Americans don't do well in roundabouts. Yes or no? Do you like 'em?

hollydolly said:
these are just a few of ours.... View attachment 370208


5316316.jpg

pexels-kelly-lacy-2833724-1024x576.jpg

letchworthroundabout-01.jpg


My county in the town just 20 miles from here was the first place to have the first roundabout in the UK in 1905 the one above ^^
1_Lane-changes-on-Ynysforgan-roundabout.jpg
Click to expand...
They look similar to the US roundabouts, depending on if it's in the city or country.
 

When we moved to the UK in the 80's, we only had to take a written test, no driving test like in the US.
Was a visiting military license.
Wife was by far a better driver than I was over there.
We had a manual shift car and I never got used to shifting with my left arm...

We drove for 4 years and just felt our way dealing with roundabouts and driving on the Left.
(the military jeeps, trucks and Hummers had the steering wheel on the left, which wasn't easy to drive
on UK roads)

Generally, I liked the roundabouts till I got to some of the larger cities where you really had to think
about where you wanted to exit.
 
Roundabouts, we have them, probably about 40 of them in our hometown. We even have golf cart roundabouts.

I like them as they eliminate the stop signs and keep the traffic moving. Only problem is when we get a lot of snowbirds coming in the winter and they are not familiar how to navigate thru them. Many collisions in the roundabouts.

I also never heard anyone refer to them as rotaries but we are in Florida and much of the rest of the country think differently than we do.šŸ˜€
 
I don't care for them.

They put a rather small one (one lane) in my old neighborhood, that had a planter in the middle with concrete posts around it.

Unfortunately, the bigger firetrucks couldn't make the turns without hitting the posts. The dingbat who designed it didn't allow for that possibility.

The city had to tear out the planter and posts and just pave over the center so that the firetrucks could make tighter turns and swing out to exit.
 
The roundabout near me isn't just three streets merging. There's a pharmacy, whose driveway is also connected to the roundabout, there's a fourth street, which is now connected to the roundabout, and there's a bank which is now connected to the round about. So there are 6 entrances and 6 exits with this 2 lane roundabout. And the thing that gets me is supposedly they wanted to get rid of the stop light which held up traffic. So, of course, just before you get to the roundabout they put in three new stop lights.
 
officerripley said:
All of Calif. is inundated with motor vehicles, even the most rural areas; the motor vehicle is king in Calif., everybody just loves their darn vehicles so much.

Even in the smaller towns in Calif., walking anywhere is looked down upon as something that poor people have to do.
Click to expand...
I confess I haven't been in California since 2004. Even still, I confined my travel to the north, not even venturing as far south as SF. I saw lots of very beautiful countryside and the traffic at that time was reasonable. It's probably quite different today given the explosion of illegals that seem to find conditions there attractive.
 
I remember the first time I encountered a rotary/roundabout. (In New England they're called rotaries.) In Troy, NY and in preparation for crossing into Massachusetts in 1975, I found myself almost completely gobsmacked. Never even knew something like that existed, much less required one to drive through it. Needless to say, I meandered my way through it without incident. I can only imagine some of the other drivers looked on my car with Michigan plates and shook their heads.

I have to say some of those roundabout photos that have been posted look very, very formidable.
 
Eupher said:
It's probably quite different today given the explosion of illegals that seem to find conditions there attractive.
Click to expand...
Hardly any "illegals" around here. (Unless of course you count all non-native/indigenous people as illegal.) Just a lot of vehicle-worshipping descendants of Europeans who fire up the vehicle to drive any distance farther than a block.
 
officerripley said:
Hardly any "illegals" around here. (Unless of course you count all non-native/indigenous people as illegal.) Just a lot of vehicle-worshipping descendants of Europeans who fire up the vehicle to drive any distance farther than a block.
Click to expand...
Well, Newsom will make sure those illegals meander their way to your AO in short order.
 
Last edited:
hollydolly said:
yes that would be very confusing whereas here the driver to the right regardless has always had the right of way... that's any driver whether it's a cyclist or a bus....
Click to expand...
This is the mother & father of all roundabouts. Built for the 2012 Olympics. The Olympics sailing took place at Weymouth, the road there really needed, has long needed, an upgrade to a dual carriageway. The road towards Weymouth, went through Canford Bottom, a notorious, six junction, traffic jam spot. Canford Bottom is not far from Wimborne.

Did the road get it's dual upgrade? Don't be silly. What about Canford Bottom. That was sorted out with a roundabout. A roundabout that not only has traffic lights at each junction point, it has a road going right through the centre. The local newspaper dubbed it: The Mickey Mouse Roundabout, and the name has become something of a legend, much like the roundabout itself.

canford.jpg
canford-bottom-roundabout..jpg
The main road is the one that goes from bottom left to top right. Don't be fooled by the dual carriageway, it's only about five hundred feet long on either side of the junction, after which the road reverts to two-way traffic. Have I used it? Oh yes, and I can tell you that it beats any laxative treatment that your doctor can prescribe.
 
Nerd alert....

On the roundabout above if I was going into that town, I would come in on the road at 12 o'clock..I would then have to go left then right on the next mini roundabout then to the juntion and left and then along that road at 3pm to get to the town centre..

Coming back I would join the roundabout at 5 o'clock take a left on the mini roundabout to the next r/a , and straight over, take a right and straight over wathing for traffic from the left and right, and then up to the next junction and take a left back at 12 o'lock... btw that 12 o'clock road is about 6 miles long and has loads of roundabouts on it all the way to the motorway...
 
Last edited:
Feelslikefar said:
When we moved to the UK in the 80's, we only had to take a written test, no driving test like in the US.
Was a visiting military license.
Wife was by far a better driver than I was over there.
We had a manual shift car and I never got used to shifting with my left arm...

We drove for 4 years and just felt our way dealing with roundabouts and driving on the Left.
(the military jeeps, trucks and Hummers had the steering wheel on the left, which wasn't easy to drive
on UK roads)

Generally, I liked the roundabouts till I got to some of the larger cities where you really had to think
about where you wanted to exit.
Click to expand...
Maybe because you were in the military , I can ssure you that any civilian coming from any country other than the Uk would have to take a test if they wanted a British Licence..
 
hollydolly said:
you'd find yourself in court if you drove through a roundabout here ....
Click to expand...
Around, through, over, into, whatever works. There are 2 roundabouts or traffic circles as some people call them here in PA. Both are just outside of Gettysburg.
 
oldman said:
Around, through, over, into, whatever works. There are 2 roundabouts or traffic circles as some people call them here in PA. Both are just outside of Gettysburg.
Click to expand...
there's 2 roundabouts in the next road to mine road alone ..lol.... ...in the UK there are more than 25,000 roundabouts... there's more than 42,000 in France , which holds the record for having the most r/a's in the world... 38,000 in Spain... ... approx 8,000 in Australia, Italy 19,000 ....
 
chic said:
In America we call them rotaries. I don't love them because drivers try to nose their way in and can hit others in the process. They're a bit more dangerous and any advantages don't outweigh the risks.
Click to expand...
I don't know where you are, but I've never heard them called rotaries. Nope. Not until reading your post. We have a lot of them in our area, and they're great at keeping the traffic moving.
 
Eupher said:
Well, Newsom will make sure those illegals meander their way to your AO in short order.
Click to expand...
Naw, if that we're going to happen, would've by now. BTW, what does AO stand for? I googled it but all that came up was "account of" and "adults only."
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top