The roundabout thread

[Maxx☢Power]

Originally Posted by RawLee

I'm afraid of using the inner lanes on multi-lane roundabouts. I dont really know why,because even if other drivers make me skip my exit,I can just go around again...

Especially when some morons come up from behind honking and hanging out of the windows going between the two lanes, as happened to me a few days ago.

I find that most of the time when there's not that much traffic, most people tend to kind of just drive in the middle, using both lanes. I do it myself too if there are no other cars around me..

[DanielFigFoz]

My opinion on roundabouts is that they are good in most cases, although there are other cases that would be better with traffic lights. Also there are traffic lights that should be roundabouts.

[nerdly_dood]

My opinion about roundabouts is this - They work reasonably well in Europe, so good for you. In Virginia, however, a roundabout would undoubtedly cause precisely what it's designed to avoid: Traffic would come to a standstill.

Nobody around here knows how to drive a roundabout if there's a substantial amount of traffic - I once went through one with a quite insubstantial amount of traffic in north-central Virginia, and several times through one without much traffic, north of Charlottesville (never driven one myself) - if one was built in Roanoke, traffic would come to a standstill as confused drivers try to do what they haven't been trained to do (I took a driver's ed classroom portion a year ago, and not once was the word "roundabout" mentioned) and, quite possibly, several fender-benders.

One type of roundabout that would be vastly worse than stuck traffic and a few fender-benders is one of those hellish multi-roundabouts like this one - if I had to drive through that, I'd just say a quick prayer and drive straight through it if there was no traffic - if there was any traffic I'd turn around and try to get a way around it on side streets.

The only type of roundabout that I think would actually work would be a giant highway roundabout, with onramps rather than intersecting roads - highway merging is something that IS taught and performed frequently around here.

[Verso]

Originally Posted by nerdly_dood

My opinion about roundabouts is this - They work reasonably well in Europe, so good for you. In Virginia, however, a roundabout would undoubtedly cause precisely what it's designed to avoid: Traffic would come to a standstill.

Are Americans/Virginians stupid? After you use roundabouts a few times, you should get used to them. Roundabouts aren't here since always either. They're much better than intersections in many cases, so why not use it? Aren't Americans the innovative nation?

[ttownfeen]

I think single-lane roundabouts in low-speed roads would do fine in the US.

[LtBk]

There is a roundabout nearby that has been around for almost a decade, and people still don't know to use one. What's worse is that use of turn signals when exiting out of the roundabout is nonexistent.

[deranged]

Originally Posted by Verso

After you use roundabouts a few times, you should get used to them. Roundabouts aren't here since always either. They're much better than intersections in many cases, so why not use it? Aren't Americans the innovative nation?

I agree - it's like saying "I invented the wheel, so I know how to use it. But no-one else should use it because they don't know how."

Originally Posted by nerdly_dood

In Virginia, however, a roundabout would undoubtedly cause precisely what it's designed to avoid: Traffic would come to a standstill.

Nobody around here knows how to drive a roundabout [...] traffic would come to a standstill as confused drivers try to do what they haven't been trained to do [...] I took a driver's ed classroom portion a year ago, and not once was the word "roundabout" mentioned

You've solved your own problem. If American drivers were taught how to use them, roundabouts would function no differently from anywhere else.

[ChrisZwolle]

Roundabouts are actually not much different than a regular "give way" intersection.

However, I think many American roads are too busy for roundabouts. Above 15,000 AADT, they become less useful with queues often, and multilane highways are also not very well to have roundabouts on, giant multilane roundabouts are not very effective.

[KiwiGuy]

New Zealand has plenty of roundabouts and even has little things like switching your turning signal on when leaving one after going through one. Unfortuneatly where I live, multilaned roundabouts are springing up everywhere and since my city is like a giant retirement home (full of old people), they easily get confused.
Pity.

[Rebasepoiss]

Sometimes there's just too many of them. This is Tondi street in Tallinn:

[Billpa]

Originally Posted by nerdly_dood

In Virginia, however, a roundabout would undoubtedly cause precisely what it's designed to avoid: Traffic would come to a standstill.

Please. If people in Virginia can yield to traffic coming from the left then they can navigate a roundabout. If they can't then they should surrender their drivers licenses to the commonwealth by close of business today.

[Glodenox]

Roundabouts aren't hard to drive on *at all*. Personally, I just gained my driving license 2 months ago and not a single time have I felt fear on one of them. I can understand that if you've never seen them, it's a strange experience, but once you understand the concept (the traffic on the roundabout has to keep flowing to keep the roundabout efficient), there's little more to know about it. Their basic design is there exactly to prevent just what you said: a standstill. The traffic will keep flowing if they're used as they should be (give way to those on the roundabout and only squeeze in if there's room).

A series of roundabouts isn't always efficient indeed. Looking at the picture posted by Rebasepoiss, I can see that the roundabouts are used for accessing the streets with just homes. That's not a situation where you should lay a roundabout: there's more traffic going in one direction than the other directions. The only reason why they'd do that would be "because it looks modern".

Greetings,
Glodenox

[Rebasepoiss]

The official explanation, I believe, was to "calm down traffic"....

[ChrisZwolle]

Yeah, roundabouts are often abused for traffic calming purposes. Maybe a plateau was better in this case.

[Glodenox]

Oh right, forgot about that possibility... A plateau would've been much better then indeed.

Over here they like to put obstacles on the road, which result in you having to slow down if someone is coming from the other direction, but I hate those. Those obstacles only result in accidents and can severely disturb the flow of the traffic once it gets busy.

Greetings,
Glodenox

[Verso]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

However, I think many American roads are too busy for roundabouts.

Maybe, but many aren't.

Originally Posted by LtBk

There is a roundabout nearby that has been around for almost a decade, and people still don't know to use one. What's worse is that use of turn signals when exiting out of the roundabout is nonexistent.

I didn't mean that people here drive through roundabouts properly, but getting through a roundabout shouldn't be hard at all.

[Justme]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

However, I think many American roads are too busy for roundabouts. Above 15,000 AADT, they become less useful with queues often, and multilane highways are also not very well to have roundabouts on, giant multilane roundabouts are not very effective.

They have quite a few in central Barcelona, Paris and Madrid, and those have wide avenues branching out with many roads. I think they are pretty busy as well.

[ChrisZwolle]

Yeah, but do you think they work well? How many people know exactly how to navigate a 5/6 lane roundabout? People are just driving somewhere slowly, hoping they make it across it okay.

[Justme]

Year, don't know how well they work, but they look great

My point though was regarding traffic levels being too high in the US and the references I used showed them still possible.

[metasmurf]

One from Sweden