Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
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Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#2I don't really enjoy roundabouts, but I like the idea of a non-blocking (or less-blocking) traffic network.
Head-of-line blocking, where left turns can block through traffic or through traffic can block a left turn lane, is a particularly irritating feature of traditional intersections.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#3I don't really enjoy roundabouts, but I like the idea of a non-blocking (or less-blocking) traffic network. Head-of-line blocking, where left turns can block through traffic or through traffic can block a left turn lane, is a particularly irritating feature of traditional intersections.
Yeah, they're great when they work but they give timid morons an opportunity to get stuck that a light doesn't. Two lanes helps but nothing really beats a light for getting people who don't know what they're doing through an intersection.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#4I've driven through an intersection almost daily my entire life. It was switched to a roundabout a few years ago. I have had more near misses in that roundabout from people not yielding or people continuing around in the outside lane than my entire life driving and never had a single issue with the intersection prior to it being a roundabout. I like roundabouts. I would like to see a study on how many near misses happen in roundabout vs. regular intersections. Too much stress.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#5Phoenix area added a bunch of roundabouts a while ago and last I heard they were in the process of taking them out.
Problem is if people are used to them they work well but if you rarely see them people don’t really understand the concept and just kind of blast through them without yielding.
Almost got taken out a few times when I was a cabbie, people just go full speed into them without looking.
The new hotness seems to be intersections where the traffic crosses over to the other side and left turns are uncontested(?).
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#6I've driven through an intersection almost daily my entire life. It was switched to a roundabout a few years ago. I have had more near misses in that roundabout from people not yielding or people continuing around in the outside lane than my entire life driving and never had a single issue with the intersection prior to it being a roundabout. I like roundabouts. I would like to see a study on how many near misses hap…
That's an educational problem. It's much the same here in Canada (southern Ontario to be exact), but the more roundabouts are installed, the better drivers are at navigating them.
One funny story my wife told me was, she was once a passenger in a car driven by someone unfamiliar with roundabouts. Upon encountering their first one, they proceeded to drive round and round, afraid to exit.
The unfortunate truth, is that because there are so few roundabouts here, driving schools do not make it part of their curriculum.
Chicken, meet egg.
However, I am a firm believer in roundabouts. Ignorance is a poor justification for continuing to build four-way intersections in places that do not require them.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#7Phoenix area added a bunch of roundabouts a while ago and last I heard they were in the process of taking them out. Problem is if people are used to them they work well but if you rarely see them people don’t really understand the concept and just kind of blast through them without yielding. Almost got taken out a few times when I was a cabbie, people just go full speed into them without looking. The new hotness seem…
>Problem is if people are used to them they work well but
(un)friendly reminder that this goes for the people in the city plannign department first and foremost.
You can't just dump one in at every intersection and expect them to work out. It only works out when there's similiar traffic volumes on the intersecting streets.
Of course people just drive on through when the volumes are such that that's the prevailing flow.
Not that I have anything against 2-way stops but that's basically what you create a lot of when you start carpet bombing your town with roundabouts because they're trendy.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#8Phoenix area added a bunch of roundabouts a while ago and last I heard they were in the process of taking them out. Problem is if people are used to them they work well but if you rarely see them people don’t really understand the concept and just kind of blast through them without yielding. Almost got taken out a few times when I was a cabbie, people just go full speed into them without looking. The new hotness seem…
> intersections where the traffic crosses over to the other side and left turns are uncontested(?).
Diverging diamond interchange[1]?
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverging_diamond_interchange
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#9I've driven through an intersection almost daily my entire life. It was switched to a roundabout a few years ago. I have had more near misses in that roundabout from people not yielding or people continuing around in the outside lane than my entire life driving and never had a single issue with the intersection prior to it being a roundabout. I like roundabouts. I would like to see a study on how many near misses hap…
It requires more attention, brings more stress, in exchange for less critical accidents.
I think this is pretty much a constant in road security, where putting more stress and forcing the driver to pay attention leads to overall better outputs (enforced road bumps, sound inducing road sides, fake people display on crossing paths etc.)
PS: on people not yielding, speed are lower than on straight lines so it's still less problematic than usual non yielding. But I hope your neighbors will get used to roundabouts and navigate them better.
Re: Roundabouts reduced accidents and are environmentally friendly
#10They put two roundabouts in here on a state highway. I've never talked to anyone who had good things to say about them.
The main problems IMO are:
- you can just go around again if you aren't sure which exit you need; you are forced into taking an exit, right or wrong
- the radius is too small so there is not much time to make a complex decision, especially if you aren't already familiar with the exits
- it's hard to monitor traffic entering the roundabout to make sure I don't get hit by someone having a harder time navigating this than me, while at the same time trying to figure out what the crazy sign diagrams mean.
- there's no confirmation when you do take an exit that you've taken the right one. Might not be a road sign for 10-15 seconds, which is a long time when you're not sure where you're going.
- they're even worse at night because there's not enough lighting. Not too bad for the exits toward civilization, but pretty confusing for the more rustic ones.
I think the idea is okay, but at least for the ones they put in here, the execution is not so hot.