# Different styles of roundabouts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569 "2022-06-21T17:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/21 "2022-06-22T00:46:45Z")
In my area of London the streets are old and there is not enough space for a regular roundabout at an intersection. Instead there is a road hazard known as a mini roundabout. The central part is big more than a few feet across and slightly raised, but you can easily drive over it. Sadly drivers often do this instead of stopping to yeild and there are frequent accidents. The roundabout concept does not scale down safely. They are very efficient and safe where many roads meet at one place. European cities are very old and the streets often narrow and they are not laid out in grids like in the US. One of the must sees in Paris is to watch the cars bump into each other on large roundabouts. You might also be entertained by the way they park cars up against each other. When a car is boxed in they will just bump the car in front and reverse and bump the car to the rear until there is enough space to get out. The French do not have much respect for other people’s cars or any other road user who gets in their way. Least of all pedestrians. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/22 "2022-06-22T01:04:03Z")
> [@filmstar-en](#): > > Instead there is a road hazard known as a mini roundabout. The central part is big more than a few feet across and slightly raised, but you can easily drive over it. We have mini-roundabouts in the US too. But in general, the raised part in the middle is less friendly towards driving over than what you describe. And definitely not the kind where they just paint a 2-foot white dot with some arrows around it in the middle of an intersection and expect everyone to treat that dot as a no-go zone. But my impression of continental-style vs British was that it applied to regular roundabouts, not minis. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/23 "2022-06-22T01:11:56Z")
Of course, you have to call it morning driving through the sound and in and out the valley. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/24 "2022-06-22T16:38:22Z")
In the US we often use these terms interchangeably - Traffic Circle - Roundabout - Rotary Some people have attempted to delineate specific types of round intersections to these meanings, but they’re not widely understood. Even in the US we have different kinds depending on where in the country you might be. I think this 13 minute Cheddar video does a pretty good job of explaining the differences between the good kind and the bad kind: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AqcyRxZJCXc/maxresdefault.jpg "Why The U.S. Hates Roundabouts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqcyRxZJCXc) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/25 "2022-06-22T18:08:36Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > In the US we often use these terms interchangeably > > - Traffic Circle > - Roundabout > - Rotary This is one of those cases where technical people (i.e. traffic engineers) use terms differently than your ordinary people. Traffic circle is used as a generic term for all circular intersections. Rotaries are a type of large circles that were developed in the 1930s and were the main reason traffic circles fell out of favor in the 50s. Roundabouts is short for the modern roundabout and refers to only those with certain characteristics that distinguish them from rotaries. There’s also traffic calming circles, also called neighborhood circles, that are mainly put in to keep people from speeding on residential streets. I wrote a blog post as guest author about the history/distinction of traffic circles: > **[American and Canadian Cities with the Most Roundabouts – UPDATED](https://panethos.wordpress.com/2022/02/22/american-and-canadian-cities-with-the-most-roundabouts/)** > > Guest post by Dan T. – Thank you, Dan! \[Note: To most people, the terms traffic circle, rotary, and roundabout are synonyms, but not to traffic engineers. Engineers usetraffic circle as a gen… As far as that video, it’s pretty good, although the count of the number of roundabouts in the US is understandably out of date. The numbers for France and UK are probably low too. There’s one or two minor errors, but they don’t detract much. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/26 "2022-06-22T20:01:06Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Of course, you have to call it morning driving through the sound and in and out the valley. I hate it when mountains come out of the sky and they just, you know, _stand there_. mmm ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/27 "2022-06-22T22:49:24Z")
Your words make me out ‘n’ out. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/28 "2022-06-23T03:11:57Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I hate it when mountains come out of the sky and they just, you know, _stand there_. To be fair, the writer of the lyrics was smoking weed while riding in the back of a van, looking out the window at the mountains and lakes. We’re fortunate that all he described was that they were standing there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![hellasketchy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@hellasketchy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellasketchy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/29 "2022-06-25T18:32:35Z")
I recently took the French road test and this is the correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569/30 "2022-06-26T14:33:26Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Continental roundabouts, or at least those in France, are backwards from that. The vehicle entering the roundabout has the right of way. In France there is a phenomenon called _priorité à droite_ where the car approaching from the right has the right-of-way, at uncontrolled intersections. (This is similar to the rule about yielding to the right at a four-way-stop in the U.S., but this rule applies when there is no Stop sign.) There are now generally signs indicating when this is in effect, though in rural areas with no signs it would be smart to assume it applies. If this were to apply to a roundabout then the traffic entering would have the ROW but that was not my experience when I drove in France (Toulouse area) about three years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-styles-of-roundabouts/966569.md?page=1)