I Hate Roundabouts, But...

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  • Ingomike

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    May 26, 2018
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    North Central
    Well Carmel had second stop light in the world right? Gotta keep it fresh

    I was behind a guy yesterday in a work van who blew through a 4-way stop doing 50mph. Saddle club and Smokey row in greenwood. Hard to see the cross street even when stopped. Glad no one died

    Reminds me of the joke about the guy running red lights because his brother does it all the time, but stops at green lights because his brother might be coming from the other way...
     

    Ingomike

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    May 26, 2018
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    Just about all of them should be the single lane type because the diameters are so small there is no time to make use of the inner lane

    As engineered the driver should be in the lane they wish to use and changes in the circle are unnecessary. The problem is that requires looking at the signs or street markings ahead of time and knowing where you are going. To do that people would need to get off the phone...
     

    BugI02

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    Jul 4, 2013
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    Columbus, OH
    This is one at a fairly busy intersection in a NW suburb. A significant fraction of the traffic both northbound and southbound will be turning westbound onto Brand Road. The roundabout is about 120 feet wide centerline to centerline, that's a circumference of ~377 ft. Even at a residential speed of 25mph/37ish fps it only takes five seconds to go half way round it to the exit onto Brand, and if you're northbound and take the inner lane you'll have to weave your way into outer lane traffic in competition with those southbound, and although it fascilitates straight through traffic there simply isn't enough time for turning traffic to get out of the way of such traffic.

    You could make this one lane and it would be safer as well as have just as fast an average traffic speed. The average driver's skill set isn't up to the task here

    View attachment 78463
     

    JettaKnight

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    Oct 13, 2010
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    Fort Wayne
    Not understanding the "yield" part goes both way. I see them pull out in front of people but even more is they come up to the roundabout and even though there isn't anyone in it they will come to a complete stop and sit there before they enter. That irritates me almost more because if I am behind them I usually am looking more at what is coming around the circle then have to stand on the peddle.
    I hit a little Camry that did that - there was plenty of time for him ... and I was looking left....

    minor damage for him, but I actually had to remove my F150's front bumper.
     

    JettaKnight

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    This is one at a fairly busy intersection in a NW suburb. A significant fraction of the traffic both northbound and southbound will be turning westbound onto Brand Road. The roundabout is about 120 feet wide centerline to centerline, that's a circumference of ~377 ft. Even at a residential speed of 25mph/37ish fps it only takes five seconds to go half way round it to the exit onto Brand, and if you're northbound and take the inner lane you'll have to weave your way into outer lane traffic in competition with those southbound, and although it fascilitates straight through traffic there simply isn't enough time for turning traffic to get out of the way of such traffic.

    You could make this one lane and it would be safer as well as have just as fast an average traffic speed. The average driver's skill set isn't up to the task here

    View attachment 78463

    Hey - that's right by my sister-in-law's house!
     

    rebase

    Marksman
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    9   0   0
    Feb 25, 2019
    160
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    Indianapolis
    If you really want some fun, enter one going left. That really confuses the other drivers!


    Too real. I took a trip to Ireland, and was paying attention to the cab driver en route to the rental car place. I was mentally preparing myself for the wrong-side-of-the-street shenanigans. Driver is about to enter the reoundabout, I mentally turn to the right. The car turned to the left.

    In that moment my pants filled with bricks and I had the driver turn back the way we came...
     

    JettaKnight

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    Too real. I took a trip to Ireland, and was paying attention to the cab driver en route to the rental car place. I was mentally preparing myself for the wrong-side-of-the-street shenanigans. Driver is about to enter the reoundabout, I mentally turn to the right. The car turned to the left.

    In that moment my pants filled with bricks and I had the driver turn back the way we came...
    [video=youtube;hP-u6XWclKQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP-u6XWclKQ[/video]

    Bill Murray goes the "American way" around the circle and confused the bobbies in pursuit.
     

    rhino

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    Mar 18, 2008
    30,906
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    Indiana
    There is five in Vigo county, three are on busier roads, one is on a non busy road with the last on a semi busy state road. I love them, just wished everyone knew how to use them. All but one are single lane ones. The one non single lane is on a non busy street with two of the streets that it exits off of going no where for now.

