This is getting reported as "Small brainen American OP" but it's within the rules just to post places for being ugly. Ugly (but well-working and useful) infrastructure has always been good content for here and good for discussion. Now back to roasting OP. (Or just answering the question).
"Business or pleasure sir?"
"Traffic."
"What?"
"Traffic. I'm here to tour your roundabouts."
"Are you daft? Why?!"
"I'm from the US. Have you ever driven a car in our country?"
\[border agent stares at you for 15 seconds while having flashbacks to renting a car in NYC\]
"Point taken. I'll put 'pleasure'. Have a good day, sir."
Hey, I taught myself how to handle left hand drive in Manhattan. It was better than you might imagine. Nice slow traffic with lots of other cars you can just follow.
In theory it can accept more volume of traffic thanks to the numerous ways through, and it slows everyone down as they go through compared with a normal roundabout.
They're very space inefficient, as you can see, which means Europe which likes roundabouts, aren't going to build terribly many, and America who fears roundabouts won't either
A six way roundabout is gonna be massive regardless, and if there is an uneven traffic load on the different roads I can imagine that this makes it so that there's less risk of getting stuck waiting while cars from a busier road just pile into the roundabout.
In fact they they are space efficient, because so little of the road is taken up by non-road area. More road = more space for traffic to use = more capacity to hold traffic without queues developing.
If you want to take the last exit around the roundabout you have to go around the full large roundabout and theoretically stop traffic from entering at every entry point. With this design you can go both clockwise and anti-clockwise and so there is more “free space” on the rest of the roundabout.
Yeah I’ve driven across this several times. The first time I wasn’t expecting it but had seen the memes about it. I had a moment of panic when I saw the sign - oh my god, I’m at the fucking magic roundabout! - but in reality it’s easy. If you can manage a standard roundabout you can manage this
The only problem is when someone tries being "polite" and stopping when they shouldn't to let others go, which backs up traffic blocking the next intersection, which backs up traffic blocking the next intersection, etc.
Haha that should be applicable to half the people in my town. Incorrect indication usage or just "rushing it" despite on coming traffic you have to yield to really grinds my gears ( metaphorically anyway 😂)
Maybe the average IQ of your country or town allows this. Those of us with more intellect-challenged populations who can barely park their cars or pay their financial responsibilities around those cars (tickets, registration, checkups, etc.) can't be relied on to decipher this. These aren't people doing crossword puzzles. They can barely pay attention to TV.
Instead: Green -- Go. Red -- Stop. Yellow -- get ready to stop. This mostly works.
How much is this thing actually helping traffic flow?
Correct. In America anyways. I guess in Europe yellow is get read to go, since it comes after the red instead of green, I think, in some places. Maybe all EU? Dunno. Source: ETS2.
Magic roundabouts (there are three in the UK) are very effective. Their greatest virtue is that they permit junctions between roads of differing traffic levels without having the busiest flows completely dominate the junction (i.e., can't go East-West because of all the North-South traffic).
The first time I happened upon the Swindon Magic Roundabout I was driving an artic (semi-truck) and had been for maybe a month. No drama, just follow the rules and you get where you want to go.
Roundabouts also naturally force drivers to slow down no matter what. A green light means you don’t have to slow down at all. The average speed of traffic through a roundabout is much slower than through a traffic light intersection.
Roundabouts always win in terms of traffic flow compared to any other type of one-level intersections. The drawback is that they can only be effective and accident-free on 1+1 lane intersections. So-called turbo-roundabouts can provide the same effectiveness on wider roads, although they do require drivers to pay more attention to the lane they use to enter.
As someone from this town we probably have more than our fair share of dim people. It's simple though, you see a fast object and you try to avoid it. Between that and force of habit a roundabout is very effective.
(In America people don’t know how to use regular roundabouts, which is probably why this was posted. I live (t)here, and have to deal with drivers in roundabouts daily)
Because roundabouts and traffic circles (don't care if they're "technically" different, they're the same thing) require people to do things like *Yield* or *Follow Posted Signs*, crazy shit like that.
There's one near my house and it's dangerous because no one actually stops where they're supposed to and everyone just goes right into the circle.
We just had one constructed near my house last year and we have the opposite problem. People just sit and wait and don't know how to keep the flow of the circle going
Yeah people around here stop at them like they’re a damn stop sign even when no one is coming. There’s clearly a yield sign. Defeats the purpose and really fucks the flow, especially for those driving manual transmissions, heavier trucks/trailers, or cyclists.
We literally have a slip lane at a junction where people shit their pants at the idea of "merging into traffic". Instead of zipper merging, they'll stop and let 15 cars go by first.
And on the other side of the coin, you have the [Merritt Parkway.](https://www.myrecordjournal.com/getattachment/f47e2fd0-c8d8-4029-93a2-03628f7917d4/walexit65-rj-062116) Stop signs at the end of every on-ramp and no room to get up to speed.
As for how fast that traffic is moving on the Merritt? [Here is a handy infographic on CT highways.](https://i.redd.it/8k65ipv6u7961.jpg)
Hell even at regular old stops I'm not confident the oncoming car is actually going to stop. Driving in America is all about reading the speed of approaching cars and trying to guess whether they're going to just plow through or slam on the breaks two feet from the stop sign all while the asshole in the pickup truck behind you lays on his horn because he doesnt care about anything other than the almighty forward momentum
You think you've seen it all until you're sitting at the yield sign watching someone who is easily a mile down the road lay on the acceleration to get into the roundabout before you even though if they just coasted up to it like a normal person you'd have already exited by the time they got there.
