabout!
Here it is, in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OGvj7GZSIo
Roundabouts are a great way of controlling traffic at an intersection without using stop signs or traffic lights. They are only a danger to people that are too stupid to be driving in the first place. The fact that drivers licenses are handed out like candy to anyone that can get 80% on a written test and survive a 10 minute test drive with a highway patrolman is Testament as to why we have to have regulatory and directional signs every 3 feet on a roadway, so the retards behind the wheel can navigate
They're not difficult to navigate, you just probably don't know who drive through a roundabout well or you've never driven through one.
They don't just place a pedestrian cross walk right in front of roundabout, that makes like zero sense, they're usually placed away from the big giant circle of scariness.
THOSE roundabouts are born of an evil mind. And I mean it. Where I live whenever you enter a roundabout you have to be given way by those who still have to enter it. Normal. Logical, even.
What is that abomination? I heard that they do something like that in France.
What? Either you described roundabouts wrong or weird so i missunderstand it
or
they work completely differently where you live.
Here in germany and Europe in general, the cars inside the roundabout are the ones who can drive, while the ones going to enter it have to wait. And pedestrians can cross the road, as the cars coming onto the roundabout have to stop and take look at oncoming traffic anyway.
@astarlessnightskyI It's not the roundabout. It's she doesn't know how to use them. Likely a rather inexperienced driver from the question
This one is the worst I know of! 5 mini roundabouts in one big one. You can go either clockwise or anticlockwise round the outer large route.
Seems like it has gone down.
Try this
www.totalswindon.com/.../
To draw 66 answers out of a question about something as mundane as "roundabouts" is truly an amazing skill well worth mentioning.
And to answer the question I think they're not a bad idea because the stalemate you mentioned is only theoretical as there's always a selfish driver that will not wait for his turn thus breaking the stalemate every time.
These things are dangerous. they should be replaced with intersections that have signal lights. Most people don't know how to drive on them, especially people who come from states that don't have them. They usually exist in communities that don't want to spend the money on signal lights.
I disagree from an absolutist standpoint; roundabouts are better than stop signs in low traffic rural or suburban areas where big trucks aren't passing through and there aren't crosswalks.
I will say that my city has grossly overused them in areas that DO have very heavy traffic and it hasn't improved traffic flow at all, even though that's what the ridiculously expensive project was funded for.
ROFL. This image is nothing compared to the multiple lane roundabouts in Europe or the UK.
As for who goes first it DOES NOT change from a stop sign. The PERSON TO THE RIGHT goes first if someone reaches a roundabout at the same time. As for pedestrians unless there is a light giving them right of way they don't have anymore right of way on a roundabout than on a regular road.
Sounds more like you need more driving lessons.
It is VERY rare for vehicles to reach all entrances to a roundabout at the same time. But if that rare occurrence happened it would be, as said above, the person to the right.
I've found roundabouts to be very efficient in saving time and dissolving traffic better than a regular four way intersection. However, I live in a small country, so that's probably the reason it works so well. There's nothing dangerous about roundabouts here.
Here when you come in a roundabout, you can enter it straight away, just need to give way to someone already driving in the roundabout. I've never had to wait for more than a minute or so to enter one.
The basic problem is Americans are fucking awful drivers. There are loads of roundabouts in Europe, heaps in the UK. The basic problem I've read here is that you have to do some actual thinking when you are driving and you don't appear to like using your brain.
They aren’t dangerous, bad drivers are. Too many cars stop when they don’t need to, and give right of way to cars that don’t deserve it. You don’t need to stop before entering the roundabout, use good judgment. It’s not a four way stop, if a car isn’t in the way just get in, no stopping.
@bellatris - that is universal rules. As applies to if you came to a four way stop sign all at the same time. The person to the right goes first. Did you never have driving lessons & take an exam for your license?
In my state, the rule is the person with the biggest or oldest vehicle has the right of way. I usually drive pickup trucks or big SUV's. I never have any problems. I'm not crazy enough to challenge a tractor trailer and all the little japanese cars usually get out of my way.
I've never seen one in person. Looks like a courtyard... and thats where it should stay in the courtyard of a home. I can definitely see the dangers of it when involving heavy traffic
It isn't that dangerous and I believe it's more safer than intersections and doesn't cause blockades in traffic, you have the view of all 4 sides and no rougue vehicles coming your way. To turn in your direction you just have to change a lane and the roundabout will lead you there.
Unfortunately i have to disagree with you. Roundabouts statistically reduce accidents by something like 90% in some cases. The driver you encountered was an idiot.
Roundabouts are amazing, it's just that (if I understand 6ou correctly) the rule you have where you give way to anyone to your right is the stupid part.
Where I live, anyone in the Roundabout has the right-of-way, and anyone wanting to enter it must yield to those already in it. Roundabouts are much more efficient than 4-say stop signs, for example.
