I drive through this roundabout. It’s such a huge improvement. And little confusing at first due to being two roundabouts in one, but not hard to navigate.
We're excited about our new roundabout
41–50 of 316 posts
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#42I fail to see how this helps over more traditional designs. Not to mention tight roundabouts always have horrible curbs that trucks have to smash into to try and jump over to make the turns, and they are never gentle bumps, they are always tire and curb damaging trash, especially for heavy loads which are primarily the vehicles that need to jump the curbs. All the roundabouts around me I wish they would just get rid…
For one, roundabouts turn what would be a T-Bone intersection into a glancing hit. I think that's the biggest safety benefit. They also improve the flow of traffic since there's no starting and stopping (think of it like a stoplight is a mutex lock and a roundabout is a spinlock).
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#43Keep in mind that a lot of these traffic devices look way more confusing from above than they actually look while on the ground. From above you can see the whole device at once, and trying to trace a path through it can feel overwhelming, but when you're actually going through it your view is usually restricted in ways that limit your perceived choices at any point in time.
I'd say just the opposite. Indeed, in the UK it's normal for the signs leading up to a roundabout to include an overhead map view, since that's often the easiest way to understand what you need to do to get where you want to.
I imagine you're referring to a simple line drawing (with labels)?
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#44The comment section on the youtube video is soo good. Everyone seem to almost have accidents and everyone complaining. Think prob they need to work a bit on this design.
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#45I fail to see how this helps over more traditional designs. Not to mention tight roundabouts always have horrible curbs that trucks have to smash into to try and jump over to make the turns, and they are never gentle bumps, they are always tire and curb damaging trash, especially for heavy loads which are primarily the vehicles that need to jump the curbs. All the roundabouts around me I wish they would just get rid…
There is no room for a traditional roundabout in this location and the gravel trucks from the nearby quarry can hop the very short curbs as needed.
This roundabout is perfectly fine in practice.
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#46At least that one is small. They'd know for sure from the change in numbers pretty soon if it improved things or not.
But for multi-lane ones I absolutely lose my shit and freak out when I get into one. Many decades of driving experience, but when in Europe (France, Italy, Spain) i encounter a multi-lane roundabout, every time it feels extremely confusing and unpredictable. People moving in all directions, cars, scooters, you need to calculate which lane you need to get into, and get out of, and do all that while accommodating crisscrossing neighboring vehicles who are all also trying to maneuver in every direction. Having to turn the entire time makes it feel very fast and dangerous, always paranoid about crushing some scooter that I didn't spot from one of the many angles while turning. Doesn't seem to get easier with time for me either, unlike all other driving. Glad we don't have multi-lane roundabouts in CA.
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#47Apparently I'm sticking my neck out here, but it really doesn't seem that hard. Overhead, I can intuit the path I would take, and if I imagine it first-person, it seems even more obvious. It's frustrating riding with certain other American drivers in other countries. I've met numerous folks now that seem upset that they have to actually pay attention to their driving and the traffic. Meanwhile I'm horrified that they…
I'll take a traditional cross with traffic signals or stop signs on all sides, it's simple and effective. Roundabouts are a waste of space, disrupt traffic, and take more brain processing than I care to afford if I can help it. This particular example isn't even round.
Roundabouts are faster, safer and more convenient. It sometimes needs additional traffic lights, since heavily congested roundabouts lose their effectiveness.
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is a roundabout more disruptive than a 4 way junction with stop signs. In terms of brain processing, you get used to it and it becomes second nature. It is a skill.
Agreed, with the condition that there is only one lane. Ones with multiple layers stress me out, there are more ways to screw up and more demands on your defensive-driving attention.
I think the problem is not that they're impossible to figure out but you have about 2 seconds from when you see the sign to when you're entering the double roundabout.
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#49The picture of the roundabout from above at the beginning of the article is extra confusing because it doesn't have the final lane markings yet and the ones you can see are misleading. The (presumably) final markings[0] make things less confusing. [0]: https://www.google.com/maps/place/High+Rock+Rd,+Washington+9...
They made a video that explains how to navigate the roundabout, and shows what it will actually look like (with yield markings)[1]
Re: We're excited about our new roundabout
#50I'm glad they're excited, but I hope I never encounter this.
It may be unusual there, but in the UK we have loads. Some are smaller than this: the minimum roundabout is just a paint circle. They aren't a problem Most people here actually prefer roundabouts to traffic lights because you keep moving (although this is partly selection bias- traffic lights are deployed at junctions where a roundabout would fail to evenly arbitrate the different flows )
You guys like roundabouts so much you've gone recursive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
(To be clear I like roundabouts)