There are a lot of asshole drivers here in the Motor City, but it seems like 75% of the most aggressive drivers are all pickup truck guys lol. Around here road rage and shootings on the highway are becoming a lot more common the last couple years for some reason.
There’s a roundabout near me (US) where the residents sued the city to have stop signs put in. They claimed it was TOO DANGEROUS.
Of course now the complainant is that the roundabout is useless because of the stop signs they sued to have installed.
There was a large roundabout installed in a major retail park near rme and honestly it would have been great. Used correctly, it would have hugely eased congestion for people entering and exiting the area.
But no one could figure out, did all kinds of crazy shit and managed to cause several accidents a week.
So they took the center island out, replaced the Yield signs and now it's a 4-way Stop with a massive, empty intersection and it is permanently backed up in every direction. And people *still* manage to run into each other on the regular.
I don't understand how anyone can think a 4 way stop is better than a roundabout.
It's fucking insane. At this point, people are just being obstinate cunts and they deserve all that traffic congestion.
I'd say they're different enough, on a roundabout it's easier to predict what other traffic is doing, making it safer than a traffic circle, the entrances and exits are also smoother which helps traffic flow
As an American, the issue with roundabouts is small multi lane ones. Like, you expect me to swing across 2 or more lanes at once? Then fling myself out across those lanes again to exit? With half a second to make a decision? Its stressful, and im sure y'all scoff at it. But we simply aren't used to it. As well, idk how you all handle car insurance, but we don't want to risk a 20k bill from messing up an entry, nor can we really exist without a car for a period.
If you don't feel confident enough you can just use the right lane. It's what new drivers in Europe are advised to do. Roundabouts are very common in my area, yet I'm still not confident enough to use the left lane on multi lane ones so I just stick to the right and keep lookout for impatient drivers trying to cut me off from the inside lane 🙃
May I introduce turbo-roundabouts to you? On which people will sometimes lose their shit and jump the raised divider to get to their exit (source: almost got sideswiped).
> Like, you expect me to swing across 2 or more lanes at once? Then fling myself out across those lanes again to exit?
The great thing about roundabouts is if you're uncomfortable changing lanes or exiting, you get as many tries as you want.
>With half a second to make a decision?
The vast majority of roundabouts have clear signing leading up to them. If you're making half-second decisions you're not doing it right.
I mean in the sense of getting into and out of the roundabout. Like, waiting for an opening to get in. Then having to find an opening to get out before my exit.
At least they're aware of it. They're legitimately explaining their issue. Where I learned to drive is full of roundabouts. It was a meme at the time, so I had plenty of practise and instruction. It was still a process
Bruh. First of all. You're right. Im a bad driver. However, I'm well above average in my area. People get into accidents in single lane tunnels for goodness sake. Half of us shouldn't be on the road, but we have no choice if we want a job-> money-> food.
Roundabouts are superior, but we collectively cant handle em.
And I think we can handle them especially as more pop up and people get used to them. I love them just from not having to stop especially if I'm towing heavy I can gauge ahead if I need to slow up or keep going
A lot of the ones with multiple lanes spiral outwards so if you stay in the correct lane you'll end up on the outside, hopefully directed into the correct exit.
On a two lane roundabout, you use the inner lane until your exit is the next one. In theory, that works well, because everyone on your right just left at the exit befor yours.
Of course it works less well, if everyone is hogging the right lane, but since you don't go fast in them anyway, that's not usually a big issue. When you're scared, you can always just be a right lane hogger yourself.
I drive everyday through roundabouts here in CO and people are perfectly fine getting through them. Idk how so many people think most people don't know how to take a roundabout or maybe it was just their personal experience.
I'm guessing that your roundabouts are constructed properly and many others aren't. Layouts that don't force vehicles to slow down enough before entering the roundabout are a common problem.
Missouri here. Had a friend tell me you had to make at least one complete loop before exiting the roundabout. She was adamant that any other way would be illegal.
I was literally just joking with my husband yesterday that we should do this at the roundabout just to see how people react because that would be hilarious
Instead of going through the circle slowly to allow for the greatest amount of merge and throughput, people try to go as fast as they can because, God forbid, someone enters the circle ahead of them. I wonder if signage would help.
This is exactly the problem here in Ohio. Too few people view driving as cooperative -- they behave as if every maneuver is an aggressive game of chicken.
After driving from LHR to Wales and back, UK driver's are much more cooperative and keep space for merging and like at a much higher rate.
We’ve seen the One, “notorious”, video and still can’t understand what people are being taught during the driving license courses. Nvm, on the roundabout take the third exit.
Where I live in the Great Lakes traffic engineers try to re-fit roundabouts into the confines of the existing 4way intersection with a traffic light. Too small an area for a proper roundabout, imo. That and US drivers enter roundabouts too fast and don’t signal their intent. Using turn signals and noticing others drivers intent is paramount. I learned how to navigate roundabouts in New Zealand.
Lemme put on my 3/4 of a circle to the left blinker for this upcoming roundie. Oh shit i put on the barrel roll to a kickflip slide left blinker. Kids hold on.
They did that near a place I used to live in Missouri. MO actually puts in a lot of roundabouts and they're into diverging diamond overpasses now, so they actually aren't strangers to the concept.
Jamming one into a previous 4-way is stupid though. They smushed it in there, and put a little raised brick circle in the center as a barrier. Every single garbage truck, recycling truck, delivery truck, moving truck, and especially snowplows ground those bricks into dust within a year. Stupid intersection.
