Do you have roundabouts where you live?

[Robianco]

Plenty of them here in Liverpool...

It's just knowing how to drive on them... here in the UK traffic gives way to people already on the roundabout whereas in Europe I think people on the roundabout give way to people entering them... that's where the problems arise.

Any driving through France will give you all the confidence you need as a driver... especially through Paris. Get through some of those roundabouts or some of those multi lane arterial roads where you need to be 4 lanes over in 50 metres and you'll be fine after that! :)

[Artanis I]

It keeps the flow of traffic moving...if you are aware what they are supposed to be doing. Many still want to do a 4 way stop.

That annoys me, when the person in front of me stops to give way to someone that is far enough away to go before. Or when people turn left without indicating, and I'm sitting there giving way to fresh air. "Thanks, goose, you made me go back to 1st gear when I could've gone straight through..."

Those roundabouts that have little ones going the other way look like fun. But if you want scary traffic, when I went to Sri Lanka there were 2 main highways merging into 1 in peak traffic that had 4 or more lanes each, no lights, no roundabouts, no nothing. No accidents! Everyone just paid attention to where everyone else was going. Made me realise how precious the locals can be here with their personal space on the road. "Hey man, don't cut me off! HOOOONNK!"

Remember that Chevy Chase movie where they get stuck on a roundabout "Big Ben... Parliament..."

Edited August 24, 2014 by Artanis I

[alois]

Plenty of them here in Liverpool...

It's just knowing how to drive on them... here in the UK traffic gives way to people already on the roundabout whereas in Europe I think people on the roundabout give way to people entering them... that's where the problems arise.

That's generally speaking not true, most roundabouts in continental Europe are of the same type as in the UK (although with driving in the right direction, that is anti-clockwise). There are a few exceptions here in the Netherlands, such as the Emperor Charles-roundabout in Nijmegen, where people on the roundabout have to give way to traffic entering the roundabout. The tricky thing is that there are traffic lights upon entering the roundabout, but none on the roundabout, so you just have to guess if oncoming traffic has red or green light, and if you have to stop or not. Also there aren't any lines painted on the roundabout itself, so once you're on it, it's a jungle.

[fred67]

Here in my town, which is mostly a suburb, there are just a few, and they are all in residential areas, so not a lot of traffic. They do cause problems because they are rare and unfamiliar to people. Around here, even a 4-way stop sign is a challenge for a lot of the peeps...LOL We have to endure a lot of speed 'humps' to slow them down...

More OCD Fred here... people all over the world are just terrible drivers, you have to wonder why... in the U.S., I attribute it to the fact that police are busy giving out speeding tickets and not tickets for failures to give right of way, failure to signal, tailgating... all things that, IMO, are a lot more dangerous than speeding (or worse when combined with speeding). I've sat there blocked by gridlock on some streets in Atlanta, with a police car RIGHT NEXT TO ME who did NOTHING to the people who caused it. People go when they shouldn't, and I don't which is worse, but they DON'T go when they should!

I agree! In Warwickshire (UK) we have plenty and once again hardly anyone uses their indicator! What's it like in other places then?

It's here, too... I generally count less than half the people here using their signals (indicators, whatever you call it wherever you are), probably more like 35 to 40%... yes, I guess I am OCD about things, I do count.

One problem I've seen is that my son's driving teacher (and I'd assume he's not alone, but it's only anecdotal evidence), actually says signalling isn't always necessary... like if you're in a turn lane. I was shocked... your signal is in front, as well as in back - someone coming from the other way may not know you have a turn lane!!! I have seen some spots where it may not be necessary, but I told my son "look... it may not always be necessary, but it's a good habit, and it's never detrimental... so if you ALWAYS use your turn signal, you don't have to stop and think about whether it's actually needed or not."

Oh... if I was a traffic cop... I probably wouldn't be able to afford so much LEGO. But I'd give a LOT of non-speeding traffic tickets around here. But when people feel like they won't get a ticket for it, they don't bother to drive well... it's always all about how fast can I go without getting a ticket. I actually don't have a problem with that - I drive fast, too, but I always signal.

Yes... it's a sore spot. Like I said, I guess I really am OCD.

[Heppeng]

One of the issues with Milton Keynes is that not only are there lots of roundabouts, many are joined by short sections of high speed limit (70mph) road. When you have done your fifth stop from 70mph in four minutes your brakes are starting to get a bit warm! Of course I could drive more slowly and brake earlier, but the roundabouts are delaying me enough as it is!

