Which are more efficient - roundabouts or 4-way stops?

[kallend 1,651]

Mythbusters finds out.

http://www.wimp.com/testroundabout/

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[oldwomanc6 38]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4547809#4547809

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[rehmwa 2]

if everyone knows what they are doing, roundabouts clearly are MUCH better.

my only issues:

1 - stupid little PC communities thinking they are neat that build tiny ones that firetrucks, semis, etc can't navigate. self explanatory

2 - areas with tentative drivers that STOP at the wrong times. These people may be annoying at 4 way stops but are plain dangerous on roundabouts.

3 - asswipes that don't understand the right of way on them (however, they are also asswipes on 4 way stops too, so have consider this one a wash - in my area it's mainly soccer moms)

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[JohnMitchell 14]

rehmwa

if everyone knows what they are doing, roundabouts clearly are MUCH better.

2 - areas with tentative drivers that STOP at the wrong times. These people may be annoying at 4 way stops but are plain dangerous on roundabouts.

We just moved to a community with numerous roundabouts and I'm very pleased with them. I rarely have to stop. Those tentative drivers do irk me too, but that's life.

I do wish people would use their turn signals to show they are exiting the roundabout. That would improve the traffic flow even more. In general, I'm always dumbfounded and disgusted by how many drivers are too inconsiderate to use their turn signals.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Roundabouts are more fun to navigate. When there is no traffic, a roundabout becomes a chicane.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Krip 2]

Roundabouts are just plain fun.
Turn signal to exit? Isn't that like putting on your turn signal in a turn only lane

One Jump Wonder

[BillyVance 34]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[airtwardo 6]

rehmwa

if everyone knows what they are doing, roundabouts clearly are MUCH better.

my only issues:

1 - stupid little PC communities thinking they are neat that build tiny ones that firetrucks, semis, etc can't navigate. self explanatory

2 - areas with tentative drivers that STOP at the wrong times. These people may be annoying at 4 way stops but are plain dangerous on roundabouts.

3 - asswipes that don't understand the right of way on them (however, they are also asswipes on 4 way stops too, so have consider this one a wash - in my area it's mainly soccer moms)

They're not real common in a lot of older communities...they put a few in up at Oshkosh a few years back.

I guess the idea was to help the massive flow of traffic that suddenly appears there one week a year. Amazing to watch people that probably have never seen one try to navigate through it.

I rode my Harley up to the show last year, after nearly being killed 1/2 dozen times at the roundabouts I elected to avoid them altogether and took the residential side streets instead.

Conversely, there's a really big one in Paris that can have 100+ cars in it at any given time...it's nothing to whip right through there when the drivers know what they're doing.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Amazon 7]

airtwardo

***if everyone knows what they are doing, roundabouts clearly are MUCH better.

my only issues:

1 - stupid little PC communities thinking they are neat that build tiny ones that firetrucks, semis, etc can't navigate. self explanatory

2 - areas with tentative drivers that STOP at the wrong times. These people may be annoying at 4 way stops but are plain dangerous on roundabouts.

3 - asswipes that don't understand the right of way on them (however, they are also asswipes on 4 way stops too, so have consider this one a wash - in my area it's mainly soccer moms)

They're not real common in a lot of older communities...they put a few in up at Oshkosh a few years back.

I guess the idea was to help the massive flow of traffic that suddenly appears there one week a year. Amazing to watch people that probably have never seen one try to navigate through it.

I rode my Harley up to the show last year, after nearly being killed 1/2 dozen times at the roundabouts I elected to avoid them altogether and took the residential side streets instead.

Conversely, there's a really big one in Paris that can have 100+ cars in it at any given time...it's nothing to whip right through there when the drivers know what they're doing.

Take the chunnel over to the west... when everything gets WAY more interesting.

[JBR 0]

Come to England, we have two roundabouts (Swindon and Hemel Hempstead) the have 6 roundabouts on them, that's right a roundabout with six roundabouts on it! Dropped Pin
near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
http://goo.gl/maps/Hx8oX

[Amazon 7]

JBR

Come to England, we have two roundabouts (Swindon and Hemel Hempstead) the have 6 roundabouts on them, that's right a roundabout with six roundabouts on it! Dropped Pin
near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
http://goo.gl/maps/Hx8oX

Clickified

Love the fact... that that thing has a hospital very near by

[BillyVance 34]

Amazon

***Come to England, we have two roundabouts (Swindon and Hemel Hempstead) the have 6 roundabouts on them, that's right a roundabout with six roundabouts on it! Dropped Pin
near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
http://goo.gl/maps/Hx8oX

Clickified

Love the fact... that that thing has a hospital very near by

Change to earth view to get a true sense of what it looks like.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Krip 2]

Saw the one in paris on you tube.

Looks like a lot of driver's playing chicken, with car's and motorcycles.