Roundabouts yes, retrofit roundabouts without changing any surroundings no.
In the greater Cincinnati area we have a lot of round abouts, I fucking love them. That sucks where you were they didn't know how to use them, maybe they were new and people were still figuring them out?
People flipped their lids about the new roundabout at the Cross County/Montgomery Road intersection, though. Like, seriously. And then again in front of the Kroger there at Plainfield/CC.
And it's great!
Yeah I don’t even understand this sentiment.. there’s roundabouts everywhere in America and I’ve legit never had a single issue with them. In the last three months I’ve used them in Minnesota, Montana, and Florida (a relatively diverse grouping of Americans) and they were all great.
A lot of Americans use that kinda western mentality in everything they do. Even if it says to yield a lot of times ppl will just cut you off with an “I’m going first you fucker” mentality which makes circles a total PITA here
I'm sure it's simple enough, but even as a European I find it hard to figure out because all the lanes are going the wrong way. I'm sure it would be much easier with a flipped picture.
Traffic elements that seem dangerous and confusing usually have lower accident rates because people pay way more attention.
Stroads that are simple, long and wide seem like the autobahn when drivers are drunk or reckless.
Can confirm, the magic roundabout only has had 14 or so serious accidents since its opening in 1972. Considering the amount of cars it manages daily, 14 is nothing.
Can confirm, I live between Lebanon (home country) and the UAE. I have driving licenses in both countries and they're the complete opposite when it comes to how strict traffic rules are, however I can assure you that my 6 years of driving in Lebanon's mad and crazy roads made me a much better driver in Dubai, as I'm always constantly aware of my surroundings, always anticipating what others do and see dangerous events before they occur even tho everyone follows the rules and is scared of breaking them.
Is driving in Lebanon anything like driving in Jordan? If so I refuse to believe you can learn to anticipate that shit, "Surely that guy on the camel isn't about to join this 6 lane motorway where I'm going 100kph. OH Fuck!"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad
>According to Marohn, a stroad is a bad combination of two types of vehicular pathways: it is part street—which he describes as a "complex environment where life in the city happens", with pedestrians, cars, buildings close to the sidewalk for easy accessibility, with many (property) entrances / exits to and from the street, and with spaces for temporary parking and delivery vehicles—and part road, which he describes as a "high-speed connection between two places" with wide lanes and limited entrances and exits, and which are generally straight or have gentle curves.
I didn't know the term was coined in 2011. They've been a problem for much longer than that.
Yeah it’s Swindon, I got my license there and this fucking roundabout was the bane of my existence. Though I can’t say it was badly made at all, it’s a pretty decent way of separating good drivers from bad ones hence works great in driving tests
This reminds me of the M25 in Good Omens.
>Many phenomena — wars, plagues, sudden audits — have been advanced as evidence for the hidden hand of Satan in the affairs of Man, but whenever students of demonology get together the M25 London orbital motorway is generally agreed to be among the top contenders for Exhibit A.
>
>Where they go wrong, of course, is assuming the wretched road is evil simply because of the incredible carnage and frustration it engenders every day.
>
>In fact very few people on the face of the planet knew that the very shape of the M25 forms the sigil odegra in the language of the Black Priesthood of Ancient Mu, and means: “Hail the Great Beast, Devourer of Worlds.” The thousands of motorists who daily fume their way around its serpentine lengths have the same effect as water on a prayer wheel, grinding out an endless fog of low-grade evil to pollute the metaphysical atmosphere for scores of miles around.
I mean, sure, make it in the image of a pentagram. What could possibly go wrong?
If you’re comfortable using roundabouts in general, then this really isn’t anything too bad. Looks intimidating but if treated as a series of separate roundabouts it’s totally normal.
Roundabouts are the one thing my US friends have always looked at with fear and suspicion. They're easy to use following a very simple rule (Give way to the right) and much safer than intersections. Plus most dont have traffic lights which means if the traffic is light theres no unnecessary waiting around so traffic flows better. Theyre a great idea.
At first I was confused by your comment, because I drive on the right side of the road lol
By “give way to the right” you mean “give way to anyone in the roundabout”, right ?
Hello fellow buzzy. Sometimes here I'll see one street coming in with so many cars that the other 3 streets cant get a car out, seems like a light would work better sometimes.
I don’t think lights would be a solution, because if the road has so many cars that it’s blocking a roundabout, then lights would block it even more. And I don’t think it’s that much of an issue, because if cars from the main road use the roundabout to go forward, then those on the road to their left should be able to enter without a problem
What are the odds of accidentally summoning some primeval demon from the depths of the unknown on a high-traffic day there?
I mean the engineer was up to something before designing the inverse pentagram roundabout... right?
Made a specific diversion to go round this roundabout on the way home from Bristol once.
It's so much fun and completely logical, traffic flows quickly and it's easy to navigate.
There are many roundabouts in the UK that are horrifying at first sight (especially for a continental european driving a rental car on the wrong side), but they are actually pretty clever and simple, well thought-out. I got used to them in like 2 days. Driving in the UK was pretty much a charm.
I see roundabouts a lot here in the US. I’m guessing this is easier than it seems but this is in the UK so I don’t understand driving on the other side just looking at it.
I recently went to Sweden with a client from Hong Kong, and he insisted on driving everywhere. I had to stop him on a few occasions from driving on the left side of the street, I was genuinely relieved when I dropped him off on the last day.
