Modern Vespa

I am sure all you, Europeans and Brits are quite used to roundabouts but here in the states they have been pretty rare. Here in Louisiana, until recently, there were two or three roundabouts in New Orleans and one at either end of McArthur Blvd in Alexandria. Those five roundabouts were pretty well designed and easy to navigate if you didn't have your head up your a$$. Unfortunately a lot of drivers drive constantly in that condition making traveling through roundabout a pretty perilous activity especially if you are on a bike. If that is not bad enough it seems that the traffic "engineers" here in Baton Rouge have decided that roundabouts are the thing to have. It now seems that every newly upgraded road now contains a roundabout. In my opinion to have a good roundabout you have to buy some real estate. There are new two roundabouts within 2-3 miles from my house and the center neutral ground is only about 20-30 feet in diameter. They are so tight that 18 wheelers can not negotiate the roundabouts without running the left rear duals up over the interior curb. The largest here in the parish are only about 50 ft across and honestly the distances are so short it is hard to tell if the cars in the roundabout are going to exit or continue around to another exit. To me these things in my parish seem no safer or more efficient than a 4 way stop.

Any body else here in the states having to deal with roundabouts? Does the average European or British driver know how to negotiate a roundabout. No one here in Baton Rouge does but then again we just received the destination of being the deadliest place in America to drive.

In the UK and wider EU we are used to mini-roundabouts. The centre circle is a one metre (3'3") painted white circle.

You don't need any extra real estate to create a working roundabout. Just the signs to say one exists.

It works far better than a 4-way stop, as if there's no-one else around you can carry straight on (the equivalent of a US 'Yield').

There was a post on here a year ago or so that demonstrated just making people use roundabout logic instead of 4-way stop inertia had a 30% improvement in traffic throughput, and saved gas into the bargain, as most people never had to accelerate from a dead stop.

39" median? How wide are the lanes?

They've been sprouting up a lot the past few years up here. Ones in my town aren't too crowded, so I like to strategize to get a clear shot and shoot through.

Can't do that with traffic though....

Then this:

I go through about three on the ride to work. Cars often approach at the speed that keeps me hidden behind the drivers pillar, so I have 3 or 4 scary moments a year on a roundabout. I hate them.

Slow n, really fast out.

The few that I have to deal with suck. I often have to wait a while to enter it from the non heavy traffic side cause they're too small. Most times I try to take other roads to avoid them.

None around here that I'm aware of.

There are some in places I occasionally ride to and through, Gettysburg Pa and some small towns in Northeast Ohio.
I find them somewhat annoying.

It seems to be the "next big thing" for some road engineers and communities. I'm not sure they'll be widely adopted here anytime soon. I remember back when we were all told to get ready for the imminent adoption of the metric system.

On Sullivan road in Central City the drivers complain about traffic delays in the traffic circle on a road that has never before had a traffic problem.

Roundabouts can be especially perilous to UK Bikers as a result of leaking diesel/oil from vehicles. I have had several slips and one from this.

They have begin to sprout in AZ too. the design is to slow traffic but keep it moving. Slow it so that accidents will be less dangerous, moving to, well, keep it moving.

I still don't like them.

there is one near my house. I use it as a turn around point when I'm doing some tuning on a scooter. I like to see how far I can lean and a t what speed before I start to loose traction.

but yeah we have a few of them and for the most part as long as you are paying attention they work well. better than the four way stops they replaced.

We all seem to cope with them pretty well. There's some build up of traffic on the entry to most roundabouts so you need to decide your best way of filtering past that. Here in the UK we have to be careful of pedestrians crossing at the entry points to a roundabout as most pedestrians aren't expecting a bike to come flying through but I'm guessing that pedestrians aren't really an issue in the states. Apart from that I barely slow down for them. There are some downsides to roundabouts as they remove parking space in suburban areas and they can be more dangerous to bicyclists. The mini ones can be a pain to turn across as you're very dependant on the oncoming traffic stopping when they should.

Oddly enough I'm having a 4-way stop installed locally. This should be amusing as we don't have these in the UK (at least I've never come across one). The local speed limit is 20mph, most drivers go along at 30 and then we have the occasional bright sole that takes the same road at 70mph. A few months back we had a car that had lost control at speed, hit a bunch of cars then mounted the pavement before smashing into a wall. The driver was drugged up to the eye balls and stark naked! Go figure.