I'm not going to vote because the answers are both bias in my opinion. But for me, the roundabout has never been an issue. If you know what you're doing, it's quite simple. If you get in an accident in the roundabout, it's not has much impact as a freeway or highway.
Roundabouts are miserable. The area where I live in LA built one to great fanfare but kind of forgot to put in merging lanes. The result has been many accidents, but of course, the city won't admit that they fucked up and fix it (assuming it can be fixed).
The ones in Europe aren't as bad, but the ones in the US, like most things in the US, are a poorly designed cheap mess.
A few traffic lights would have prevented a lot of accidents and been a lot cheaper.
I don't dislike them. I just think they are excessive and unnecessary. They rarely make traffic easy to handle.
Those with one lane are okay, like on this pic are annoying and there are dozens of them in my city
One of the few things I don't miss from living in Australia 😂.
The UK has some truly horrendous roundabouts. But some I've seen are mitigated by automated traffic light systems, so it's not a total free-for-all at least.
Roundabouts are great. They have only recently begun to pop up where I live and it took me a minute to get used to them, but I did and I think they are very effective and efficient as long as everyone understands them.
Roundabouts are actually safer than regular junctions. Also they keep the traffic moving better. Traffic lights aren't particularly useful because a lot of drivers run the lights.
Traffic lights also waste time, when nothing moves either way, including pedestrians trying to cross.
They are because we let women drive. Biggest mistake we ever made.
Ahem! (arms crossed, tapping foot, stern look on face).
Have a look at this -
www.aceable.com/.../
Yeah, we do text more when we drive but to be fair we’ve all done things we regret when we were drunk right?
once you get used to them roundabouts are great. You have no stop signs or lights to sit & wait at when no one is coming.
Interestingly there is one of these near the beach in my town and I will be driving through it tomorrow to get by Covid vaccine. We call them "traffic circles" in the USA.
The biggest reason why I don’t drive in the UK is roundabouts.
Naw, they work pretty goog - keeps traffic moving.
What, you're some kind of traffic engineer? No? I didn't think so.
Yeah, they're so confusing. When they first installed one in my town there were so many accidents, because Americans don't know how to use them.
I like roundabouts better than traffic lights. Here, if you're IN the circle you have the right of way.
I agree 100%. They call them "circles" in the US. They traumatize me. Specially when you are following a map. You never know how far is your exit from the RA.
I have 3 roundabouts in my town. I'm so used to it it doesn't bother me. I think it does a better job at getting traffic moving that stop lights ever had
There is one in the neighboring town that I have to take every now and then. If you are patient, then there is no problem.
The reason why they put them is because people love to punch the gas pedal. So they break the speeders by making us break. Less accidents. I hate them too.
India has it figured out.
Just honk and go, no need for order.
Roundabouts are proven to work better than conventional intersections
I like roundabouts but I don't drive and I don't like driving.
Actually they’re less dangerous AND less costly than traffic lights. You’re just an idiot who can’t drive.
this is still the best Roundabout and probably always will be.
I don’t think they’re dangerous, but I do agree they’re stupid. Especially when there’s multiple ones back to back to back.
That’s weird ! Give way to the car on your right... They should wait until it’s clear before they enter.
Roundabouts are easy to maneuver through. everyone entering the roundabout yields to anyone already in the roundabout.
Stupid poll options.
Learn to drive properly, roundabouts are easy to navigate.
They're actually safer and more efficient than 4 way intersections
its usually best to floor the gas, close your eyes and cross your fingers sometimes 🤣
A four way intersection works fine enough if people aren't assholes 9/10 times they are asshole free
Yeah, they can be confusing if you're not used to them. There are very few of them where I live
roundabouts are not dangerous
its drivers who
are in the wrong lane
dont indicate
Nothing shows off one’s inability to drive more than a roundabout.
yeah I hate them and Fort Wayne Indiana and the state just keep adding more
The safety efficacy of the roundabout is well supported by empirical statistics, your feelings are irrelevant.
There are hundreds of relevant studies you can find for yourself online, but here's a fairly comprehensive article from the IIHS that has some good citations:
https://www.iihs.org/topics/roundabouts
The results of the study you link were mixed. They mention both advantages (safety benefits) and disadvantages (safety challenges) to having roundabouts installed at intersections. These claims:
"In addition to having fewer serious conflicts between vehicles than traditional intersections, roundabouts are generally safer for pedestrians as well. In a roundabout, pedestrians walk on sidewalks around the perimeter of the circular roadway. If they need to cross the roadway, they cross only one direction of traffic at a time. In addition, crossing distances are relatively short, and vehicle speeds tend to be low"
are simply not true.
Now you mention it, yes, they are hard work.
I just close my eyes and hope for the best.
No, lol. They’re better than traffic lights.
So are circles. People in the circle have the right of way.
Stupid answers. Don't ask a question if you clearly want to live in an echochamber.
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