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Don't Be So Square - Why American Drivers should learn to love the Roundabout
Slate ^
| July 20, 2009
| Tom Vanderbilt
Posted on 07/21/2009 6:58:18 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Don't Be So Square Why American drivers should learn to love the roundabout.
By Tom Vanderbilt Posted Monday, July 20, 2009, at 6:54 AM ET
Here is a narrative that has been playing out over the last several years in any number of American towns: Traffic engineers notice that a particular intersection has a crash problem or is moving traffic inefficiently. After a period of study, the engineers propose a roundabout.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: road; roundabout; traffic
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To: dalereed
Hell no, they are a pile of crap!!!! Keep the foreign crap foreign!They have worked on the East coast for 60 years. You want to sit for three cycles of a traffic light? Not me.
61
posted on
07/21/2009 7:27:42 PM PDT
by
buccaneer81
(Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century. I AM JIM THOMPSON!)
To: Arec Barrwin
Roundabouts keep traffic flowing better than 4-way stops. I came to like them after driving and bicycling in Europe. The French ones need seriously better signage - “Village A”, “Village B”, and “Toutes Directions” (everywhere else) just doesn’t work.
62
posted on
07/21/2009 7:28:21 PM PDT
by
nina0113
To: theFIRMbss
Anderson/Howe/Squire/Wakeman/White PING
63
posted on
07/21/2009 7:28:34 PM PDT
by
old-ager
To: Diana in Wisconsin
We must have more roundabouts in Democrat states. Should thin out their herd rather effectively.
It should cut the Florida population by at least half in week 1, returning the state to The Republicans much more securely than it is now.
Roundabouts are not doing the job in Maine, though. No one can afford gas.
64
posted on
07/21/2009 7:28:53 PM PDT
by
Kenny Bunk
(Congratulations Obama Voters! You are not prejudiced. Just unpatriotic. And dumb.)
To: Arec Barrwin
MD has finally gotten around to building a bypass around the small town just south of me in northern MD. The new 4 mile bypass has three major intersections, including the 2 endpoints where it ties into the original high speed 2-lane road. All three intersections have been built as roundabouts. Definitely a new trend in road design. We have a few others now in the area as well, and I’ve learned to kind of like them. Hopefully the bypass will open soon. It’s been planned/promised for 20 years now.
65
posted on
07/21/2009 7:29:05 PM PDT
by
MCH
To: Arec Barrwin
66
posted on
07/21/2009 7:29:32 PM PDT
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: elkfersupper
Awww shuddup. You don’t have to stop to drive through a roundabout. Traffic lights are really stupid.
67
posted on
07/21/2009 7:30:02 PM PDT
by
old-ager
To: justkate
I grew up in MA. There was a huge rotary in Dedham I used to go through all the time.
68
posted on
07/21/2009 7:30:40 PM PDT
by
buccaneer81
(Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century. I AM JIM THOMPSON!)
To: Calm_Cool_and_Elected
Theres one in Rome that will scare the **** out of you. ALL the ones in Rome scared the crap out of me. The straightaways too! Those are some FIERCE drivers.
69
posted on
07/21/2009 7:31:41 PM PDT
by
nina0113
To: Clemenza
NO TO TRAFFIC CIRCLES!!! Exactly!
Next thing you know, they'll permit you to pump your own gas or maybe even make a left turn from a left turn lane.
70
posted on
07/21/2009 7:31:56 PM PDT
by
relee
('Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away)
To: Arec Barrwin
My favorite driving experience was negotiating a triple roundabout in England. Hair’s still white.
71
posted on
07/21/2009 7:34:03 PM PDT
by
Stentor
(Looking forward to my government mandated future death planning interview.)
To: nina0113
Nina, any Carmelite nun in Naples can out-drive any Roman in a Maserati ... on her Vespa.
Italy at 2 AM ... that's when the real cars and real drivers come out.
72
posted on
07/21/2009 7:38:38 PM PDT
by
Kenny Bunk
(Congratulations Obama Voters! You are not prejudiced. Just unpatriotic. And dumb.)
To: Arec Barrwin
I'll be the Roundabout
The words will make you out and out
I'll spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound
and in and out the valley.
73
posted on
07/21/2009 7:40:05 PM PDT
by
Spirochete
(Texas is an anagram for Taxes)
To: LukeL
At many lights, yes. At a LOT of lights no, especially on boulevards. In some cases you have to go straight through the intersection and turn completely around and make a right. At others you have to make a right, turn around and go back through the intersection. If you get behind a big truck or a little old lady in a boat, you can waste a lot of time and gas just trying to get from A to B.
74
posted on
07/21/2009 7:45:43 PM PDT
by
Kieri
(The Conservatrarian)
To: Arec Barrwin
They have them in Moldova where I live most of the time. They are great..they keep traffic flowing and save time.
I have never understood why we don’t have more of them in the States.
75
posted on
07/21/2009 7:48:32 PM PDT
by
flash2368
(Scary Times)
To: exist
Off Topic: Your screen name makes me laugh every time I read it.
If I wasn't such an upstanding citizen I would steal it.
76
posted on
07/21/2009 7:50:18 PM PDT
by
LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot
("The rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office". ~Andrew Jackson)
To: Spirochete
Mountains come out of the sky
And they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see
I'll be there with you
To: Arec Barrwin
I have no problem with American roundabouts. Nearly got killed trying to navigate the first one I saw in England.. but then again I was nearly struck by a car the first time I tried to cross the street in London.
So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.
78
posted on
07/21/2009 7:53:28 PM PDT
by
LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot
("The rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office". ~Andrew Jackson)
To: theFIRMbss
I was lucky enough to see them perform. Got high with one of the roadies...
Ahhh - the 70’s...
79
posted on
07/21/2009 7:54:37 PM PDT
by
TomServo
To: Arec Barrwin
The only traffic circle I've driven on myself was a two-lane affair near my apartment in college. It wasn't too bad. I've always been very glad to be just a passenger, however, on the European roundabouts. Makes me think of
National Lampoon's European Vacation
That would be my luck. Lol.
80
posted on
07/21/2009 7:55:23 PM PDT
by
TXBlair
(www.ragingelephants.org)
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