Why is there still so much hostility to new roundabouts in the US? Is there similar hostilty in countries where there are more roundabouts?
As an example of what I’m talking about, see the comments in this Facebook post:
That’s not an isolated example. I’ve seen the same in many other social media posts.
Is there anyone here adamantly opposed to roundabouts? If so, why? Did a roundabout bite your sister?
If I recall, studies show roundabouts are actually much more efficient than signalized intersections. I suspect most local pushback is just a natural resistance to changing a familiar routine.
Having lived in many countries, I do indeed understand “roundabouts,” aka “rotaries,” aka “midan” and aka probably a lot of other names depending on where you live, some of which I may have forgotten.
Sure, they can be fine. If they are not part of how you learned to drive, the road test you had to take, and generally speaking what you are used to, they are head-scratchingly weird. Especially when you are driving somewhere you aren’t familiar with, and your GPS helpfully says, “turn left at the [whatever].” Um … which left would that be?
Roundabouts themselves are fine. Castigating people who are having trouble understanding them isn’t fine. Addressing people who are having trouble accepting them with comments like, “did a roundabout bite your sister” probably won’t improve traffic safety. A well-designed public education program, coupled with appropriate signage and helpful traffic police stationed in the right places during the introductory phase, would be a better idea.
As someone who travels by bus and so spends a fair amount of time walking, crossing roundabouts is a nightmare for me.
One reason is because it requires learning a new driving habit.
Forever and ever it was the car on the right had the right of way, or the car that got to the intersection first had the right of way.
At a roundabout its now the car on the left has the right away. This requires a new way of thinking and is opposite to everything we did in the past.
Not really. Approaching a roundabout is exactly the same as approaching a regular intersection which has yield sign. The car on the left has the right of way.
Also, my GPS (waze) doesn’t say “turn left”. It says “at the traffic circle, take the third exit.”
I don’t understand the hate.
This, exactly. Most of us in North America did not learn to drive in and through roundabouts. In my fifty years of driving, I’ve only encountered one as a driver. I was able to figure it out, thankfully, but it wasn’t easy.
Now, our provincial government seems determined to put them everywhere they can, ever ripping up perfectly good intersections to install a roundabout. And it is obvious that few drivers know how they work. Heck, if the shorter route to my destination goes through a roundabout, and there’s a longer route the does not, I’ll take the longer route every time.
It was just a Monty Python joke. I guess not everyone is an MP fan, although most of the people here at the Dope are.
We don’t have a lot of roundabouts around here, but we do have a few. Having observed people driving in them, I’d say the vast majority of drivers have figured out how they work. Yes, there are some people who stop unnecessarily when there’s no vehicles they need to yield to, but they’re in a decided minority. And I can’t recall ever seeing anyone driving the wrong way around.
Yes really.
And people don’t like “new” when it comes to something they’ve been doing a certain way for a long time.
It’s going to take many years for Americans to get used to roundabouts.
A traffic light was replaced by a roundabout a few years ago on a road I travel daily on. I think it’s a major improvement.
They do take up quite a bit of real estate, though, and I suspect the land owners aren’t all that happy when some of their land is taken via eminent domain.
My city put a median down its main drag to block left turns to and from parking lots. The Facebook comments compared it to the Berlin Wall. A U-turn was just the most bizarre and frightening thing they’d ever heard of. They’d never darken the doors of another business in this town ever again until left turn freedom was restored.
I think GPS tends to say ‘at the roundabout, take the third exit’
Don’t you have pre-emptive signage to show which exit leads where before you actually reach the roundabout?
If anyone needs some practice on roundabouts, come to Indianapolis (and suburb Carmel in particular). We got roundabouts for days.
If you can’t cope with one single roundabout, try dealing with seven at once!
I think it’s just an example of human resistance to change. The metric system is celebrating its 231st birthday this year, and Americans still resist the change even though the metric system is vastly more logical and accurate.
Not here.
Plenty of rotaries in the greater Boston area, some new ones have been built recently, some poorly designed old ones have been replaced with intersections.
Not always. Depends on the roundabout.
I encountered my first roundabout about 10 years ago coming out of Queen Beatrix Airport in Aruba.
I had no idea what the heck I stumbled into with my rental car. I circled around and around until I just swerved onto a road just to get off the merry go round. I was in shock. 
At the time there were several on the way to our lodging and I eventually figured it all out but it was mind bendingly frustrating. To make matters worse signage was practically non existent. I had no idea where I was going except for my cousin reading off the cell phone GPS.
Aruba has since exchanged all of its traffic lights with roundabouts. I refuse to drive there and will use taxis or hire a driver.
I don’t mind a few here and there but it’s too much especially in a foreign country with a rental car.
Where I live in western PA there are a few well placed roundabouts in low traffic density intersections that seem to work well.
On my way to Virginia and though Maryland I have encountered what appear to be well placed roundabouts.
None of these roundabouts annoy me and I can manage just fine.
I drove through one within the last few years outside Berkeley Springs, West Virginia that is awaiting connection to a highway addition which might eventually increase traffic flow.
Even then the signs are reasonable and I don’t think it is a problem for most people in that area.
I think roundabouts need to be added gradually in areas with lower traffic density and researched need. There should be some kind of education provided by some entity on how to use them.
Folk speak of resistance to change, but when the change is glacial and sporadic, it makes adaptability more challenging. I lived for a couple of years where I passed one roundabout, It was easy to get used to. But since moving from there 10 years ago, I doubt I encounter 1 per year. When I do, it always sorta raises my heart rate out of uncertainty - even moreso if I am unfamiliar with my route, if the streets are busy, if there are more than 2 streets intersecting at right angles…