OK… I just returned to the US from 10 days in the UK (thanks, Jojo and GorillaMan!) and have decided that the roundabout system may be superior to the American stop light system. Or at least more efficient.
A few reasons: Traffic generally keeps moving, and all traffic doesn’t sit in intersections, waiting for all the left-turns to clear. In a roundabout, the left turn traffic just drives further around the circle.
I admit that the system took some getting used to, but I became a convert after a few days.
Other people having experience with both - your thoughts?
For some reason unknown to me, they have replaced the nice normal stoplight down the road from my parents’ house in Florida with one of these monstrosities. It’s awful. Horrible. Traumatizing.
It takes up more space. Seems kinda silly.
It requires a crapload of signage: warning— roundabout ahead signs, “keep right” signs, signs on all three roads that lead up to the thing.
It dosen’t work! It’s scary! You never know if somebody’s going to turn before you or come towards you. Everybody hesitates, it’s inefficient, it makes people tense. The more cowardly motorists just sit there and sit there and sit there and you never get anywhere. And these are the Floridians who fear no four way stop sign!
Granted, some of these problems are because the thing is unfamiliar (actually they’ve put three or four of them on the island, with the same results everywhere.) But honestly, I don’t see why you’d rather have this than a stoplight. You can always turn right on red if nobody’s coming, and these are two of the busiest roads on the island! Bad, bad, evil roundabout. I go the back way around it just because it’s so stressful.
I hate roundabouts/traffic circles/rotaries… There’s always one idiot who will muck things up, if it’s one you’re not familiar with, it’s too easy to miss your turn - especially if it’s one of the stupid ones with a jungle in the center. I don’t like them, and I’ve driven through plenty. I’ll wait 3 minutes at the traffic light, no problem.
I have some experience from driving through roundabouts in NJ, and have never had a problem. For the most part, it’s just common sense. (Which is why, I suppose, the multi-million dollar roundabout that was built a few years ago in Clearwater, FL was torn down just last year…the idiot drivers in the Sunshine State DON’T USE COMMON SENSE.)
In a high-traffic area, a stoplight might be a better option; otherwise, I think a roundabout would suffice.
I should probably rephrase my question as “roundabout-based systems” versus “stoplight-based systems”. I agree that a co-mingling doesn’t make much sense. We have ONE roundabout here in Lexington KY and it was a disaster when it first opened.
I’d definately argue for roundabouts…here’s a few rebuttals …
When space is an issue, mini-roundabouts can be used.
They’re possible with very little signage - especially when people are familiar with them.
Again, it’s all about familiarity. And it’s actually highly-efficient - as long as people know what to do, very few vehicles have to stop completely.
:smack: you already said it! Serioulsy, though, they’re one thing that takes everyone here a while to learn when learning to drive - but once you’ve done it, it’s second nature.
Not a law used in many countries outside America.
A couple of other defenses of roundabouts:
ability to cope with fluctuations in traffic. A traffic light system will be timed to give the longest period of green on the usually-busy direction; however, eg a sports arena kicking out via a side road can create chaos with only a few cars getting green at a time. No problem with a roundabout.
fewer queues of stationary traffic pumping out fumes into the surrounding area
Oh, another reason - if you’ve taken a wrong turn, a roundabout can be used to go full circle. And I found this page, with far more than it’s healthy to know about them.
They put one in 10 or so years back in the city where I was born. Unfortunately, a lot of the natives absolutely cannot adapt to this concept, and angry letters persist in the paper, decrying the roundabout! I even have some relatives who refuse to drive thru it, detouring miles! It is to laugh!
GorillaMan, to add to your point about signage, what they don’t require is craploads of traffic lights,overhead wiring, etc… [hijacking my own thread]And per your recommendation, I took the train to Hornsey Station - worked out great. Thank you.[/hijacking my own thread]
Roundabouts have centers that can be used for decorative planting and designs. I saw this used quite well on the approach roads to Tours, France. OTOH, coming to a roundabout every quarter of a mile was a bit aggravating. At least a traffic light would have given you a couple greens in a row.
Okay, I know this is a stupid question, because it’s obvious - it’s a little roundabout. But how does that work? Maybe the one near my parents’ house is a mini-roundabout and I didn’t know it.
But yes, the big problem lies in mixing systems. And when they plant a bunch of crap in the middle with a fountain it is easier to miss your turn. The one near a lake-house inside a ritzy “Planned Urban Development” (Urban? It was in the middle of nowhere!) seemed more of an effort to a) look nice with a fountain, and b) get people to slow down than anything else. There wasn’t hardly any traffic to regulate, and you always felt silly going all the way around the thing when the only place anybody really wanted to go was left.
Didn’t visit New England while you were in the states, huh? Traffic circles are common place here. I think I agree with you… I can’t imagine what it would be like waiting for lights at a four or six way intersection where there are currently traffic circles. Plus, you rarely see the types of traffic backups at traffic circles that are common at lights.
My only beef with the rotaries as the natives here call them is that they work best when the amount of traffic coming in from every direction is roughly equal.
In the Boston area there are many (Rte. 2 near Alewife in Cambridge, if that means anything to anyone reading this, as an example) where 99.99% of the cars going through the thing are coming in one side and going out the other, but they all have to stop and wait for the few cars that are coming in from one of the other directions. Causes backups at least as bad as a traffic light based system would cause, methinks.
And then you’ve got the people yielding to other drivers even though THEY HAVE the right of way. Just go, dammit!
I thought Connecticut was the Northern section of Long Island?
I spent two weeks in NZ (which isn’t much time using them) and even with the incredibly informative and well designed signs and signals, I really wanted a stoplight.
They’re simpler, easier, straightforward, and less chance (it seems) of someone doing something stupid and unexpected and blindsiding you. (or doing something stupid and unexpected and blindsiding them.)
I hate them. Hate hate hate hate hate them. There’s a couple around the New Orleans area that I know of, and they scare the you-know-what out of me. I guess that’s what happens when you live in an old city, though, they still have them. shudder
We’ve got lots of them in Canada. I like them a lot. Remember these simple rules for two-lane traffic circles: 1) If going 1/4 of the way around, stay in the outside lane. 2) if going 3/4 of the way around, stay in the inside lane. 3) If going halfway around, either lane is fine. 4) vehicles in the circle have the right of way.
When everyone knows how to drive them, they’re great. Although I suspect that there are some combinations of vehicle volume, or disparities in volume on different roads, that makes them iinefficient. But in my experience, intersections wtih traffic circles are more efficient than those with lights. One good reason - no red lights blocking traffic when the other street is empty anyway.
I suspect that traffic circles are also safer, because accidents in them happen at a much lower speed. You don’t get people running lights and barrelling through the intersection at full speed.
In Edmonton we had a traffic circle that had street lights at every enter/exit point. How is that for expeience with both. I belive that circle has been remove and is now just a set of lights.
I can’t say witch I preffer to be honest. We do have one traffic circle that friends have had picnics in the middile off. Hard to do that in a standard intersection.
…
We use four-way stops instead.