The issue here in the UK is when they start to put traffic lights on massive 4 lane roundabouts and no one knows where they are going.

Traditionally the Left lane is always for turning left and straight over, the right for turning right (3rd exit etc) (Remember we drive on the left)

Some work really well, others are just pointless.

Varies as well, I drive 18 miles to work and only go through 6

If I drive to the coast to a place called South Shields, there's like 18 in about 5 miles of road

In smaller areas 4 way stops are just a timewasting feature, roundabout far easier/quicker.

Larger areas I can understand why they are used, but Id prefer a 2 lane roundabout with traffic lights anyday.

Heres a pretty bog standard UK one

Not exactly commonplace, but they're here and there throughout New England. The Greater Boston area has its fair share. We call them rotaries.

I like them, and would like to see more.

The magic roundabout explained below. I know some find it perilous, but in theory it should work just fine. Have any of you been through Swindon?

Add something different to the lives of poorly trained drivers

I like them.

Yes, poorly trained drivers here in the states indeed. I think we should all retake the written driving rules test at least every 10 years during renewal time. As far as roundabouts, I like them in concept. Far better for traffic flow than a four-way stop. I admit I had to find some YouTube videos to understand how to use them correctly. It would be better if the other drivers around me would do that too.

Bill

Stanford University opened it's first roundabout in 2014 as a "pilot" (Stanford-ese for "how can we do this w/o tons of red-tape?"). They're now popping up everywhere around campus. (https://transportation.stanford.edu/roundabout/)

The 'magic roundabout' video was sorta confusing. as opposed the interactive guide they've done at Sheridan College in Mississauga...

http://www5.mississauga.ca/marketing/websites/sheridan/roundabouts3.html

The big trucks on little round about is a problem here too. There is a few industrial estates near me with big trucks always flowing in and out.

The general rule is too just stay behind them at all times, even if they're in the inside lane and you're on the outside. Riding along side is never a good idea.

On the bigger roundabouts, just pay attention to the merge markers and make sure you obey, even if it means you've navigated it wrong and are now leaving the wrong exit. It happens.

Sometimes though, the lane markers are wrong, at that point its pretty much a free for all and everything grinds to a stop. We have 2 roundabouts near us like that. One of them has 3 lanes on the actual round about, but only 4 singled lane exits. Very confusing in rush hour.

I personally prefer to take the inner circle (lane) for going straight ahead because it means I can take a straighter route through the roundabout. It also means less chance of having cars pull out in front of me at that first exit. If I have a choice of lanes as I enter the roundabout I'd use the far left of the left lane and aim to ride straight into the inner lane of the roundabout as this means less leaning over is required to go straight across, which means I'm more upright which means I can brake harder if I need to. If I'm not lent over that much then petrol and diesel spills are also less likely to be an issue. You tend to get more petrol and diesel in the outer circle anyway because that's where the lorries and busses tend to travel. Another small extra advantage is that it's a shorter route. YMMV

They're starting to catch on here in Ontario, other parts of the country as well.

Most secondary intersection upgrades in my general area are being done as roundabouts.
I personally like them. Having trained and vacationed in Europe over the years, I have gotten used to them, so when they started popping up over here, it was no concern for me.

Not so for many users. Hard to change old habits for some.

Ha ha! The first time I came across the Magic Roundabout in Swindon was in the middle of the night in pouring rain. The centre island was also a painted circle back then. I had no idea where to go. As there was no traffic in sight I just floored the car and went straight across the plaza directly to my exit, accompanied by delighted (?) squeals from my passenger.

I read an article recently describing how as traffic increases the optimum intersection progresses from a four-way stop, through traffic lights, roundabouts, clover leaves, to 'spaghetti junction' type flyovers.

I cannot track it down. But it was good. Really.

I tend to like roundabouts and wish that one would be installed at the four way stop (with turn lanes) near my house.

If you wanna see a lot of money wasted on an interchange, check out this hot mess in N. Atlanta. It's the Ashford-Dunwoody Diverging Diamond Interchange. There's another that's been built a few miles away at the Jimmy Carter Blvd-I85 intersection.

Wouldn't a roundabout always allow better traffic flow than a 4-way stop or traffic lights?
Isn't it really just a question of how much money you're willing to spend to get the increased flow of traffic.

