The best part about Kirkland Roundabouts is that they come in a handy family-size 24 pack. I'll let myself out.
The original Costco HQ building overlooks this new intersection, so this is almost a relevant comment
Kirkland Roundabouts
61–70 of 159 posts
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Talking to my American colleagues, they're often perplexed by roundabouts and don't really understand how they fundamentally work. They're also incredibly stubborn when it comes to convincing them that it helps with traffic flow immensely versus a 4 way stop sign.
When you’re walking the stop sign stops traffic for you so it’s a lot nicer. I’ve found that even with a marked crosswalk people ignore you if they’re not forced to stop.
And as a pedestrian, drivers going around a circle aren't necessarily going to see you until they're already exiting, even if the city didn't put something large in the center that entirely blocks their vision. Plus, you lose the ability to know which way a car is likely to go until it's already too late.
When I lived in Nashville, I spent a lot of time near a roundabout, and even after they redid it to be a bit better I still had to avoid it for my own safety. The light-controlled intersection next to it was much less of a problem.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#63I 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…
> 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.
I don't think it's that different from turning right on red, or left without an arrow, or even merging on to the highway from an onramp (maybe that's the most similar, traffic in the others aren't flowing the same direction as you).
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#64Hey all, I'm the author of this game. I didn't expect to see it on HN! I wrote it to add some fun to all the conversations happening in the local forums about this roundabout. They've been heated at times. And, yes, this roundabout is right next to the Kirkland Costco.
I definitely agree with all the critiques of the gameplay - and I have about 100 more. I cut it down to the bare essentials to get it done while it's still relevant in the community. I wouldn't even call it an MVP. I probably won't update this unless there is some greater need. Though using Godot with Claude Code was a blast so I'm motivated to do new stuff there. I've been building solutions on Unity/DX/Unreal for over a decade - Godot was such a breath of fresh air!
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#65So many comments talking about how straightforward some roundabouts are, but I think you guys are confused. Roundabouts are never straightforward, you're thinking of a normal road.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#66I'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.
There appear to be many such peanut roundabouts around the world, many of them in the US[1]
[1]https://panethos.wordpress.com/2024/06/14/working-list-peanu...
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#67I'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.
I live moments away from this roundabout. It's confusing. Single-lane roundabouts are really straightforward. You're either clear to enter, or you're not. Adding lanes makes it far more confusing. I consider myself, you know, pretty smart. Not stupid, at least. But I almost sideswiped someone in this roundabout the other day. Years of driving experience gave me an intuition that the middle lane would not cross over t…
> Years of driving experience gave me an intuition that [another motorist wouldn't be a complete blithering idiot]
I regret to inform you...
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#68The top down view seems to make this extra confusing:
1. You don't get to see signage that tells you what lane to be in
2. You are forced to take in irrelevant details.
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#69So many comments talking about how straightforward some roundabouts are, but I think you guys are confused. Roundabouts are never straightforward, you're thinking of a normal road.
Is this a play on the word "straight[-]forward"?
Re: Kirkland Roundabouts
#70Roundabouts are almost always a bad idea. Thank God they are mostly a European thing.