One Jump Wonder

[Remster 24]

JBR

Come to England, we have two roundabouts (Swindon and Hemel Hempstead) the have 6 roundabouts on them, that's right a roundabout with six roundabouts on it! Dropped Pin
near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
http://goo.gl/maps/Hx8oX

Hemel's has nothing on Swindon's Magic Roundabout. Nothing.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/51%C2%B044'46.4%22N+0%C2%B028'23.6%22W/@51.7460573,-0.4733685,197m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en vs https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Magic+Roundabout/@51.5628427,-1.7716623,131m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4871444acffa3da5:0x586d14ab6c0548c1

Remster

[kallend 1,651]

JBR

Come to England, we have two roundabouts (Swindon and Hemel Hempstead) the have 6 roundabouts on them, that's right a roundabout with six roundabouts on it! Dropped Pin
near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
http://goo.gl/maps/Hx8oX

When I lived in Cambridge there was a staggered intersection on Trumpington St. at Lensfield Rd. and Fen Causeway with two traffic lights. Massive traffic backups every morning and evening. Sometime in the mid 70s they tore out the traffic lights and put in a roundabout. Almost overnight the congestion just vanished. It was this that prompted my interest in traffic management and, in most US cities, traffic mismanagement,

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Krip

Turn signal to exit? Isn't that like putting on your turn signal in a turn only lane

Some roundabouts have controlled "must exit" lanes but most the ones I drive don't. At any exit point you're free to continue circling or exit. In that case you should use your turn signal, shouldn't you? That way the cars waiting to enter can see you're intending to exit. Save money, time and space.

[Krip 2]

Yep
The developer's in our town are building high density housing in the north end. In anticipation the city put in four roundabouts in about 2 miles on the same street. Lots of yield signs, arrows, horns honking, and signs of broken glass.

That's the cost of progress. I've just about got it figured out. Will be ready by the time the new folks start moving in.

One Jump Wonder

[oldwomanc6 38]

JohnMitchell

***
Turn signal to exit? Isn't that like putting on your turn signal in a turn only lane

Some roundabouts have controlled "must exit" lanes but most the ones I drive don't. At any exit point you're free to continue circling or exit. In that case you should use your turn signal, shouldn't you? That way the cars waiting to enter can see you're intending to exit. Save money, time and space. It would be useful, if you could trust the turn signal. Which means not useful at all. Look and plan to be able to merge yourself in when there is space, or wait till there is space.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[councilman24 36]

So is a 2 way roundabout a roundabout or just a really short ring road?

Do show that thing to our traffic engineers. We have enough trouble with one way roundabouts. Here in MI the state is starting to use them on the interchanges on the interstate. Not at highway speeds but at the ramp/secondary road intersections. Also have added them at some busy suburban interchanges and on WMU campus.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

That is seriously fucked!

First y'all drive on the wrong side of the road and then y'all build that!??!

I'm so glad we decided to revolt.

[oldwomanc6 38]

I'm so confused! I keep going back and forth on this issue, but It just keeps going round and round in my mind.

Make it Stop!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Amazon 7]

oldwomanc6

I'm so confused! I keep going back and forth on this issue, but It just keeps going round and round in my mind.

Make it Stop!


Wouldn't you just love to get in that thing and go around all the little circles and the big one a few times... just to get used to driving back asswards from most of the world

[TriGirl 277]

Krip

Yep
The developers in our town are building high density housing in the north end. In anticipation the city put in four roundabouts in about 2 miles on the same street. Lots of yield signs, arrows, horns honking, and signs of broken glass.

That's the cost of progress. I've just about got it figured out. Will be ready by the time the new folks start moving in.

1) Here in Turkey, they put in what can loosely be described as a "roundabout." Same general principle, but too small to be of any real value, except to keep the Turkish drivers from cutting the turn too tightly and going into oncoming traffic (this really happens, mostly by taxis and bus drivers)

2) As for the "horns honking" and "broken glass" -- unfortunately, no one teaches American drivers that the right-of-way belongs to the car already in the roundabout. If they explain that when a new one is put in, like put up a road sign about 100m before, I'm sure it will all get figured out much more quickly. (this applies also to someone's earlier post about those "hesitant" drivers already in the circle -- if they don't know who has the right-of-way, of course they're going to hesitate!).

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[oldwomanc6 38]

TriGirl

***Yep
The developers in our town are building high density housing in the north end. In anticipation the city put in four roundabouts in about 2 miles on the same street. Lots of yield signs, arrows, horns honking, and signs of broken glass.

That's the cost of progress. I've just about got it figured out. Will be ready by the time the new folks start moving in.

1) Here in Turkey, they put in what can loosely be described as a "roundabout." Same general principle, but too small to be of any real value, except to keep the Turkish drivers from cutting the turn too tightly and going into oncoming traffic (this really happens, mostly by taxis and bus drivers)

2) As for the "horns honking" and "broken glass" -- unfortunately, no one teaches American drivers that the right-of-way belongs to the car already in the roundabout. If they explain that when a new one is put in, like put up a road sign about 100m before, I'm sure it will all get figured out much more quickly. (this applies also to someone's earlier post about those "hesitant" drivers already in the circle -- if they don't know who has the right-of-way, of course they're going to hesitate!).

Someone also needs to teach some drivers that a yield sign is not a stop sign.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Trafficdiver 8]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

Look kids, there's Big Ben.

I like roundabouts better, of course, in Massachusetts they're called rotaries. I have no idea why.