I have a couple of excellent roundabouts on my route to work (and a fair few boring ones). there are two terrific ones less than a mile from my workplace - one is banked so as to allow me to scrape the mainstand hard if I choose to at the next one, I do a full 360-degree circuit followed by a hard downhill left to exit. i enjoy them both very much.

This is the biggest intersection on Sanibel Island (SW Florida). It is right where the causeway comes onto the island and everybody has to go through it several times a day. In the summer the island has a population of 6,000. In the winter, high season, the population is 30,000. That extra 24,000 is from all over the US and the world, and none of them are conversant in any known traffic laws or customs. Now it is a four way stop, and badly needs fixing. Now during heavy traffic periods there are traffic director officers standing there to wave you through; some are OK, some don't have a clue. Traffic lights are against the law on the island (as are street lights, etc, it's very dark after the sun sets). What you can't see very well is the network of bike/pedestrian paths woven through that mess.

It is being promoted to build a traffic circle here. The land values here are astronomical so they won't build it big enough. The users will fail in all possible ways. There will be little or no light at night. And it won't be big enough for the large trucks that regularly use the intersection to make the circle.

It's going to be a gigantic cluster f***!

cid:3E100154-8171-4FCE-8C4D-B48EAEE3FB93
(I hope the Google Earth picture comes through.)

(Well hell, it didn't work. Fried Okra and Terry Van Man have seen it and know what a mess it is.)

well, I understood roundabouts just fine but now I'm dizzy.

The concept of the roundabout to my understanding, is that they are, in theory, supposed to relieve congestion, reduce the incidence of accidents and in reduce the severity of accidents by changing/reducing the angle of any possible collision. In theory, but in reality here they have not relieved congestion and collisions have increased. There are more rear end collisions and lane usage collisions which are less violent then t-boning but any of these types of collisions are deadly for bikers.

This intersection looks simple enough but you would not believe how confusing it is to some. Note that the outer part of the central neutral ground had been retro-paved to accomidate tractor trailer rigs.

Honestly, roundabouts are great for keeping traffic moving. I think you'll find that in countries where they have both roundabouts and "regular" junctions (e.g. T or X-shaped junctions, where you have to give way/stop), there's general agreement that roundabouts are the way to go.

They require the drivers not to act like arses, and to follow the rules of the road, but so do all the alternatives to roundabouts.

In any case, on a PTW, aren't we all expecting a proportion of drivers to act like arses in any case (and being ready to take some evasive action)?

Maybe it's our high "arse" ratio around here that disqualifies us from installing more roundabouts.

Problem with that strategy is that you are turning left out of the right lane. In my neck of the woods such a maneuver would be considered "illegal lane usage".

Is this your intersection?

there's no legal obligation to stick strictly to the lane markings in roundabouts. as long as you're not doing anything daft or putting other road users in danger, you are allowed to enter the roundabout in one lane and exit it in another, or to exit the roundabout from the right lane. it's quite common for two cars to exit the roundabout at the same time, one in the left lane, the other in the right.

using the inner lane for straight is a bad idea as if the car in the left is going straight you cut it up on the exit



pic from highway code online

Any thing that causes confusion for drivers is not a good thing. This is an intersection in my city that was supposed to solve congestion. I suppose it does to come extent but it is extremely confusing to anyone who has not gone through it a number of times. Problem is it not far from the interstate so it is often filled with people totally unfamiliar with the interchange.

And over here, where we have roundabouts, it's generally an acceptable and legal strategy.

That's rather true of any road never traveled. If you're in a new place, pay attention.

Yup-roundabouts are popping up here in North Carolina as a way to, as we are told, save the taxpayer on installing traffic lights. I love them as long as everyone pays attention and obeys to the "rules."

Most around me are built too small with cement curbs not only on the inside, but also the outside of the roundabout. Any large vehicle, especially an 18 wheeler starts the quick process of chipping away at the curbing and before long, the DOT is stopping traffic so they can rebuild the cement curbing and effectively keep that job going on indefinately.

Also a major issue at many of the smaller roundabouts is that they plant large trees and bushes in the middle, making it difficult to get a good look at what is coming in the opposite direction and where that driver might be going. I'd much rather have a painted, flat area that larger vehicles can cheat a bit on and make it through the intersection without guaranteeing the continual curb repair.

I like having the roundabouts as long as they are thoughtfully engineered, built and driven through. But that's a lot to ask down here.