    The set of them on 46 between Terre Haute and Riley are confusing due to the way they chose how to use signs. The first few times I used them, I went on the wrong road on my first attempt.
     

    bwframe

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    Feb 11, 2008
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    Btown Rural
    We have given in to allow accidents to now be a part of everyday driving. The convenience to folks that have to drive these round-a-crashes everyday is obvious, the same as the danger to the rest that are naive to the specific nuances of every individual one.

    It'd be interesting to see whether insurance companies or body shops have benefited more from this innovative :rolleyes: European design?
     

    AngryRooster

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    Apr 27, 2008
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    Outside the coup
    There's one close to where live, it's in Greenville, OH. It's got a huge fountain in the middle and has been there forever. Even though it's a small town it's a real PITA during certain times of the day. If you want to get across then you don't stop unless you're going to hit someone. Once you stop you are screwed. It's on the main route through town and that road leads to the industrial park. Most of the factories let out around the same time. If you stop before entering the circle then the next half mile of cars entering from the side will just keep flowing through on each others bumper like water.

    I hate the Fing thing. I'm sorry, but if I'm sitting at the entrance of the circle and had to stop because of a pedestrian then I still believe that I have the right of way to enter the circle before the car that's still 1500 feet down the road behind another 30 cars and still has a couple stop signs to go through. These people don't see it that way though. A lot of times it's actually quicker to go through the 2 staggered stop lights (gotta have them staggered so we can view the wonders of the town) a block away.

    The roads that approach the circle are one lane in and one lane out, however the circle itself is 2 lanes wide, and they aren't marked. That makes it so much fun when someone from out of town drives through. They have no idea and are weaving across both lanes. As soon as the factory workers enter the circle they spread out making it impossible to even enter during certain times of the day.

    6790114052_48e4918865_z.jpg
     

    JettaKnight

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    Oh, that one looks bad - no lane markers (it's certainly wide enough for two) and no dedicated right hand cut (don't know the technical name)

    EDIT:
    Just looking at it top down, there's plenty of room for efficiency improvement at the sacrifice of beauty.
     
    Last edited:

    Kutnupe14

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    Jan 13, 2011
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    [video=youtube;hP-u6XWclKQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP-u6XWclKQ[/video]

    Bill Murray goes the "American way" around the circle and confused the bobbies in pursuit.

    I love that movie! It's a gem a lot of people don't know about.
     

    AngryRooster

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    Apr 27, 2008
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    Outside the coup
    Oh, that one looks bad - no lane markers (it's certainly wide enough for two) and no dedicated right hand cut (don't know the technical name)

    EDIT:
    Just looking at it top down, there's plenty of room for efficiency improvement at the sacrifice of beauty.

    I'm 49 and this thing has been around my entire life. I remember as a grade school kid going around it with my parents. It was designed for beauty and they didn't care about efficiency at all. It was more about the fountain than anything else. Also note the corners of the overhead view and how you can actually "bypass" the circle by cutting through the post office and other parking lots. Locals do that as well when they're in a hurry and don't want to screw with the circle. They will fly through those without slowing down so they can turn right.

    This is also the start of downtown area so there are tons of people walking and shopping. The week Pokemon Go was released there were 300+ people walking that area glued to their phones in a 5 block area.
     

    yeahbaby

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    Dec 9, 2011
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    Portage
    For you Porter county folks. They started construction for a new roundabout at the intersection of Silhavy and LaPorter in Valpo. The first few months when that opens up should be interesting.
     

    Tactically Fat

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    22   0   0
    Oct 8, 2014
    8,270
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    Indiana
    Roundabouts, in general, are great. They improve efficiency of movement and therefore fuel efficiency. They also cut down on the number of severe accidents. The number of minor accidents goes up, however.

    Where I think this country gets roundabouts wrong is that they make them too big. They are too many lanes wide. If you make them narrower (and, thereby lowering the already lower speeds) then you won't have folks crossing 3+ lanes to get from the inside to the outside for their exit.

    The big new one in Greenwood is just too big. Too many lanes. Too many people not familiar enough with it that cause too many lane cutting maneuvers.
     
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