Posted on 05/23/2013 4:54:56 AM PDT by Notary Sojac
The city of Atlanta (Motto: Home of the airport where you changed planes last Christmas) has installed a roundabout at a rather busy intersection near my house. This is highly entertaining if youre watching from a safe distance, such as a nearby restaurant patio, or possibly South Carolina. But actually driving in this roundabout is the closest most Atlantans come every day to serious injury, or at least a rather large fender dent.
We all know its true: Americans arent fond of roundabouts. In fact, a new survey says 93 percent of Americans would rather stub their toe on furniture in the middle of the night when trying to locate the bathroom than drive through a roundabout. Admittedly, the facts of this survey are highly disputed, primarily because I just made it up. But theres no arguing that wed rather have a traditional intersection, which is more dangerous, but less confusing. For those of you thinking that roundabouts arent that confusing, just remember: this is the country that bought a million PT Cruisers.
Fortunately, Ive prepared a few tips on how to successfully negotiate a roundabout. I recommend printing this out and storing it in your car. That way, when a roundabout approaches, you can take your eyes off the road and frantically search for it as you drive through, thereby becoming the best driver in the roundabout.
Tip #1: Yield to traffic inside roundabout. This should go without saying, which is why Ive decided to mention it. When youre approaching a roundabout, you must yield to cars currently inside it. Note to Scion tC drivers: yield does not mean downshift and floor it.
In reality, most drivers dont have a problem with this. Usually, people are more than willing to yield to drivers inside the roundabout, and drivers near the roundabout, and schoolchildren at recess several blocks from the roundabout. They do this as they stare into the sky, hoping a traffic light will suddenly appear and tell them to proceed. Which leads us to
Tip #2: Be assertive. Whenever I approach the Scary New Atlanta Roundabout, I always seem to be stuck behind a Volvo 240DL. This means two things: one is that we will sit at the roundabout entrance for the next nine minutes in case someone from two counties over should consider driving through later in the afternoon. And two: as we wait, I will be staring at an NPR bumper sticker.
Yes, its true that you have to yield to traffic in the roundabout. But you also have to push your way in if theres an opening, like when youre leaving Dodger Stadium with everyone else in the middle of the seventh. And for Gods sake, when you get inside
Tip #3: Dont yield to traffic outside the roundabout. Once our NPR-loving friend in the 240DL gets into the roundabout, the real fun begins. As he approaches each entrance, he sees a waiting car and thinks: That used to be me! So he stops to let the other driver go, disrupting the flow of traffic. The sole exception is if the other driver is in a Scion tC, in which case hes already forced his way into the roundabout and may be rolled over on the other side with techno music blaring.
Really, folks: once youre in the roundabout, continue until your destination. And when you get there
Tip #4: Signal your way out. Most drivers believe theres no roundabout turn signal protocol. Actually, that isnt strictly true: many drivers put their left turn signals on as they go through the roundabout since they are, technically, moving left. This is approximately as helpful as a NASCAR driver putting on his left turn signal for an entire race.
In actuality, you should use your right turn signal before leaving a roundabout, thereby giving waiting drivers the opportunity to enter. Otherwise theyre stuck making assumptions about when you might leave. And in the world of roundabouts
Tip #5: Dont assume. Assumptions lead to 86 percent of all roundabout collisions, according to the same company who did that poll about toe-stubbing. The main roundabout assumption is that a driver will leave before hes good and ready.
Just a refresher: when Im in a roundabout, it is my God-given right to exit wherever I want. In fact, I can drive around in circles for weeks, challenging anyone to enter at their own risk, sort of like a foe in an early Super Mario game. At least, thats how most drivers think, displaying the same level of entitlement that a 13-year-old girl might get from having an iPhone.
Feel free to share other roundabout tips. Surely, there are a few I dont know. After all, Im new at this whole roundabout thing and most of my experience comes from following a Volvo 240DL.
That CAN’T be the US ... IS it ?
Yeah...they’re okay for the locals but bad news for visitors...I found the ones around Ft. Monmouth very ‘hidden’ if you will.
Tulsa OK has a very well designed circle on the north side that keeps traffic running smoothly and does not slow it down. It is two lanes with the outside lane for entering and turning out or for going just to the next exit. It is the only American one of these things I have seen that seems to work well and as intended. Actually I suppose the circles here do what is intended namely they are badges of fashionability and payoffs to the road construction company that donated lots of money to the mayor's election campaign.
Funny stuff!
LOL.....a most excellent skewer.
Many years ago in Connecticut there was a rotary with stop signs ON the circle. Drivers on the circle had to stop for entering traffic. Makes you wonder what special kind of stupid ran the highway department.
Yes. And in northeast Ohio, we called them 'traffic circles'.
It seems that governments love these things for some stupid reason. They speak of the awesome effect of "traffic calming" that comes from the roundabout. A much better solution would be a huge cloverleaf interchange and 70 mph speed limits on all major arteries.
Stopping and starting wastes fuel. Slowing and accelerating wastes fuel. And both waste time.
Look over there, kids, Big Ben!
Even if you are confident at the wheel try it, your perspective will change, maybe radically.
Our local roundabouts have a straight/left arrow as one approaches. My daughter, when learning to drive, mistook this for the option to go left or right when entering. She had an interesting experience when she took a left, and so did her mother.
They started in Europe. People that pushed them here had European Superiority Complex.
Sài Gòn and Nha Trang have a number of rotaries/roundabouts that are a heritage of the French colonials. They occur where several very broad avenues come together and are themselves quite large. It is one circumstance that slows down and seems to confuse the thousands of motorbikers that constitute most of the traffic. This is in cities where dense traffic does not stop at X intersections. The streams there just flow through each other somehow.
Going back a few years business would take me to the Boston area from time to time. Stopped for gas at a service station near a circle. While I was at the pump two cars collided in the circle the guy who worked there told me it happened all the time. In fact it wasn’t unusual for the local police to ask him if he witnessed an accident, even had calls from lawyers looking for witnesses ... his response was always I didn’t see anything ... not wanting to spend a great deal of time going to court as a witness.
A little Yakety-Sax a la Benny Hill?
Looks like 12 in-roads on this one...
The utopian planners seem addicted to the idea of infesting us with these things. I know of 3 or 4 planned here in the Pittsburgh area. The only one we had previously was in a county park, where there is a 15 MPH speed limit. And even it was dangerous enough.
Yep
Good stuff. My only disagreement is that the Volvo would have a “Coexist” sticker on it...
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