Dec 6th, 2016: Roundabouts
 

Roundabouts are common in England, some of them mind boggling. Here not so much. I know of a couple in PA and
some in Jersey, but many were eliminated by road improvements. They are making a comeback, I saw a bunch of
new ones in MA, and read PA is recommending them.

I hate them. The theory is good, but in the real world they suck because... people. Half the fools stop and look left
like it's a stop sign, then wait until they can't see anyone coming, instead of yield and merge. :mad2:

http://cellar.org/2016/roundabout.jpg

What about after they've driven through it a couple times?

link

For me, roundabouts are always too small. I have to negotiate two of them in quick succession to get to a regular customer in southern Indiana and always manage to run my trailer into the middle part and crush the bricks. It is impossible to NOT do this; the circle is simply too small and tight for big trucks.

There are lots of roundabouts here -popping up all over the place. the problem is the road constructors don't get it and they are way too small. And have ridiculous lane systems. Plus people have no idea how to used them and insist on stopping even if there's no other car in sight.

yes, not only should they be big enough to easily accommodate trucks, but there needs to be a decent distance between entries/exits. A roundabout is NOT a cute centerpiece for a four-way stop/crossroads.

And if you and I reach the roundabout at the same time and you are to my left, GO! ffs! And if there's room for me to also go in front of you, I will. And it won't inconvenience you, so get your damn hand off the horn. And if you stop before you enter the roundabout, I'm long gone. I don't care if you think it should be a 4-way stop, it isn't. Oh am I ranting? sorry -you shoulda seen the wazzocks on the roundabout on the way home tonight

They're all the rage here. They put a couple of them in Onalaska that have a hill in the middle, somebody has already pulled a Dukes of Hazzard on one. The hill makes for pretty landscaping but you can't see the other side. Whoever designed them is a bonehead.

They were all over NZ and seemed to work fine even for first-time right hand drivers.

It may be annoying when a car stops at one instead of yielding, but even that behavior is better than the alternative. If it wasn't a roundabout, they would put a traffic light there instead, and all traffic lights have red lights that last longer than the green lights, so the odds are greater that you would have to stop with one of those.

It's the increase in intersections with traffic lights that drives me nuts. I'd welcome roundabouts if it meant no red light to wait for.

Throw in traffic-induced panic attacks and THIS is why I no longer drive! I keep my license legal, but I tell all my nearest & dearest that if I'm driving someone better need to go to the hospital, cuz that's where we're gonna end up regardless. Thankfully, I have the help of a driver who works for the local mental health care center (where they keep my adult case file open exactly for sh*t like this) as well as my downstairs neighbor, and I live in a town too small for roundabouts. Everyone bitches how bad traffic is on the local 5-lane highway (that's 2 each way with a left turn lane, no median) and how bad it'll get if the super box store actually gets built on the south end of town (last time they tried that W-M got kicked north all the way to Ronan, like 2.5 hours driving time), so if the store does get built hopefully nobody gets the brilliant idea to stick a roundabout in front of it!

The one place in this town that actually needs better traffic control is the biggest grocery store, which I refer to as Stupid One. That place needs lights, roundabouts, hazard warnings, and traffic cops INDOORS. Their parking lot was a nightmare so they decided to have some work done...made all the spaces shorter and thinner to weasel in another row, thinking that extra parking spaces where you can't get your door open and are 100,000% more likely to back any vehicle bigger than a sedan into the row behind you would help.

I try not to shop there.

Meanwhile, in the UK....

LINK

I was surprised how easy they were to negotiate on a visit to England, even on the wrong side of the road.
There have been a few popping up in Northern California, and I have to say that the idea is a good one except that the driving ability of many, many people does not seem to be compatible.
Last weekend two local teenagers were killed when the one driving decided to go right through the middle and launched 100 feet into a walnut grove.
They must have driven around it dozens or more times.
Going out on a limb, the CHP speculated that speed or alcohol might have been a factor.