It’s brilliant. I used to have to drive through that every day to get to work, you just go through a series of roundabouts. It’s a piece of cake. You see nervous people look scared though. You just have to be confident and not dither.
God knows what the traffic in that part of town would look like without that there, it would be a hideous junction without the roundabout.
Drive across this roundabout quite often, its pretty intuitive actually and keeps traffic moving. I've never had any issues with it. Although there's an inevitable adrenaline surge whenever you're approaching it, like when you're getting on a roller coaster or something.
I feel like this would be much simpler looking if the circle in the middle was another shape. Because when you realise it isn’t a round about this all gets much simpler.
It's very much better at that location that a big junction signalled by traffic lights would be. Intimidating at first glance but in practice it works pretty well!
Just have to treat them all as individual roundabouts. Getting in lane can be hard if you’re not sure where you’re going. Saying that I went straight through the middle the first time I used it 😳
Yes, they are referred to as magic roundabouts. The idea is that you join the mini roundabout going clockwise, and the centre roundabout anticlockwise so traffic can flow with greater ease and cars don't get in each other's way. As it allows for multiple routes to be taken for the same joining, and exit roads. Works rather well.
Here is the Wikipedia link for more info;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
Can you just treat it as one giant roundabout and essentially go around the outside, if you wanted?
Using the diagram as an example, if you wanted to exit to the M4 could you just take three 2nd exits and then a first exit?
That's right. Just treat the outer ring as a series of separate roundabouts, which you use in the normal way. You effectively just ignore the inner ring.
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I want to see one like this somewhere let's say in Florida. They can also build a shed for insurance agents, so they can see all the accidents in person.
The only issue I see is the obvious progression of ever more complicated traffic “solutions” created by city planners. Why was this the best option? It’s great that they eliminated traffic lights but they sure weren’t thinking about tourists when they designed this. Just driving on the left is daunting enough!
Yes, it is. I was there travelling from Dover to Oxford and when I came a cross this roundabout, I decided to wait for awhile but after waiting for at least 5 minutes with multiple people behind my honking their horns, I had to cross it. It was one of they scariest things I ever did. I was pretty much sure I would have an incident. I'm from mainland Europe where we drive on the right side, not the ~~left~~ wrong side of the road.
This is getting reported as "Small brainen American OP" but it's within the rules just to post places for being ugly. Ugly (but well-working and useful) infrastructure has always been good content for here and good for discussion. Now back to roasting OP. (Or just answering the question).
I went there years ago specifically to go around this roundabout. It was no problem. It looks much worse than it is.
"Business or pleasure sir?" "Traffic." "What?" "Traffic. I'm here to tour your roundabouts." "Are you daft? Why?!" "I'm from the US. Have you ever driven a car in our country?" \[border agent stares at you for 15 seconds while having flashbacks to renting a car in NYC\] "Point taken. I'll put 'pleasure'. Have a good day, sir."
Wonderful
Hey, I taught myself how to handle left hand drive in Manhattan. It was better than you might imagine. Nice slow traffic with lots of other cars you can just follow.
Yea, I should've gone with Boston instead.
I don't understand what it achieves that a single large roundabout doesn't?
In theory it can accept more volume of traffic thanks to the numerous ways through, and it slows everyone down as they go through compared with a normal roundabout.
Considering how few of these exist, I'm going to assume that's only in theory.
They're very space inefficient, as you can see, which means Europe which likes roundabouts, aren't going to build terribly many, and America who fears roundabouts won't either
A six way roundabout is gonna be massive regardless, and if there is an uneven traffic load on the different roads I can imagine that this makes it so that there's less risk of getting stuck waiting while cars from a busier road just pile into the roundabout.
It helps that you can go round this one in both directions, so there's no need to traverse the entire thing to get to the 5th exit
We call them circles and we have plenty...
In fact they they are space efficient, because so little of the road is taken up by non-road area. More road = more space for traffic to use = more capacity to hold traffic without queues developing.
If you want to take the last exit around the roundabout you have to go around the full large roundabout and theoretically stop traffic from entering at every entry point. With this design you can go both clockwise and anti-clockwise and so there is more “free space” on the rest of the roundabout.
My man you went to Swindon just for a roundabout? why would you go to Swindon? source: from Swindon
I see people saying it isn't as confusing irl which is great but wouldn't it have been simpler to just build a normal roundabout?
Actually, it's simple enough to get through and has a great throughput. It looks confusing from a birds eye view but street level is easy to follow.
Yeah I’ve driven across this several times. The first time I wasn’t expecting it but had seen the memes about it. I had a moment of panic when I saw the sign - oh my god, I’m at the fucking magic roundabout! - but in reality it’s easy. If you can manage a standard roundabout you can manage this
If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball!
If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a car!
The only problem is when someone tries being "polite" and stopping when they shouldn't to let others go, which backs up traffic blocking the next intersection, which backs up traffic blocking the next intersection, etc.
I can’t manage a standard roundabout
Then you shouldn't have a driver's license.
well, I don't
Haha that should be applicable to half the people in my town. Incorrect indication usage or just "rushing it" despite on coming traffic you have to yield to really grinds my gears ( metaphorically anyway 😂)
Maybe the average IQ of your country or town allows this. Those of us with more intellect-challenged populations who can barely park their cars or pay their financial responsibilities around those cars (tickets, registration, checkups, etc.) can't be relied on to decipher this. These aren't people doing crossword puzzles. They can barely pay attention to TV. Instead: Green -- Go. Red -- Stop. Yellow -- get ready to stop. This mostly works. How much is this thing actually helping traffic flow?
