11–20 of 76 posts
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5801855,-121.4694376,3a,75y,...
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
Or my personal favorite in Sacramento, roundabout with some stop signs sprinkled in. I hear horns and accidents daily... https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5801855,-121.4694376,3a,75y,...
So weird to see the reason we have them is due to our Mayor visiting England many years ago. Now they are going the other way. Did their mayor or someone visit us and fell in love with traffic lights?
As the text acknowledges, a lot depends on the design of the roundabout. Just last week, we got https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/explaining-the..., which explains the current thinking of the dutch on roundabout design.
Also, roundabouts have become more popular, but traffic deaths certainly haven't gone up in the Netherlands (https://www.swov.nl/rapport/Factsheets/UK/FS_Road_fatalities...).
The question should be, what is best for this particular intersection in the near future? The two designs have different characteristics. My understanding is that roundabouts are best when traffic is low, when it gets heavy they become much less efficient. Lights, while a lot of overhead in low traffic, scale better. There's also the question of space required. Since the UK may have too many roundabouts due to traffi…
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
Or my personal favorite in Sacramento, roundabout with some stop signs sprinkled in. I hear horns and accidents daily... https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5801855,-121.4694376,3a,75y,...
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6759386,-121.5367581,3a,90y,...
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
Or my personal favorite in Sacramento, roundabout with some stop signs sprinkled in. I hear horns and accidents daily... https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5801855,-121.4694376,3a,75y,...
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
Or my personal favorite in Sacramento, roundabout with some stop signs sprinkled in. I hear horns and accidents daily... https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5801855,-121.4694376,3a,75y,...
If I remember correctly, the justification of these here is that they are better for bikes than 4-way stops (which is true, but they're probably not the optimal solution).
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.4420644,-122.1552851,3a,75y,...
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
I don't see roundabouts as a replacement for traffic lights in the US. Above a certain traffic volume, you'll almost always want to move to traffic lights anyway. They're actually a replacement for the 4-way Stop - a ridiculous type of intersection that ought not to exist.
If you have more than 2 lanes of traffic in either direction, they're a bad idea... I've seen them used pretty well for certain highway on/off ramps too.