Most liked posts in thread: Video: 4 Way Stop vs Roundabout

Only thing about roundabouts I dont like is the fact nobody in the US seems to know how to use them!

I mean how flippin hard is it to look left and give traffic in the roundabout the right of way... I have stopped slamming on the brakes for these people, and started aiming for them!

 

In the US we call round roundabouts NASCAR. :lol:

If I come across a roundabouts I tend to drive through the middle, its much faster because everyone stops and thinks I am nuts, which I am. opcorn:

 

...especially when there's no other traffic coming and one is permitted to make several complete circuits. :cornut:

 

I like roundabouts.. especially in a MINI

 

Well, yeah, but that's France.



(sorry, had to be said)

 

I'd give that a go.

In an F56.

Joke. It's only a joke.

 

As a committed roundabout user, one negative that needs to be added is that they can be a source of minor shunts. In US drive-on-the-right, the second car at a roundabout entry will be looking left to see if they can enter while the car in front is going to the right to go round the roundabout. If the driver in front starts to move off and then changes their mind, the second driver is now looking in to the left and may not notice the sudden stop. Generally an under-5mph collision, so just annoying not dangerous.

And nowadays, we Brits use a lot of mini roundabouts at the sort of suburban junctions where I've found 4-way stops used. These are 'symbolic' roundabouts being painted on the road but can be driven over (particularly by long vehicles). They are really close to being a 4-way stop, but with a different set of priority rules.

 

We have two-lane roundabouts here, so if you're really good you can use the inside inclined curb to hook the car at the apex, turn and drift out as you accelerate onto the straight. :devil:

 

Maybe you just reverse around the roundabout! :crazy:

 

That's what we have here: 4-way stops where people make up their own rules. :frown2:

 

There's a few roundabouts here in MI ( 3 lane Roundabout) and if there's no traffic I do a complete circuit one of the roundabouts is by a Police station, I tend not to do a complete circuit there though.

 

What I most hate about the roundabouts is the fact that if traffic is heavy coming from one particular direction, that lane will overwhelm the rest of the lanes.

 

Honestly! This is like listening to children telling adults what scary monsters they aren't afraid of.....

If you think you're big enough, read on.

The daddy of all scary roundabouts is in Swindon, Britain and consists of five mini-roundabouts each with up to four lanes round a central main roundabout - with the result that you can go round the central roundabout in both directions......



Even the locals took a while to work out how to use it and they named it after the British version of the French kid's animation show, The Magic Roundabout. The name so stuck that even to local council have given in and made it the official name:



And some kind soul has even, so appropriately, made an animation of how it works:

[ame=http://youtu.be/kPANKRHL9HU]Magic Roundabout Animation - YouTube[/ame]

 

I never thought of that One of these days I'll do that loop when there isn't a lot of traffic around :biggrin5:

Chris

 

I got dizzy watching that video.

 

I just got back from a week in Ireland, where I found the Roundabouts quite easy to navigate. The only problem is that when I encountered one here in the states, I began to go around clockwise.... not smart of me!

 

Any time you think roundabouts are a good idea, check this video out - a German tourist's video of the Place de l'Etoile in Paris (presumably shot from on top of the Arc de Triomphe in the middle).

The French are trapped by their traditional rule of 'priorité a droite' (priority to the right) into the crazy situation where traffic coming onto a roundabout has priority and traffic already on the roundabout has to yield - causing impressive traffic jams.

But you have to admire their free-form seven-lane roundabout. As a child I was taken round it by a senior French civil servant in one continuous drift in his rally car - nothing ever has impressed me as much.

[ame=http://youtu.be/_BP_2t85soM]Paris - Kreisverkehr am Place de l`Etoile mit Blick vom Triumphbogen/Arc de Triomphe - YouTube[/ame]

Below is Google's aerial view of the whole of the Place with its twelve roads.

 

I like roundabouts & they work well for the intelligent human. Trouble is they seem to be rare in these parts. It is not uncommon for some dolt to stop in the roundabout because they are confused. :crazy: