# Are Roundabouts Better Than Stoplights?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 18, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129 "2004-06-18T23:36:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/21 "2004-06-19T05:00:17Z")
**Sam Stone** , where are you?
I can state that traffic circles are very rare in my part of Canada. I can think of only one in Toronto, for instance. It’s in Swansea where five roads of not-too-different size (all two-lane residential) come together, and it was only installed in the last couple of years. Fun going around on the Swansea bus…
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### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/22 "2004-06-19T05:40:43Z")
Sam’s in Alberta. If memory serves, Edmonton has a bunch. I don’t think I’ve ever come across one in any other city in Canada, though there are plenty of places I haven’t been. Saskatoon used to have one at Circle & 8th, but it’s been replaced with an overpass. Since there was only one, people never understood how to use it properly, and it caused problems. It’s too bad, because when people do know how to use them they’re a very slick way of moving traffic. Winnipeg should stick one in at Confusion Corner, though that’d mess up the bus stop there I guess. Still and all, better than having to sit at three seperate stoplights to get through one intersection.
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### Author:  [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/23 "2004-06-19T05:58:46Z")
I’ve been using both for many years and have to say it depends on the type of intersection as to which I prefer. There are one or two roundabouts we’ve dubbed “the roundabout-o-death”. Some can be very scary, though overall they do keep the traffic flowing better.
I prefer roundabouts on smaller intersections or those with light traffic. Give me lights at large, high traffic multi lane intersections.
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### Author:  [@Sharky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sharky)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/24 "2004-06-19T08:10:34Z")
Roundabouts are best when they are not in an area with lots of tourists or elderly drivers (and I mean that in the nicest possible way). Such as Florida, or where I lived for a couple of years in the 80s - Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
We have one in Panama City to replace a problem signal location, and it works OK because it’s one lane. Sometimes people freeze up and sit there if they are unfamiliar with the concept, but they usually figure it out and proceed.
The roundabouts on HHI were multi-lane, IIRC. Those were exciting, especially when a tourist driver realized they were about to miss their turn, and would swerve across the thru lanes and into the turn lane.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/25 "2004-06-19T09:47:04Z")
> [@amarinth](#):
>
> 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.)
The number of people I’ve seen sail straight through a red light without noticing it, I’m not sure that’s true.
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> 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.
A miniroundabout has the same rules, but (surprise!) is smaller - and the centre is either flat or only slightly raised, so that lorries/buses etc can still negotiate it. [http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/TrafficSafety/MiniRoundabouts.htm](http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/TrafficSafety/MiniRoundabouts.htm)
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### Author:  [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/26 "2004-06-19T11:06:32Z")
They do seem to work well over here. I don’t know if we could make the switch in the States. You couldn’t really do it piecemeal after all. (I mean to get it t work like it does here).
But if we’re going to have traffic lights, could we please have the other thing they have here, a yellow light after the red as well as before? That’s something else that seems to keep traffic flowing better.
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### Author:  [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/27 "2004-06-19T11:13:49Z")
Roundabouts have come into fashion again, within the last decade, in the region where I live and I really like them:
- they work reasonably efficient even in rush-hour traffic, if everyone is alert (and people who do not concentrate on driving should not drive).
- when there is light traffic you usually can drive through them without slowing down much
- when I have missed a turnoff in an unfamiliar town a roundabout is very convenient for turning
- when navigating in an unfamilar place the direction signs before a major intersection sometimes are too near the intersection for me to read, process for geographic meaning (German road signage assumes that you are familiar with the relative geographic locations of all towns concerned), and then to safely merge into the correct turnoff lane. No problem with a roundabout - I can drive around until I have read, ruminated on, understood and decided about all turnoff signs.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/28 "2004-06-19T17:03:50Z")
They’ve started replacing four way stops at several intersections here in Lawrence with mini roundabouts. These are about 30-40 feet in diameter.
Americans don’t know how to deal with multiple yield signs. It is a fact.
The one I go through a lot was three way stop. I come west to the roundabout, looking north and south for oncoming traffic, no cars, I go on through, usually north. If there is a car coming into the intersection from the south, I stop at the yield sign and wait for them to traverse the roundabout. They see me, however, and stop in the middle of the turn thinking they still have to yield.
The city built one on a side street to stop cars from flying through the intersection when driving home from a dive bar on the corner. It didn’t actually stop anyone, or slow them down, as the deep gouges in the concrete can attest. The busses and emergency vehicles drive right over it because they are too long to go around (my car has trouble fitting), and I saw a fire truck with siren blaring get stuck on the edge of the big planter they put in the middle.
Badly planned and implemented roundabouts in a stoplight/sign based society are a bad idea.
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### Author:  [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/29 "2004-06-19T17:11:50Z")
IF the traffic is not heavy AND drivers are accustomed to using roundabouts (rotaries) AND driver give the right-of-way to those already in the circle, THEN the roundabout (rotary) is great.