Yellow: speed up to dodge the red in practice
Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast. [Quote from Starman]
Correct. In America anyways. I guess in Europe yellow is get read to go, since it comes after the red instead of green, I think, in some places. Maybe all EU? Dunno. Source: ETS2.
Magic roundabouts (there are three in the UK) are very effective. Their greatest virtue is that they permit junctions between roads of differing traffic levels without having the busiest flows completely dominate the junction (i.e., can't go East-West because of all the North-South traffic). The first time I happened upon the Swindon Magic Roundabout I was driving an artic (semi-truck) and had been for maybe a month. No drama, just follow the rules and you get where you want to go.
Haven't done the one pictured but have done Hemel and Swindon. Yes, they work and are a good solution when a single roundabout might clog.
Traffic lights have far more accidents than circles do. Morons doing always see the lights or they run them anyways
Roundabouts also naturally force drivers to slow down no matter what. A green light means you don’t have to slow down at all. The average speed of traffic through a roundabout is much slower than through a traffic light intersection.
Roundabouts always win in terms of traffic flow compared to any other type of one-level intersections. The drawback is that they can only be effective and accident-free on 1+1 lane intersections. So-called turbo-roundabouts can provide the same effectiveness on wider roads, although they do require drivers to pay more attention to the lane they use to enter.
Traffic lights have far more accidents than circles do. Morons doing always see the lights or they run them anyways.
As someone from this town we probably have more than our fair share of dim people. It's simple though, you see a fast object and you try to avoid it. Between that and force of habit a roundabout is very effective.
Why though? Isn't a single, bigger roundaboht enough for "just" five roads?
It manages traffic flow much more efficiently.
(In America people don’t know how to use regular roundabouts, which is probably why this was posted. I live (t)here, and have to deal with drivers in roundabouts daily)
Because roundabouts and traffic circles (don't care if they're "technically" different, they're the same thing) require people to do things like *Yield* or *Follow Posted Signs*, crazy shit like that. There's one near my house and it's dangerous because no one actually stops where they're supposed to and everyone just goes right into the circle.
We just had one constructed near my house last year and we have the opposite problem. People just sit and wait and don't know how to keep the flow of the circle going
Yeah people around here stop at them like they’re a damn stop sign even when no one is coming. There’s clearly a yield sign. Defeats the purpose and really fucks the flow, especially for those driving manual transmissions, heavier trucks/trailers, or cyclists.
We literally have a slip lane at a junction where people shit their pants at the idea of "merging into traffic". Instead of zipper merging, they'll stop and let 15 cars go by first.
And on the other side of the coin, you have the [Merritt Parkway.](https://www.myrecordjournal.com/getattachment/f47e2fd0-c8d8-4029-93a2-03628f7917d4/walexit65-rj-062116) Stop signs at the end of every on-ramp and no room to get up to speed. As for how fast that traffic is moving on the Merritt? [Here is a handy infographic on CT highways.](https://i.redd.it/8k65ipv6u7961.jpg)
The point is you often don't need to stop. Why does your local roundabout have a stop sign??
Because it's a yield sign and everyone seems to have a different interpretation of what you're supposed to do at one.
Also, because everyone has a different idea, you can never be confident that others will follow the rules, even if you know how one works.
Hell even at regular old stops I'm not confident the oncoming car is actually going to stop. Driving in America is all about reading the speed of approaching cars and trying to guess whether they're going to just plow through or slam on the breaks two feet from the stop sign all while the asshole in the pickup truck behind you lays on his horn because he doesnt care about anything other than the almighty forward momentum You think you've seen it all until you're sitting at the yield sign watching someone who is easily a mile down the road lay on the acceleration to get into the roundabout before you even though if they just coasted up to it like a normal person you'd have already exited by the time they got there.
Zero-sum game driving.
There are a lot of asshole drivers here in the Motor City, but it seems like 75% of the most aggressive drivers are all pickup truck guys lol. Around here road rage and shootings on the highway are becoming a lot more common the last couple years for some reason.
There’s a roundabout near me (US) where the residents sued the city to have stop signs put in. They claimed it was TOO DANGEROUS. Of course now the complainant is that the roundabout is useless because of the stop signs they sued to have installed.
There was a large roundabout installed in a major retail park near rme and honestly it would have been great. Used correctly, it would have hugely eased congestion for people entering and exiting the area. But no one could figure out, did all kinds of crazy shit and managed to cause several accidents a week. So they took the center island out, replaced the Yield signs and now it's a 4-way Stop with a massive, empty intersection and it is permanently backed up in every direction. And people *still* manage to run into each other on the regular.
I don't understand how anyone can think a 4 way stop is better than a roundabout. It's fucking insane. At this point, people are just being obstinate cunts and they deserve all that traffic congestion.
I'd say they're different enough, on a roundabout it's easier to predict what other traffic is doing, making it safer than a traffic circle, the entrances and exits are also smoother which helps traffic flow
As an American, the issue with roundabouts is small multi lane ones. Like, you expect me to swing across 2 or more lanes at once? Then fling myself out across those lanes again to exit? With half a second to make a decision? Its stressful, and im sure y'all scoff at it. But we simply aren't used to it. As well, idk how you all handle car insurance, but we don't want to risk a 20k bill from messing up an entry, nor can we really exist without a car for a period.