[dr_spock]

There are 3-4 roundabouts in my neighborhood. They are not bad to use in the middle of the night. Some times I can go around and around before exiting.

[Artanis I]

We've had umpteen roundabouts since forever, and yet I still occasionally have to jump on the brakes because someone who was meant to give way to me did the wrong thing. Only occasionally though.

Oh... if I was a traffic cop... I probably wouldn't be able to afford so much LEGO. But I'd give a LOT of non-speeding traffic tickets around here. But when people feel like they won't get a ticket for it, they don't bother to drive well... it's always all about how fast can I go without getting a ticket.

Haha, local police will book you for anything against the road rules. Our crime rate doesn't give them enough to do sometimes? Not just for speeding, but for failure to give way, failure to indicate, excessive noise, following another vehicle too close, running a red light or stop sign, faulty headlights, using a mobile phone, excessive blood-alcohol/drug level, no seatbelt, smoking with children in the car, "dangerous driving", open alcohol in the car, not keeping to the left lane unless overtaking or turning, obstructing traffic, driving while distracted, not carrying a current licence, broken glass, driving or parking an unregistered vehicle or with neither front nor rear plates, incorrect coloured lights, exceeding the window tint limit, crossing double continuous lines, parking on the wrong side of the road or in front of a driveway or outside the lines etc... and everyone's response when booked is "I didn't know..." "Ignorance is no excuse."

Having said that, I respect the police. If you do the right thing they leave you alone anyway. I wish they'd book MORE people for speeding past my house (at 3am thanks very much).

[rodiziorobs]

The problem with roundabouts where I live (Utah, USA) is that since they are rare, the city thinks they have to put a giant monument ("Look! Ta-Da! We have a roundabout!") to take up the space. So they put up some walls with gardens overhanging them and giant trees on every side, which obscures your view around any side of it to where you literally can't see if it is clear to enter until you already have.

Thankfully, as they are getting more common this trend seems to be waning.

Another problem is that where my parents live there is a roundabout with two lanes (with the above-stated visibility issue), six entries/exits, but a very small circumference--there is hardly any space between the roads leading in and out. If it were bigger it might work, but as is it simply doesn't. That and the motorists here are (generally speaking) the well-deserved butt of many jokes; we just barely figured out how a regular roundabout works, and now here's one with two lanes?

**edit: I just followed that link on the Magic Roundabout, that is absolutely nuts.

Edited August 25, 2014 by rodiziorobs

[Rusty84]

None very near to my place, though I remember one near where my parents stay - and that's more than a 220 miles away!

[Artanis I]

Multi-laned roundabouts can make it confusing or difficult to get out of. If you are going straight ahead or less, you typically stick to the outer-most (of the circle) lane. If you are going further around, go with the inner-most lane, but you need to get out of that lane before you want to exit, or you'll get stuck, or get run into.

I just remembered one on a road near my house, there used to be 2 T-junctions that were close together. One side street had low visibility and the other had a steep incline that was hard to get out of. The council ended up building a peanut shaped roundabout that covered the whole area. Has vastly improved the traffic there, only problem being that to go "straight ahead" you take an F1 race track type of route!

[SkynetLego]

I just went on vacation to Mallorca Spain. The city "Inca" has also a lot of roundabouts, as much as I used to encounter in Holland.

Edited August 25, 2014 by SkynetLego

[Zerobricks]

This reminds me, there's a big shopping centre/mall park in the industrial zone of our capital Ljubljana called BTC, and all the intersections are roundabouts.

Here's a picture:

https://www.google.si/maps/place/Btc+D.D./@46.0651907,14.5461878,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47653267e8a055b9:0xbe301609a5baef77

Edited August 25, 2014 by Zblj

[fred67]

We've had umpteen roundabouts since forever, and yet I still occasionally have to jump on the brakes because someone who was meant to give way to me did the wrong thing. Only occasionally though.

Haha, local police will book you for anything against the road rules. Our crime rate doesn't give them enough to do sometimes? Not just for speeding, but for failure to give way, failure to indicate, excessive noise, following another vehicle too close, running a red light or stop sign, faulty headlights, using a mobile phone, excessive blood-alcohol/drug level, no seatbelt, smoking with children in the car, "dangerous driving", open alcohol in the car, not keeping to the left lane unless overtaking or turning, obstructing traffic, driving while distracted, not carrying a current licence, broken glass, driving or parking an unregistered vehicle or with neither front nor rear plates, incorrect coloured lights, exceeding the window tint limit, crossing double continuous lines, parking on the wrong side of the road or in front of a driveway or outside the lines etc... and everyone's response when booked is "I didn't know..." "Ignorance is no excuse."

