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do you like the use of round abouts in place of traffic lights ?

what the heck is a round about?

What is a roundabout?


A roundabout is a circular intersection where traffic flows around a center island. Roundabouts are safe, efficient and less costly. Since vehicles entering the roundabout are required to yield to traffic in the circle, more vehicles can move through the intersection with less delay. The unique one-way design of roundabouts also accommodates the turning radius of large vehicles, like semi-trucks and buses.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/roundabouts/
there is also a picture on the site showing a round about

they are being forced on citys here in michigan if they are getting state and federal goverment moneys to upgrade local roads. in a lot of intersections they are replacing traffic lights !

Roundabouts are awesome! There is one in Monroe by the state farm building that was near Tower Drive..

eGo

I used to think they were stupid, but that was because I hadn't had any experience with them. Then I went to England & drove for 2 weeks. Not once did I have to wait more than maybe 20 seconds at a roundabout to get in. Usually, there weren't enough people using it to stop at all & I could go through all of them pretty much right away. I'm sure if they were stoplights, that I would have wasted much more time driving. I do think that roundabouts in citys don't work as well due to the higher congestion, but in the burbs & outskirts, I really liked them.

I love them but hate people that can't follow SIMPLE BASIC traffic rules that govern them.

the one here in town is a combo 2,1 lane. 2 sided of it are 2 lane and the right lane is for a right turn only, the left or main ring is for going straight or left. all entrances have a yield sign. it will be flowing fine and some dumb ass in the ring will yield to incoming traffic and screw the whole thing up. on top of that for some reason they made the main ring too small. about 7-8 good cars could jam it up easy, let alone 3 trucks.

Other then people who can't use them properly and this one by me being a shitty design they are great.

They're OK where 3 or more roads intersect (which was the original idea, seen those in some states like IL)) but dumb where only 2 roads intersect and created just to replace traffic lights. That's what they're doing around here now and I think they're a pain.
On a straight road with one intersecting road, you hit it on green and you're through it instantly but with a round about, now you have to stop and drive a half circle to get past that same spot.

I grew up in DC which had lots of big ones and they worked pretty well..only place I've seen them not work so well is BOSTON, the land of left turn on red after slowing. But that's probably because of the water people drink and has nothing to do with the road.

EvilHorace wrote:They're OK where 3 or more roads intersect (which was the original idea, seen those in some states like IL)) but dumb where only 2 roads intersect and created just to replace traffic lights. That's what they're doing around here now and I think they're a pain.
On a straight road with one intersecting road, you hit it on green and you're through it instantly but with a round about, now you have to stop and drive a half circle to get past that same spot.

thats what there doing here -also i hate it were they put 2 of them together as they have here . the first one is at bogie lake road and carol lake road and carol lake road ends right there. then the second one is maybe 400 ft away on carol lake road.and oxbow lake road ends. there use to be a traffic light at bogie and carol lake road. but oxbow lake road was a dirt road till they just paved it and installed these 2 turnabouts and its a residential road. to get a better picture what your doing if heading eather way down carol lake road now you have to make a seems like(3) heading east or west. its so dumb

There is one at my office near LAX

We are right next to a court house, so jurors there


So many people go the wrong way around it.....


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i'm just getting back from a few weeks in europe...i'm all for roundabouts. the ones in my local area are much smaller than most in europe (at least the ones i've seen). the smaller size plus US drivers that have no clue what to do becomes an issue...but they are a great solution if/when they are built properly and drivers follow basic driving rules.

b-man1 wrote:but they are a great solution if/when they are built properly and drivers follow basic driving rules.

People in the US can't drive with basic driving rules..... (shortb)

DoPeY5007 wrote:People in the US can't drive with basic driving rules..... (shortb)

And that's why I hate other drivers that jam the thing up. Makes me wish I still had the wagon so i could just blast them with the horns or just push them.

agreed...there are far too many oblivious people out there that just point the car and go...no clue what they are actually doing at the time (other than talking on the phone, shaving, petting the six dogs and cats in the car with them, etc). lol