Posted on 07/01/2011 9:59:00 AM PDT by the scotsman
'A roundabout revolution is slowly sweeping the US. The land of the car, where the stop sign and traffic light have ruled for decades, has started to embrace the free-flowing British circular.
A few moments after entering Carmel, it's clear why the city has been described as the Milton Keynes of the US.
As the sat-nav loudly and regularly points out, there's often a roundabout up ahead.
But unlike in the English town famous for them, driving into this pretty city on the outskirts of Indianapolis also involves passing several more under construction.
The city is at the forefront of a dizzying expansion, across several American states, of the circular traffic intersection redesigned in 1960s Britain and then exported globally. About 3,000 have been built in the US in the last 20 years.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I HATE these things! Liberals love them because their so European and “calming”.
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silly comment.
In Europe they are actually designed for traffic flow and they work great. In the US they are used for calming and are stupid.
When designed and implemented for traffic flow, they are awesome.
And anyone who thinks they are dangerous just needs to pay more attention to those around them (not exactly our forte)
Years ago, we were convoying to a friend’s wedding. There were 6 cars in our little convoy. After a few hours we pulled into town about 10pm and came upon a round about. As the leader of our little convoy I jumped right in (with “my” convoy in hot pursuit) and proceeded around... and around... and around... LOL, I pulled up behind the last car in the convoy and started following him around the circle. We did about 5 laps before I pulled off in the direction we needed to go. All the guys that were driving thought it was pretty funny. All the wives and girlfriends? Not so much. ;-)
I never know when the hell to merge or change lanes, it’s confusing unless everyone uses the same rules, which in the US have never really been established, since so few places had them historically.
We call them ‘traffic circles’.................
Where it really becomes a clusterf**k is when they put a traffic light IN the circle.
Copley, OH has one.
Maybe they work better if the wheel is on the wrong side of the car.
There’s an upsurge of “roundabouts” (we used to call them “traffic circles” here)in northern Virginia. It’s part of a move called “traffic calming” to avoid the starts and stops and traffic surges of regular traffic lights.
Also they may be cheaper in the long run—since there are no traffic lights to maintain.
Where Route 50 meets Route 15 (a major N/S road going for NC up into NY state) TWO roundabouts are used, and, so far so good (as far as I know). Used to be a major intersection of two heavily traveled roads, where you’d always want to time the light right... now you don’t have to slow down so much...
I know huge traffic circles (with 5 or more roads coming together) can be dangerous, but roundabouts as an alternative to a typical traffic light, may well be a good thing.
I hate round abouts. We have had two taken out because of too many accidents.
I hope not. Roundabouts (or traffic circles as we call them) are hazardous. Mix in cell phones and text messaging and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Rotaries (roundabouts?) are commonplace here in New England. No problem. I’ve been using them since I got my license, back when coal-fired steam auto-mobiles were all the rage. (Ahem.)
One interesting rotary is located at Interstate 93 at the junctions of Routes 110 and 113 in Methuen, Mass. The markings on this rotary make traffic flow a little smoother at rush hour, though all rotaries are a pain when traffic is heavy.
Anybody in the area should give this rotary a try. See what you think about these unusual lane markings.
IMO, the NJ “jughandles” are a big improvement over the circles...IF there is good signage.
I’m sure there were no cocktails consumed prior to that adventure! :-)
“Hey kids look...Big Ben, Parliament...”
“Look kids...”
“We know...Big Ben...”
“Parliament”
Good ol’ Amherst. I miss it. Sometimes.
Circles would work OK for low-traffic areas with proper driver training. When you start getting into some of those big multi-lane monstrosities? No thanks.
What blows my mind is seeing that the UK apparently use them for the roads going on and off motorways (limited-access highways). I can’t visualize how having traffic circles to get on and off a major highway is more efficient than just having a simple intersection...especially that from what I’ve seen on TV, those roundabouts have stoplights! Huh?
}:-)4
Of course this reminds me...
Do you know why Alabama never issued Helen Keller a driver’s license?
Because she was a woman.
Like Bristol?
They used to have a stop light system there ~ and almost every time you came through there you got stopped. That intersection took an average of 5 minutes to navigate.
With the circle in place it takes almost no time at all.
The problem at this point is that at different times of the day, 24/7, the principal thoroughfare changes many times. This has nothing to do with an urban rush hour ~ more like fishermen, tourists, locals doing shopping, and mysterious employees working in mysterious operations, somewhere, in buildings with fake signs on them.
I guess the traffic flow patterns were simply beyond the ability of computer operated stoplights to keep up with.
A traffic circle has no trouble decoding the opportunities, and so it works.
I'd guess most everybody around there hates it.
When I visited England many years ago it was called a circus.
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