But why would you want a confusing roundabout when you could have a simple interchange? :lol:

http://cellar.org/2016/interchange.jpg

There is a roundabout NW of London, South of Aylesbury that lets you go clockwise or counter clockwise. The inner circle is ccw and the outer is cw and for someone from the US it is frightening to say the least, google finds it easily

Sounds like the Magic Roundabout at Hemel Hempstead.

Attachment 58747

It's easy enough to navigate if you know which exit you need and you're not a complete novice at the thing. It's easy to spot the first timers.

It's pretty straightforward to use as long as you tackle each of the small roundabouts in isolation.

That's only my view and there's probably as many opinions as there are drivers who use it.

For a ground level view click here: HH Magic Roundabout

Do the cars in the centermost ring have to stop at each of those long lines perpendicular to their path?

Yes, the rule at any roundabout is give way to traffic on your right i.e. vehicles already moving around the r'about.
When there is a gap move on to the roundabout and then either leave the system entirely or head for the next one in the sequence until your planned exit presents itself.
Generally speaking it works well although I have experienced moments when I thought that I would be doomed to haunt it for all eternity. :eek:

There's a cracking three-wheeler at the foot of Marlow Hill ...


Sent by magic.

This one?

Attachment 58750

I hate going round that place. It's like 'Death Race 2000' at times.
My dislike of it might be coloured by the fact that if I'm there it's always in connection with a hospital visit. :eek:

That's the one! Though it is the roundabout at the top (Handy Cross?) which gives me the horrors. I had to negotiate it daily for a week in summer 2015 when the roadworks for the Waitrose access roads etc were at their worst. Local drivers were like angry wasps because of the roadworks and I had to try to pick out the right lane to exit to Marlow Bottom (fnarr fnarr) which, as all locals tell me, is impossible.


Sent by magic.

Handy Cross it is! Haven't been around that one in years, I'm pleased to say.
My real beef with Marlow Hill is that it is either almost at a standstill and no-one will let you out from the hospital site, or traffic is fairly light but comes down the hill so fast it suggests an attempt at the land speed record may be underway and you still can't get out!

My venerable uncle lives near the top of Marlow Hill and we visit home when Mr Limey and I are at Band Camp (which takes place out along the Hughenden road). But I had to get to Marlow Bottom because we were Beer Monitors for a particularly thirsty camp and I had to get regular supplies from the Rebellion Brewery.


Sent by magic.

In Luxembourg we have this turbo roundabout
http://paperjam.lu/sites/default/files/index_0.png

Up to four lanes in the roundabout
Expresslanes when you will take the closest exit
Tunnel to go underneath the roundabout
traffic lights to avoid complete breakdown of traffic and blocked lanes
and now they are building a tramway going over the roundabout

It's a complete nightmare

Yikes! JFK getting love in Lux...

OMG I have just now realized they're a spiral. Are all major roundabouts that way, where the inside entering lane is actually entering a whole new lane that didn't exist before because the lane heading toward it shifts out one as they pass?

One problem with roundabouts is they are hard on pedestrians.

You can have crosswalks like half a block away from the roundabout, but then you are making the pedestrian walk half a block one way and half a block back again just to cross the street.

Roundabouts, the stuff that movies are made of.

In the state known for its fantastic process for turning left ;-)

They are starting to be used more here in metro Kansas City. I hate them, but I understand their purpose. Also becoming popular at highway exits is the diverging diamond.

Do you know more turboroundabouts in Luxembourg?
I have made a map of all turboroundabouts world wide (see: http://www.dirkdebaan.nl/locaties.html OK, it's in Dutch).
You will help me with your answer.

There's one more coming this year :
http://paperjam.lu/sites/default/fil...tok=1476967536
It's called "Irrgärtchen", that means "little maze".

They went crazy with them around here. They put a one million dollar one in here to improve traffic flow onto our wharf and beach. Only problem.. There is a pedestrian crosswalk across one side and of course pedestrians get the right-of-way so they can completely crash the entire functionality.

FedEx just built an huge new facility for the entire area here. The city in all its wisdom put a traffic circle at the entrance. The trucks run over the center of it and sidewalks around it daily since it's too small.

That sound not great.