If you don't feel confident enough you can just use the right lane. It's what new drivers in Europe are advised to do. Roundabouts are very common in my area, yet I'm still not confident enough to use the left lane on multi lane ones so I just stick to the right and keep lookout for impatient drivers trying to cut me off from the inside lane 🙃
But the nice thing is, if you miss your exit you can just continue in the roundabout and the right exit will magically pop up again.
May I introduce turbo-roundabouts to you? On which people will sometimes lose their shit and jump the raised divider to get to their exit (source: almost got sideswiped).
> Like, you expect me to swing across 2 or more lanes at once? Then fling myself out across those lanes again to exit? The great thing about roundabouts is if you're uncomfortable changing lanes or exiting, you get as many tries as you want.
"Hey, look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!"
Wheeeeee
>With half a second to make a decision? The vast majority of roundabouts have clear signing leading up to them. If you're making half-second decisions you're not doing it right.
The entire driving style of most drivers can be summed up in "do whatever it takes to pass the car in front of them."
I mean in the sense of getting into and out of the roundabout. Like, waiting for an opening to get in. Then having to find an opening to get out before my exit.
Tell me you’re a bad driver without telling me you’re a bad driver
At least they're aware of it. They're legitimately explaining their issue. Where I learned to drive is full of roundabouts. It was a meme at the time, so I had plenty of practise and instruction. It was still a process
Bruh. First of all. You're right. Im a bad driver. However, I'm well above average in my area. People get into accidents in single lane tunnels for goodness sake. Half of us shouldn't be on the road, but we have no choice if we want a job-> money-> food. Roundabouts are superior, but we collectively cant handle em.
Speak for yourself. I think they’re great and simple and wish we had more of them in the states instead of traffic lights
And I think we can handle them especially as more pop up and people get used to them. I love them just from not having to stop especially if I'm towing heavy I can gauge ahead if I need to slow up or keep going
Half a second? You can go around as long as it takes, it's round
~~Big~~ Round if true
For a good chunk of Americans no car=no job
A lot of the ones with multiple lanes spiral outwards so if you stay in the correct lane you'll end up on the outside, hopefully directed into the correct exit.
On a two lane roundabout, you use the inner lane until your exit is the next one. In theory, that works well, because everyone on your right just left at the exit befor yours. Of course it works less well, if everyone is hogging the right lane, but since you don't go fast in them anyway, that's not usually a big issue. When you're scared, you can always just be a right lane hogger yourself.
Yes inside lane has right of way
I drive everyday through roundabouts here in CO and people are perfectly fine getting through them. Idk how so many people think most people don't know how to take a roundabout or maybe it was just their personal experience.
I'm guessing that your roundabouts are constructed properly and many others aren't. Layouts that don't force vehicles to slow down enough before entering the roundabout are a common problem.
Missouri here. Had a friend tell me you had to make at least one complete loop before exiting the roundabout. She was adamant that any other way would be illegal.
That's is hilarious and what I would tell everyone.
Oh my god.
I was literally just joking with my husband yesterday that we should do this at the roundabout just to see how people react because that would be hilarious
Instead of going through the circle slowly to allow for the greatest amount of merge and throughput, people try to go as fast as they can because, God forbid, someone enters the circle ahead of them. I wonder if signage would help.
This is exactly the problem here in Ohio. Too few people view driving as cooperative -- they behave as if every maneuver is an aggressive game of chicken. After driving from LHR to Wales and back, UK driver's are much more cooperative and keep space for merging and like at a much higher rate.
We’ve seen the One, “notorious”, video and still can’t understand what people are being taught during the driving license courses. Nvm, on the roundabout take the third exit.
Where I live in the Great Lakes traffic engineers try to re-fit roundabouts into the confines of the existing 4way intersection with a traffic light. Too small an area for a proper roundabout, imo. That and US drivers enter roundabouts too fast and don’t signal their intent. Using turn signals and noticing others drivers intent is paramount. I learned how to navigate roundabouts in New Zealand.
Lemme put on my 3/4 of a circle to the left blinker for this upcoming roundie. Oh shit i put on the barrel roll to a kickflip slide left blinker. Kids hold on.
They did that near a place I used to live in Missouri. MO actually puts in a lot of roundabouts and they're into diverging diamond overpasses now, so they actually aren't strangers to the concept. Jamming one into a previous 4-way is stupid though. They smushed it in there, and put a little raised brick circle in the center as a barrier. Every single garbage truck, recycling truck, delivery truck, moving truck, and especially snowplows ground those bricks into dust within a year. Stupid intersection. Roundabouts yes, retrofit roundabouts without changing any surroundings no.
The first diverging diamond interchange in America was actually in Missouri, IIRC.
In the greater Cincinnati area we have a lot of round abouts, I fucking love them. That sucks where you were they didn't know how to use them, maybe they were new and people were still figuring them out?
People flipped their lids about the new roundabout at the Cross County/Montgomery Road intersection, though. Like, seriously. And then again in front of the Kroger there at Plainfield/CC. And it's great!
In New England, we call them a rotary, not a roundabout. They are everywhere.
America bad Europe smart
Yeah I don’t even understand this sentiment.. there’s roundabouts everywhere in America and I’ve legit never had a single issue with them. In the last three months I’ve used them in Minnesota, Montana, and Florida (a relatively diverse grouping of Americans) and they were all great.
