On roundabouts
Nathan suggests that US 30 have a bunch of them- and based on what I’ve seen, I have trouble disagreeing.
OTOH, we have to remember just HOW STUPID PEOPLE ARE.
This week I have spent a good deal of time at a customer who can be reached most easily by driving through the one roundablut in the area, in Valparaiso, Indiana.
And each morning ther is at least one and often as many as five people who cannot operate this simple traffic device.
Look, people. Turn right, follow the flow, keep moving, exit where you need. It is not necesary to WAIT UNTIL THERE ARE NO CARS ANYWHERE, MOVING NOT EVEN IN YOUR PERIPHERAL VISION before you pull into the circle. Really. Go somewhere that doesn’t require that you attempt to comprehend this simple device. Like hell, perhaps.
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They seem to work well in the UK, Europe and Canada. And despite what our Disingenuous Liberal Master tell you, the hoi polloi in those places are just as stupid as they are here. And they manage.
We’ve got a bunch of roundabouts where I live, and there’s really only two problems with them. 1) Some of them are WAY too small, so if you try to take them at the posted speed all your stuff in the passenger seat makes friends with the passenger window. 2) Little old ladies (and gentlemen) who treat them like four-way stops. Proper engineering takes care of the former problem; time takes care of the latter.
Joanna is correct; the tinpot mayor of Carmel, Indiana is so enamored of roundabouts that he has decided to put them everywhere, including retrofitting them into intersections where the space in the middle of the roundabout was practically nonexistent. Which, in at least one case I’m personally aware of, caused an accident when some moron just went crusing through the middle and hit someone using the roundabout properly.
And don’t get me started on the ones he installed on Keystone Avenue. Those things are an accident waiting to happen.
The only ones I’ve seen in Hamilton County that actually work are the ones on Hazel Dell. But they’re built like the English ones, plenty of room and nice and wide. That’s the kind of roundabout needed on US 30.
The roundabout on the south end of Valpo worked so well that the Powers Who Spend Taxpayer Money decided to do one at the North end as well.
‘Cause traffic flowed too well there as well.
THe issue is not the roundabouts, it is the SIZE of the roundabout, and the fact that the denziens of greater downtown valpo have no idea how things should work.
Try dealing with that abortion daily.
Uh, if you make round-abouts large, the powers that be decide that the land at the interior is wasted (in their world, that means land that is not taxable). Case in point, Hollywood Florida.
Hollywood Blvd has 3 big roundabouts. Filled with extra traffic lights and stop signs. And the INCOMING traffic has the right of way. The inner circles have strip malls and town centers and a hospital, not necessarily in that order. The history of how it came to be might be fascinating for those who play Sim-City, but I leave it to you to view this abortion of a boulevard and traffic SNAFU using Google Maps in Satellite view. You just won’t believe it otherwise, even given the idiocy you already know.
Oh, BTW, on one small residential street that runs parallel to Hollywood blvd they have those itsy teeny polka dot roundabouts too. Probably put it just to thwart E-W traffic that wanted to avoid the big roundabouts on the major thoroughfare. Gotta spread the pain and also make sure nobody escapes their brainstorms.
Pascal:
The roundabout in question is slightly larger than 80 Ft in diameter.
Just a bit too small. It adds to the confusion of people who are unaware how to merge.
Someday soon I am gonna strap a large oak board to the front of the truck and just ram people through the intersection when they try to stop until the roundabout is empty.
Anchorage has had one for the last few years, and there are still the usualy befuddled “drivers” taking their ride on the Hooberbloob Highway, too timid to jump off. Hope somebody thinks to take them a sandwich now and then…(a la Kingston Trio)
There are roundabouts going in here in the Seattle area as well. I put a very loud horn that sounds like a locomotive in my old Ford pickup. You’d be surprised how may Volvo drivers are jolted out of mind lock when I hit that sucker.
One old boy lost his wig. When that rug slipped onto his face it damn near gave me a heart attack.
Them roundabouts can be fun.
Gerry N.
LOL, yeah ‘fun’ when half the people know how, the other half don’t…
Where can I get that horn?
I too need a horn like that.
My optometrist has them on his Chevy truck. You can buy cheap versions at JC Whitney, but the best come from Hornblasters.
http://www.hornblasters.com/products/category.php?c=train-horn-kits-and-air-horn-kits&coupons=fs2010111&gclid=CM3XqIrl0bMCFeGDQgodPjUAAQ
Wonder if those would fit under the hood of the prius…..
I need one of those on my bike. Minimum passing distance is three feet, jackasses!
Joanna:
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/Handheld_Air_Horns-Seachoice_46311_Pump_Blast_Air_Horn.html?gclid=CO7OsPDy0bMCFcaDQgodFFEAzA
They’re installing one on an intersection in west Rockford, IL not too far from my Dad.
Don’t have an issue with the roundabout so much, but they could fix a decent chunk of the crater sized potholes and pavement buckles with those funds.
Then again, they don’t get to use eminent domain when they maintain the crap they built poorly in the first place. This is Illinois after all….
Oh shit we have way too many of those roundabout abortions here in our little backwater city of Perth. I swear 99.9% of the pop here have *no* idea on how to use them.
Looks like I need to get out more
Roundabouts require “merging,” a concept beyond way too many drivers.
Try driving in NJ sometime, talk about people who don’t know how to merge, change lanes, or whatever. People really seem to think that a turn signal gives you the right-of-way. Thankfully we don’t have too many roundabouts in my area, but plenty of people are confused by jug-handles.
The ones in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia were generally six-lane feeders and anyone going in at less then 60mph(~100kph was obviously an unworthy infidel and deserved to die.
Me, I was the only guy in our team who would drive there, and I upgraded to a full-size Land Cruiser ASAP. Had lots of fun there, I did…
“the INCOMING traffic has the right of way.”
Gads! That’s how the FRENCH do it! I recall an essay a number of years ago recounting how having incoming traffic get the right of way was against nature and irreparably gums up traffic as no one can get out of the intersection.
80 feet seems large. . . The Santa Monica Traffic Beavers (they hate moving cars as much as furry beavers hate running water) have retro installed roundabouts in at least three places in that fair city. They are all about 60 feet in diameter. If you try to take them at the posted speed limit, get set for YOU to meet the passenger door. I think only SCCA cars with the racing suspension can do that without tire squeal and a graphic display of the effects of centripetal force.