Kirkland Roundabouts
kirklandroundabouts.com
Kirkland Roundabouts
1–10 of 159 posts
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#2Not a joke, actual roundabout.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#3Not a joke, actual roundabout.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#4I swear if the US could build regular roundabouts, converting an intersection would make the accident rate go down, instead of up.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#5I swear if the US could build regular roundabouts, converting an intersection would make the accident rate go down, instead of up.
They can and do build them.
The problem is that at intersections the normative behavior of American drivers is to queue and wait for your turn. Roundabouts assume a different behavior based on jumping the line.
Thus there is a lot of unpredictability regarding other drivers due to generations of driving patterns developed in diverse regional driving cultures...many of which are distinctly not-urban.
In addition, this roundabout is part of an Interstate Highway interchange. The US Interstate system is at a scale that doesn't occur elsewhere. It is transcontinental.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#6I've been driving roundabouts for decades, and think they're great - they really help with traffic flow. I've never found them confusing.
I had to drive this specific Kirkland roundabout the other day, and ended up missing my offramp and going in completely the wrong direction. It's the most confusing roundabout I've ever seen.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#7I'm all for hating bad infrastructure, but this roundabout seems pretty straightforward? Maybe it's different when you're actually driving on it, but from a topdown view it's clear it's a central roundabout with some extra sidelanes to avoid the roundabout if you're immediately turning right.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#8I used the roundabout the game is modeled after the other day. This is at the freeway exit used to get to the Costco AND downtown in Kirkland. I've seen pileups here for no reason. It's insane.
To be fair, I'm not sure there's a good solution. The real problem is the volume of traffic and that it dumps onto two lane roads at the edges of this roundabout. To really fix things you need to give people other exits to use.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#9I swear if the US could build regular roundabouts, converting an intersection would make the accident rate go down, instead of up.
They can and do build them. The problem is that at intersections the normative behavior of American drivers is to queue and wait for your turn. Roundabouts assume a different behavior based on jumping the line. Thus there is a lot of unpredictability regarding other drivers due to generations of driving patterns developed in diverse regional driving cultures...many of which are distinctly not-urban. In addition, this…
Perhaps they need to start building more roundabouts on smaller intersections, and improve education in driving schools. Then give it time (decades).
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#10I swear if the US could build regular roundabouts, converting an intersection would make the accident rate go down, instead of up.
From what I understand roundabouts make accident rate go up, it is the severity of accidents that goes down which probably still a positive.
That said I have yet to drive through a roundabout that I think improved an intersection in any meaningful way. Half of them work as intended but I find them less pleasant to drive through, the other half are just horribly designed and often have semitrucks go through them when they aren't really large enough for that.