Having said that, I respect the police. If you do the right thing they leave you alone anyway. I wish they'd book MORE people for speeding past my house (at 3am thanks very much).

Oh, the police here will give you tickets for the more "heinous" violations like running a red light, but most things (at least here in GA, USA) are add-ons. They won't pull you over for not wearing a seatbelt, but they'll add it on to your speeding ticket if they pull you over for that. Then they might add on malfunctioning lights and other stuff. You only get a ticket for following too close AFTER you cause an accident because of it (I think the reason is it can be subjective until the accident proves you were objectively following too close).

[Spud The Viking]

In my local village, people just drive over the roundabouts like idiots!

[Kintobor]

Not where I live, but I remember going up to a model train show farther north with my grandfather for the weekend and we came to a roundabout. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying something about the "blasted roundabout" and how much he hated them.

[N-4K0]

My municipality has around 7500 citizens, last I heard a number. I don't know how many people live in my town, but we have one small roundabout with 1 traffic lane.

[grum64]

Went to London on Sunday and, as seems to be the case everywhere, we had to run the gauntlet of drivers totally devoid of common sense or knowledge of the Highway Code.

There they were, in their Fiestas, Minis, Range Rovers and in one case, a very aged gentleman in an alarmingly fast Morris Minor, all straight-lining mini roundabouts forcing those of us with the right of way to either take evasive action or brake so hard that the car was nearly stripped of its body panels!

Edited August 25, 2014 by grum64

[Modelmaker]

Here we have many different types of roundabout. We have the normal kind then the normal kind but with traffic lights that stop you on the roundabout. The roundabouts with smaller roundabouts built into them and then the mini roundabouts we even have some that look like someone spilled a pot of paint on the road, they are called Whatthehellsthatabout-abouts

But talking about these weird traffic controllers, I just watched an episode of Mythbusters where they tested traffic myths.

In 15 minutes they counted 335 cars through a 4 way stop and 460 cars through a roundabout. so i guess they work better in the long run.

[fred67]

But talking about these weird traffic controllers, I just watched an episode of Mythbusters where they tested traffic myths.

In 15 minutes they counted 335 cars through a 4 way stop and 460 cars through a roundabout. so i guess they work better in the long run.

Oh yes... I really like them, actually, in theory... it's just when nobody is on the same page as anybody else, it's just scary.

[Paul B Technic]

In Australia we have a heap of these, mostly in the cities and larger towns.

[Godtshep]

Yup, plenty of roundabouts in Cambridge!

[Zerobricks]

So here's a question...which ones do you prefer roundabouts or the usual intersections?

I prefer roundabouts, because I hate waiting for lights and also an empty roundabut is good fun (testing the car's tyres )

[fred67]

I personally prefer traffic circles (as they're known here) in theory, but in practice I think people are too dumb.

[tedbeard]

I was just browing youtube today and noticed lots of comments (seesm from US and Canada) about how roundabouts (traffic circles) are a nightmare...

Whats your experience with them?

I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada where we removed the roundabouts around fifty years ago in a fit of "modernizing". Since these things come full circle (see what I did there) they started adding them back into local road design about 10 years ago. They just added one at the entrance to the university where I work.

As others have mentioned, the lack of experience of an entire generation of drivers who grew up and learned to drive without these things makes for a lot of timid and confused drivers which made them a pain to navigate for the first few years. Now with practice most drivers are getting used to them and it is better.

Edited August 26, 2014 by tedbeard

[large88]

I live in the Netherlands and, as pointed out here before, there are many roundabouts. I think it was the late 90s when they really started appearing everywhere. Generally people know their way "around" them very well. But there are always some people that don't use indicators, that is very annoying.

Now there are several variations and layouts of roundabouts. I personally like the ones that also serve the on and off ramps for a highway. Often they combine two roundabouts on each side of the highway, like so: 0=0. And the highway runs in between on a flyover. See here; LINK

More difficult are the roundabouts that are combined with traffic lights, these are quite big. You really have to pay attention to being in the right lane. See here; LINK

Near the edge of my town they have constructed a bypass for semis. So instead of turning a sharp right corner on the roundabout the can take a single lane that connects to that road on the right at a less sharp angle. This often causes dangerous situations as drivers on the bypass don't pay attention to traffic exiting the roundabout near the bypass.