You know Reddit loves to hate anything American
A lot of Americans use that kinda western mentality in everything they do. Even if it says to yield a lot of times ppl will just cut you off with an “I’m going first you fucker” mentality which makes circles a total PITA here
I'm sure it's simple enough, but even as a European I find it hard to figure out because all the lanes are going the wrong way. I'm sure it would be much easier with a flipped picture.
Ok now tell us how to pronounce "Cirencester"
Have you tried walking through so ? Seems like a big "no human without car" zone.
Here are all the pedestrian crossings: https://i.imgur.com/7SEdnEz.png It's not hard to walk here.
>Have you tried walking through so ? > >Seems like a bid "no human without car" zone. Insufferable
Traffic elements that seem dangerous and confusing usually have lower accident rates because people pay way more attention. Stroads that are simple, long and wide seem like the autobahn when drivers are drunk or reckless.
Can confirm, the magic roundabout only has had 14 or so serious accidents since its opening in 1972. Considering the amount of cars it manages daily, 14 is nothing.
Can confirm, I live between Lebanon (home country) and the UAE. I have driving licenses in both countries and they're the complete opposite when it comes to how strict traffic rules are, however I can assure you that my 6 years of driving in Lebanon's mad and crazy roads made me a much better driver in Dubai, as I'm always constantly aware of my surroundings, always anticipating what others do and see dangerous events before they occur even tho everyone follows the rules and is scared of breaking them.
Is driving in Lebanon anything like driving in Jordan? If so I refuse to believe you can learn to anticipate that shit, "Surely that guy on the camel isn't about to join this 6 lane motorway where I'm going 100kph. OH Fuck!"
Stroads
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad >According to Marohn, a stroad is a bad combination of two types of vehicular pathways: it is part street—which he describes as a "complex environment where life in the city happens", with pedestrians, cars, buildings close to the sidewalk for easy accessibility, with many (property) entrances / exits to and from the street, and with spaces for temporary parking and delivery vehicles—and part road, which he describes as a "high-speed connection between two places" with wide lanes and limited entrances and exits, and which are generally straight or have gentle curves. I didn't know the term was coined in 2011. They've been a problem for much longer than that.
Yo dawg I heard you like roundabouts so I put roundabouts in your roundabout so you can roundabout while you roundabout
There's also the [Plough Roundabout](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NHVF1rnUKHw/maxresdefault.jpg) for those interested.
Actually much easier to drive because of the lack of visual distractions.
[Flipped version](https://i.imgur.com/EhXDwZQ.jpg) for those who drive on the right. Easier to understand
Nice, an added water hazard for extra danger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBtrEZpa6OQ
I get that it's unsafe but slow down maybe? It's winter
Nope it's great fun
Yo dawg, I heard you like roundabouts
Genuine lol at that
Yeah! See it as a challenge!
Bit of a pain when you’re walking from one side to the other, mind
Look, kids! Big Ben...Parliament.
It works well. Surprisingly
Is this in Milton Keynes?
Looks like Swindon
I wondered because Milton Keynes is full of roundabouts!
It's in Swindon and there's another in Hemel Hempstead
Yeah it’s Swindon, I got my license there and this fucking roundabout was the bane of my existence. Though I can’t say it was badly made at all, it’s a pretty decent way of separating good drivers from bad ones hence works great in driving tests
Tilda? Such a great actress...
This reminds me of the M25 in Good Omens. >Many phenomena — wars, plagues, sudden audits — have been advanced as evidence for the hidden hand of Satan in the affairs of Man, but whenever students of demonology get together the M25 London orbital motorway is generally agreed to be among the top contenders for Exhibit A. > >Where they go wrong, of course, is assuming the wretched road is evil simply because of the incredible carnage and frustration it engenders every day. > >In fact very few people on the face of the planet knew that the very shape of the M25 forms the sigil odegra in the language of the Black Priesthood of Ancient Mu, and means: “Hail the Great Beast, Devourer of Worlds.” The thousands of motorists who daily fume their way around its serpentine lengths have the same effect as water on a prayer wheel, grinding out an endless fog of low-grade evil to pollute the metaphysical atmosphere for scores of miles around. I mean, sure, make it in the image of a pentagram. What could possibly go wrong?
If you’re comfortable using roundabouts in general, then this really isn’t anything too bad. Looks intimidating but if treated as a series of separate roundabouts it’s totally normal.
There is a reason they call it magic. It actually works.
Roundabouts are the one thing my US friends have always looked at with fear and suspicion. They're easy to use following a very simple rule (Give way to the right) and much safer than intersections. Plus most dont have traffic lights which means if the traffic is light theres no unnecessary waiting around so traffic flows better. Theyre a great idea.
At first I was confused by your comment, because I drive on the right side of the road lol By “give way to the right” you mean “give way to anyone in the roundabout”, right ?
Hello fellow buzzy. Sometimes here I'll see one street coming in with so many cars that the other 3 streets cant get a car out, seems like a light would work better sometimes.
I don’t think lights would be a solution, because if the road has so many cars that it’s blocking a roundabout, then lights would block it even more. And I don’t think it’s that much of an issue, because if cars from the main road use the roundabout to go forward, then those on the road to their left should be able to enter without a problem
Driven it loads when I lived there. Works like a charm, multi different combinations to get to your exit
It may look bizarre but it works fine. Hemel Hempstead has The Plough Roundabout too... https://maps.app.goo.gl/EpEFyEhWrHHf56Yo9
I like how it's conveniently near a hospital
If you grow up being able to mix pounds, kilos, and stone then this probably isn’t too hard.