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### Author:  [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/30 "2004-06-19T18:44:43Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> 1. It requires a crapload of signage: warning— roundabout ahead signs, “keep right” signs, signs on all three roads that lead up to the thing.
Do you have a lot of warning signs in America? Is that the usual thing? It’s just my only experience with more than necessary signage is outside a USAF base here in Norfolk. Basically there is a 40mph limit going past the base but despite the fact that the 40 signs are the largest I have ever seen, there are signs warning you that the 40 signs are coming up. 😕 Do you need to be warned that are about to be warned?
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### Author:  [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/31 "2004-06-19T18:45:52Z")
Crap, that’s Norfolk in **England** , not Virginia
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### Author:  [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/32 "2004-06-19T19:24:17Z")
We have a few around Houston, Texas, the one that I am most familiar with is known as “Suicide Circle” (Park Place & Broadway & I-45) and if folks knew how to use it it would work a lot better but because of the idiots you have to be looking in all 47 directions as you go through and it is very stressful.
Unclviny
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/33 "2004-06-19T19:43:18Z")
Problem with using roundabouts in the States is that they require drivers who know the location and use of their indicators/turn signals. Most Americans (or at least most Floridians) seem to think the orange bits are there for decoration.
Why is this a problem? Because you’ll never know if the people coming around while you’re sitting waiting to pull onto the roundabout are turning or not, so you have to wait anyway.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/34 "2004-06-19T19:54:19Z")
[Stupid question]
Can someone explain to me WTF a roundabout is? Are we talking about offramps? If so, I hardly see how they could work on residential streets.
[/Stupid question]
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/35 "2004-06-19T20:17:34Z")
A traffic circle, Friedo; a circular road where two or more streets meet. Instead of crossing or turning (as at an intersection), you merge on, go around until you come to your street, and exit.
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### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/36 "2004-06-19T20:45:11Z")
> [@nocturnal\_tick](#):
>
> … 😕 Do you need to be warned that are about to be warned?
Yes, and we prefer some notification beforehand.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/37 "2004-06-19T21:50:23Z")
They’re nice sometimes. They are often faster, and they do have the nice effect, for residential neighborhoods, of slowing traffic - a fairly big issue in dealing with traffic. According to something I read for one of my classes, they’re indeed more efficient - if there’s not heavy traffic. Areas that are heavily used tend to run smoother with traffic lights.
However, no one ever seems to address the fact that they can be _hell_ for pedestrians. They have several in one area of my campus, and back when I lived near them, I ended up taking detours to avoid walking through them. Traffic doesn’t stop, and you have to negotiate both traffic from one street and traffic within the circle, and since apparently a good two-thirds of the public is too stupid to operate turn signals, it’s very hard to tell what the vehicles in the circle are gonna do.
So if there’s moderate traffic, I think they’re actually pretty hostile to pedestrians. Those on foot seem to be forgotten by traditional traffic planning, but I wonder whether the roundabout’s current caché is gonna disappear now that New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Design and various other isms that promote walking are so trendy.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/38 "2004-06-19T22:18:24Z")
LOL. Every Brit I know will expound upon the superiority of round-abouts. Every Yank I know who has been to the UK will tell you traffic lights are better.
In Swindon in the UK there is a “magic round about” that even the locals laugh about. It is horrible and I am amazed that there aren’t more accidents.
When I was driving to Cambridge from Swindon I met several round-abouts where I sat for an ungodly amount of time (one for literally in excess of 25 minutes.) The Brit I was with told me that is only at peak hours.
In the US in York there is a traffic light in the morning that I can sit through for in excess of 20 minutes most mornings.
As far as I can tell, both systems have positives and negatives.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/39 "2004-06-19T22:26:34Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> In Swindon in the UK there is a “magic round about” that even the locals laugh about. It is horrible and I am amazed that there aren’t more accidents.
[Here it is](http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm). Actually it doesn’t look too bad on [this photo](http://www.strum.co.uk/wessex/brunpic.htm) - it’s just a circular (pentagonal) road with five mini-roundabouts.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-roundabouts-better-than-stoplights/251129/40 "2004-06-19T22:40:23Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> [Here it is](http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm). Actually it doesn’t look too bad on [this photo](http://www.strum.co.uk/wessex/brunpic.htm) - it’s just a circular (pentagonal) road with five mini-roundabouts.
This is my favorite quote:
> [@](#):
>
> And magic it certainly is. Though it may confuse or amuse new visitors and baffle American tourists, the average Swindonian finds that his or her passage through one of the town’s busiest junctions is actually quite fluid, even at peak times. Twenty-five years on, the Magic Roundabout still works, despite ever-increasing volumes of traffic.
I only know 5 or 6 “Swindonians” (they call themselves Swindoners), but they all make fun of it and certainly don’t think it makes things fluid…
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