One of them was modernized a couple of years ago; that is one of the ones where the major road has right of way & traffic in the circle must yield
There are yield signs but you missed my point - there is no consistency of expected behavior for anyone not familiar with them while approaching the circles.
Ok, but as @dtilque said those are old style rotaries/traffic circles that shouldn’t be yield-to-right anyway, but the signage is what should tell you what to do, not your memories or familiarity. Like if one intersection has a fully protected left turn signal with red/yellow/green arrows, so what if the next intersection has no turn arrows, or a flashing yellow arrow? They’re different setups and must be treated differently just like the different rotaries.
By “modernized” I meant they hadn’t applied the modern roundabout rule where traffic already in the circle has the right of way over entering traffic. They may have done some work on that circle, but they obviously didn’t modernize it according to my idea of modernization.
I don’t know whether I am; I’ve never run into one.
I hope that when I do it’s not in heavy traffic; because if it is, I suspect I’ll wind up in the wrong lane, get off at the wrong point, and get lost.
And the first time I meet one I’m probably going to do something wrong; and, for that, will be considered an idiot.
This thread isn’t helping; because it’s leading me to the conclusions that the rules are different for different roundabouts, and that everyone who routinely drives a particular roundabout will assume that everyone from anywhere knows the rules for that specific one and is an idiot if they don’t.
LOL - I ran into my first roundabout in Aruba in 2016 driving out of the airport in a rental car.
I did wind up in the wrong lane and kept driving around the darn circle until I was dizzy.
I finally just popped off onto a road to somewhere and proceeded to get lost.
But Aruba is small so it wasn’t too bad.
At the time I was in total shock and had no idea what I just ran into.
I read up on them once I go to the hotel but the initial shock was massive.
I will not drive there anymore because the island is chock full of endless roundabouts.
I assume the signals would be reversed in NZ as they drive on the other side of the road…?
You are absolutely correct.
I also should add that the drivers in NZ are exceedingly courteous. Nobody is in a hurry, which makes navigating the roundabouts a helluva lot easier than in the US. Plus, everybody knows how to navigate a roundabout, which is not quite true here.
There is one near me where on of the entry points is the terminus of a freeway. Folks just keep coming off of that one and the poor folks in the next entry are truly screwed. This particular roundabout generates a lot of accidents and should probably have a light to regulate traffic.
Perhaps we should start educating our citizens from an early age with books like “Baby’s First Roundabout”. Get that concept embedded early on.
Playgrounds could have mini roundabouts for toddlers to walk around.
There could be roundabout hot wheels sets for older kids.
By the time they start driving it won’t be so foreign.
“Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!”
Lather, rinse, repeat.
If you’re in luck, the first time will be a single lane, since those are the easiest to understand and navigate. And they’re also the most common, so the odds are with you.
I’ve never seen a Diverging Diamond Interchange or a Single Point Urban Interchange. I don’t think we have either one in the Portland area. I’m fairly sure I could handle either one if I ever encountered one. They don’t seem to be that complicated.
BTW, there is a DDI with a roundabout at one end somewhere in the Kansas City MO area. The exit to the DDI from the roundabout is after the entry from the DDI. It potentially could cause problems, but I doubt it does. Drivers entering the roundabout may on average wait a bit longer to enter, but that won’t make that much difference.
They’ve installed a handful of diverging diamonds in the Chicago area in the last decade or so. When they were building the first one, out in the western suburbs (at I-88 and Route 59 in Naperville, for those from around here), I looked at an illustration of its layout in a newspaper article, and thought, “I have no idea how that works.” But, when I first drove it, I instantly understood how it works, and it’s a pretty danged slick design.
What did you think when you first saw a J-Turn intersection? We’re we seeing more and more of those in rural Minnesota, primarily on major divided highways that have a less frequently used crossroad. A roundabout would work there, except they don’t want to slow down the majority of the traffic for a few left-turners. I’ve never had to use one while driving a vehicle on the crossroad, but the first time that I would have to figure it out - to turn left, you have to turn right and almost immediately make a U-turn into the left lane of the faster traffic - I would be very confused.
Herein lies the problem…
I love Roundies (I drive a Roundie), but when Grandma Moses is in front of me and doesn’t get physics, rules of the road or when the sun rises, it becomes a problem. It’s YEILD, not COME TO A STOP AND WAIT FOR NOBODY WITHIN A HALF MILE to procede.
That pedal on the right is Fuckin’ GO! Use it!
Having said that, I’ve got Epic tales of Roundabout Triumphs over people who don’t get them. I passed probably 25 cars once because nobody knew what the hell they were doing.
I’m sorry, Thorny_Locust. I misspoke. (Miswrote?) Anyone can make a mistake in an unfamiliar roundabout (or any other traffic situation, I suppose.) and feel like an idiot. Instead of “idiot,” I should have written, “reckless, aggressive, self-centered, bullying assholes.” But that was more letters. The ones I find so frustrating know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re happy with it - shortening their own wait time by barging ahead and making others wait, who should have had the right of way. They’re dangerous.
We have about a half dozen SPUIs all in Phoenix. They’re not all that weird and the sweeping left turn is kind of nice.
I’ve been through one diverging diamond exchange, totally by surprise in… Louisville? I was on the minor through route, followed the herd through the first light and was startled by opposing traffic on my right. The second light was red so when I stopped I had a moment to reflect and it dawned on me, “It’s a diverging diamond!” – One of my YT channels if Road Guy Rob and he’d had an episode on it.
The light changed, we crossed over back to the ‘proper’ side, and continued on our merry way.
In my neighborhood there are a couple HAWK pedestrian beacons. When one lights up as I approach I get real cautious because a lot of drivers don’t know what the lights are telling them. It’s the same old stuff they’ve known for generations – it’s the sequence that confuses them. The pedestrian pushes the button to cross. Then,
If the pedestrian was on your side of the road he’s likely in the opposing lanes by now and there’s no reason to wait any longer. If the pedestrian started on the other side he’s likely in front of you so don’t squash him.
The cycle is finished so all the lights go dark, waiting for the next pedestrian. If a driver thinks about it, it’s just a weird traffic, but a lot of drivers don’t think about it.
Speaking of “running into one”, someone unfamiliar with an avenue running parallel to Western Ave. decided to bypass all the lights on Western by racing down the parallel avenue. It was the middle of the night, so I guess he felt he could race full bore and make a lot of time. Unfortunately for him, his headlights didn’t light up (what we call) the Traffic Island until it was too late for him to stop or turn. He survived, but his car didn’t.
I thought the roundabouts in Aruba were particularly well signed, indicating which lane you wanted to be in as you approach depending on where you wanted to go. Granted, we were following our phone GPS instructions which helped.
I go every year and things change.
They are probably fine now but this was ten years ago and they mostly still had traffic lights at the time.
We had to stop along the way to ask directions because the signage was less than adequate.
We did have GPS as well so that helped.
I am a person who gets lost in my own hometown so consider the source.
The UK has one of the most consistent and predictable roundabout systems in the world:
This consistency is why UK drivers tend to find roundabouts intuitive, and why the UK has embraced them so widely.