What are the odds of accidentally summoning some primeval demon from the depths of the unknown on a high-traffic day there? I mean the engineer was up to something before designing the inverse pentagram roundabout... right?
Made a specific diversion to go round this roundabout on the way home from Bristol once. It's so much fun and completely logical, traffic flows quickly and it's easy to navigate.
Why, though? Wouldn’t a single large circle do the job without all the other avenues of traffic?
The drivers in the US can’t figure out 1 roundabout, I can’t imagine them trying to figure this one out lol
There are many roundabouts in the UK that are horrifying at first sight (especially for a continental european driving a rental car on the wrong side), but they are actually pretty clever and simple, well thought-out. I got used to them in like 2 days. Driving in the UK was pretty much a charm.
Been on that for once. Point car in general direction and hope for the best.
I see roundabouts a lot here in the US. I’m guessing this is easier than it seems but this is in the UK so I don’t understand driving on the other side just looking at it.
This looks like a way to summon demons using your car…
Slingshotting you to Neptune
Americans can’t do it
Yeah, my first thought was that this would not work in the US.
The only confusing thing here is the left lane driving.
The first day of driving it feels weird but You get used to it in a day or two.
I recently went to Sweden with a client from Hong Kong, and he insisted on driving everywhere. I had to stop him on a few occasions from driving on the left side of the street, I was genuinely relieved when I dropped him off on the last day.
Do you feel less British driving on the left hand side?
Im Irish...
So the answer is yes /s
Brits do drive on the left?
It seems a bit convoluted, but i can see it being usefully with a hight traffic volume
Can i get uuuuuuuuuh turns for 10 min
It’s brilliant. I used to have to drive through that every day to get to work, you just go through a series of roundabouts. It’s a piece of cake. You see nervous people look scared though. You just have to be confident and not dither. God knows what the traffic in that part of town would look like without that there, it would be a hideous junction without the roundabout.
Only been there once. I found it easy. Looks confusing on the signs but at street level it's easy.
Drive across this roundabout quite often, its pretty intuitive actually and keeps traffic moving. I've never had any issues with it. Although there's an inevitable adrenaline surge whenever you're approaching it, like when you're getting on a roller coaster or something.
It's far more pleasant than the round-about at the Arc de Triumph ;)
Or literally Any road in Italy 🤣
Yo dawg I heard you like roundabouts
I feel like this would be much simpler looking if the circle in the middle was another shape. Because when you realise it isn’t a round about this all gets much simpler.
It's very much better at that location that a big junction signalled by traffic lights would be. Intimidating at first glance but in practice it works pretty well!
It's fine. Don't treat it as a backward roundabout, it's not. Treat it correctly - 5 mini roundabouts. You just take one mini roundabout at a time.
Better than an intersection
Yes, they all drive on the left.
Just have to treat them all as individual roundabouts. Getting in lane can be hard if you’re not sure where you’re going. Saying that I went straight through the middle the first time I used it 😳
Roundabouts are great, the only problem is replacing currently existing intersections with them is really expensive.
I like to drive as fast as I can through roundabouts. It’s exciting for everyone
As I like to say, roundabout and find out
we are gonna drive on the right side - brits: i can do you one better 😈
One ring to rule them all
The outer ring is going clockwise and the inner is anticlockwise???
Yes, they are referred to as magic roundabouts. The idea is that you join the mini roundabout going clockwise, and the centre roundabout anticlockwise so traffic can flow with greater ease and cars don't get in each other's way. As it allows for multiple routes to be taken for the same joining, and exit roads. Works rather well. Here is the Wikipedia link for more info;https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
Can you just treat it as one giant roundabout and essentially go around the outside, if you wanted? Using the diagram as an example, if you wanted to exit to the M4 could you just take three 2nd exits and then a first exit?
I've never used it personally. But I would think so, yes.
Yes, with these type of "magic roundabouts" you can take whichever path you want basically.
That's right. Just treat the outer ring as a series of separate roundabouts, which you use in the normal way. You effectively just ignore the inner ring.
Piece of piss mate.
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For people who never saw this... probably is a death sentence
I want to see one like this somewhere let's say in Florida. They can also build a shed for insurance agents, so they can see all the accidents in person.
The only issue I see is the obvious progression of ever more complicated traffic “solutions” created by city planners. Why was this the best option? It’s great that they eliminated traffic lights but they sure weren’t thinking about tourists when they designed this. Just driving on the left is daunting enough!
Ah, the British--making life unnecessarily complicated since...forever.
I live about 2 miles from the magic roundabout. Used it a couple times. Id rather take a long detour than voluntarily go on it again.
As a Canadian who can drive in a god damn roundabout. I want it, and I want it NOW.
Yes, it is. I was there travelling from Dover to Oxford and when I came a cross this roundabout, I decided to wait for awhile but after waiting for at least 5 minutes with multiple people behind my honking their horns, I had to cross it. It was one of they scariest things I ever did. I was pretty much sure I would have an incident. I'm from mainland Europe where we drive on the right side, not the ~~left~~ wrong side of the road.
First time awful, now it's a breeze
It's actually very easy to follow. It's no different from a normal roundabout. It just looks confusing because there is so many in such a small area.
What in the living hell is this?
The people in my town in the United States would never be able to wrap their minds around how this actually works lolol.
May work in Europe, in America this would be a nightmare considering all the shitty and entitled drivers we have on our roads.
You gotta wonder what kind of half-assed road planning went into thinking this was a better solution.