Roundabouts!!
Our "quaint little fishing village" councilperps decided that it would be better for traffic flow to install traffic circles - "Roundabouts" - to allow growth without encumbrance.
Problem is, with all the pasty skinned NorthWesterners up here, they haven't a clue how to do it. Now, I've visited England, and some of the continent, and I learned exactly how the rest of the world does it. Yesterday, after hitting second gear in my Yessiree Diesel burning turbocharged 6000 pound 4X4 Detroit Iron, and slotting in, getting round, and exiting with gusto, I was followed all the way to my next stop by a riceburner pickup with folks too young to be driving, and they got out, all vibrating with "Righteous" anger, and proceeded to dress down this old man about how I needed to slow down and that "This isn't Europe" and so on!!! What a bunch of Maroons! They are of the opinion that we all need to stop, or at least slow way down, before entering the roundabout, even if it is empty, and certainly if there might be anyone on it. Sheesh! Any of y'all have similar problems here in the USA?
Edited for fat fangers/typo
Problem is, with all the pasty skinned NorthWesterners up here, they haven't a clue how to do it. Now, I've visited England, and some of the continent, and I learned exactly how the rest of the world does it. Yesterday, after hitting second gear in my Yessiree Diesel burning turbocharged 6000 pound 4X4 Detroit Iron, and slotting in, getting round, and exiting with gusto, I was followed all the way to my next stop by a riceburner pickup with folks too young to be driving, and they got out, all vibrating with "Righteous" anger, and proceeded to dress down this old man about how I needed to slow down and that "This isn't Europe" and so on!!! What a bunch of Maroons! They are of the opinion that we all need to stop, or at least slow way down, before entering the roundabout, even if it is empty, and certainly if there might be anyone on it. Sheesh! Any of y'all have similar problems here in the USA?
Edited for fat fangers/typo
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biggest roundabout I've ever been in is the Puerto Da Sol 9 (sp)in Madrid Spain and it is pretty intense several times a day, but I agree with FCD, they seem work well every where in the world but here and a sight cheaper than lights and such
FWIW, I also wish we would trash our measurement system and go metric.0 -
Yeah, I like 'em, for moderate traffic density intersections, as they promote faster flow and less gas wasted, IF THE BLINKIN FOLKS ALL KNOW HOW!! That is the problem using them here - FOREVER we will have some visitor, who is confounded by the concept, stopping before entering. It constipates the whole area!
Roundabouts don't work well at full density, as then you have a slow game of New York Chicken, where drivers dare each other to proceed past the other fenders that are sticking out into the traffic flow.
In Swindon, England, there is a "Magic Roundabout" (Looks like a flower from above) where you can have an insane amount of fun in a Mini, cutting around frist this way, then that, tires squealing all the time, and you can practice drifting. My rental car got tired!!0 -
We are the number one, (justifiably) arrogant SUPERPOWER.
Thus, the rest of the world should adopt our perfectly reasonable measurement standards.
...or...we should nuke them all!!
Doug0 -
quote:Originally posted by dpmule
biggest roundabout I've ever been in is the Puerto Da Sol 9 (sp)in Madrid Spain and it is pretty intense several times a day, but I agree with FCD, they seem work well every where in the world but here and a sight cheaper than lights and such
FWIW, I also wish we would trash our measurement system and go metric.
You just like Metric, because 7 Centimeters sounds better than 3 Inches...[:0]
Jeff0 -
here you go a video on roundabout rules
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/CAE/designvisualization/video/Portfolio/Modern_Roundabouts/mpg_index.htm0 -
At this house they're known as retardabouts. 0 -
We call them traffic circles out there and I don't care much for them. I think the largest is in Long Beach where Pacfic Coast Highway meets Lakewood Blvd and then cirlces around Los Alimitos Park. People seem to get inside the circle, start driving aimlessly around and around with as much of an exit strategy for their car as Bush has for our forces in Iraq! 0 -
we have on in clearwater florida, just a little on, i would rather have a stop light. [:D] 0 -
We have 5 in a row in my home town. I hated them at first until I learned how to use them. Now I would never go back to lights. 0 -
There is an itty bitty one on the island of Oahu.....near North Shore. I hardly ever got out that way, so when I did find myself out there the "big circle thingy" threw me off a great deal. There I would be driving along and ALL OF THE SUDDEN I was going round and round......what's a girl to do?
I remember getting off every single road and having to go back until I took the right one purely by fate. Its funny to look back at when you were 18 or 19 and see the idiotic crap you did....signs....what signs....north....south....whatever....where am I....dang it....back we go.....wrong again......wrong again....dang it.....ok.....this looks right.....dang it.....what the heck....OH....here we go!!!!
DUH!0 -
quote:Originally posted by SuburbanNoize
we have on in clearwater florida, just a little on, i would rather have a stop light. [:D]
Yeah, doesn't that one in clearwater have stop signs or something? It's a bit fuzzy because I moved away in 2002.
I like traffic circles though. My goal is to get in fast and get out fast.0 -
for the love of god, its a ROTARY!!!!!
and i hate them with an all consuming passion0 -
quote:Originally posted by HandLoad
Our "quaint little fishing village" councilperps decided that it would be better for traffic flow to install traffic circles - "Roundabouts" - to allow growth without encumbrance.
Problem is, with all the pasty skinned NorthWesterners up here, they haven't a clue how to do it. Now, I've visited England, and some of the continent, and I learned exactly how the rest of the world does it. Yesterday, after hitting second gear in my Yessiree Diesel burning turbocharged 6000 pound 4X4 Detroit Iron, and slotting in, getting round, and exiting with gusto, I was followed all the way to my next stop by a riceburner pickup with folks too young to be driving, and they got out, all vibrating with "Righteous" anger, and proceeded to dress down this old man about how I needed to slow down and that "This isn't Europe" and so on!!! What a bunch of Maroons! They are of the opinion that we all need to stop, or at least slow way down, before entering the roundabout, even if it is empty, and certainly if there might be anyone on it. Sheesh! Any of y'all have similar problems here in the USA?
Edited for fat fangers/typo
leave a black smoke screen and burn rubber[:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by Flying Clay Disk
Roundabouts are the absolute answer to traffic problems IMHO. +1. In South FL, in the past year about 100 have been built. They do work, proven by traffic studies. They slow down drivers and discourage commuters from going into residential roads in order to avoid the major roads that are gridlocked.
They are called TCDs or "Traffic Control Devices" here...not circles. There is one under construction 1/2 block from my home.0
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