DH has an incredibly deep seeded hatred for traffic roundabouts. He will drive miles around to avoid them, and he nearly curses when he does have to go through them. Well, we just saw in the paper tht they are putting one at the bottom of our road! He'll *have* to go through it EVERY time he leaves the house!!!
I really shouldn't laugh, but God sure does have a sense of humor :p
But I do have a question - the whole concept is new to this part of the state, so I've only been through a few. This one will be on a 60 MPH stretch of road. I've only seen them in too speed limit of 35. Do they work at higher speeds? Or do they lower the speed as you approach?
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We have them.. and yes you shall very willingly drop your speed regardless of the posted speed limit! LOL they actually work very well once everyone learns how to drive on them..
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I'm with your dh! I don't like them either! I don't mind the ones where traffic isn't too bad. The ones I don't like are the multi-lane ones with lots of traffic!
They are going to build one right below my place, too, but "unfortunately", they don't have the needed funding, yet! ~Bev~
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Here in Belgium it is full of roundabouts! I actually love them. As you may or may not know Flanders, the part of Belgium I live in, is an area in which a lot of people live close to each other and there are a lot of big and smal roads. We actually see a roundabout as a good solution for very busy crossroads with stoplights. Instead of waiting to long at traffic lights who are not set right for every time of the day (rush hour/ low traffic), you can easily go on the roundabout and everyone can continue there way.
And yes, you do slow down automatically when approaching a roundabout. I don't know about America, but in belgium, most of the roundabouts have a large flowerbed (surrounded by a little concrete wall) in the middle (sometimes even a statue or piece of art) so you don't want to bang into that when driving to hard ;)
Because we have a lot of roundabouts here, most people are very friendly when it comes to going on and off of them. I wish you the best of luck getting used to the new situations in your neibourhood. Perhaps some day, you will start liking roundabouts too :) Let me know, okay?
We dont have them around here, at least I dont think so. Not really sure Id know what to do either, Id prolly get stuck in the middle and go around a bazillion times like the Griswalds did!
We discovered them when we lived overseas and we love them! They are much more efficient than traffic lights, once everyone figures out how to drive on them. You will have to slow down but that's part of the purpose so you can keep the traffic moving but still safely without having to stop and wait your turn.
I hope he figures it out soon!
I'm in NW Louisiana and the only one I can recall anywhere in this area is a bit over 100 miles south of us in Alexandria. It works quite well. It's been there for years and years; I remember it from when I was a child. There are about 5 or 6 different streets/highways that come into and out of the circle. (Our streets/highways are definitely not directly running north/south and east/west.)
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I don't know of any in my area, but there are quite a few in a certain area of MN through which I travel almost yearly.
I believe the purpose, in this area any way, is so that traffic doesn't actually have to stop, but they DO have to slow down. They don't bother me, but there is one off I-35 that goes to an outlet mall, and it is busy, and I don't care for that one. Too many people don't want to wait their turn, and just keep going.
Oh, and YES, God DOES have a great sense of humor!
I live in the land of roundabouts, and yes, you will be slowing down for them. If you don't you will be on your side it feels like. They work well for a moderate amount of traffic.
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What I don't get is this is a high traffic area. It's not an intersection or interchange off the freeway. This the main hiway in the area and half the traffic is semis. I just can't imagine that many semis effectively going through a round about. I like them in other applications, but I have to agree with DH on this one, I think this is a horrible choice for the location.
The reason he hates them is because he is 75% of the time hauling a trailer.
The ones in Australia are nuts! Multil-lane, busy busy traffic, and you are on the wrong side of the road! LOL! We have several in town and once you figure out what lane you want to be in to go where you need to go, they are fine. I'm thinking if you go 60 through it, there will be multiple issues. They are designed to slow people down. It's strange that it's not at an intersection. I guess they want to slow down traffic through the area.
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We have them in this area - and the ones on smaller streets actually cut down on the wait time vs a traffic light. But the ones on the Roosevelt Expressway are a real pain - multi-lane, and if you have to cross over from one to another it can be really dangerous, not to mention confusing.
okanogangirl: DH has an incredibly deep seeded hatred for traffic roundabouts. He will drive miles around to avoid them, and he nearly curses when he does have to go through them. Well, we just saw in the paper tht they are putting one at the bottom of our road! He'll *have* to go through it EVERY time he leaves the house!!! I really shouldn't laugh, but God sure does have a sense of humor :p But I do have a question - the whole concept is new to this part of the state, so I've only been through a few. This one will be on a 60 MPH stretch of road. I've only seen them in too speed limit of 35. Do they work at higher speeds? Or do they lower the speed as you approach?
Classic! Yep I l would laugh too! poor guy!
mostly people slow down for round abouts because it's common sense and it will help the traffic issues. better that than traffic lights there!
Moongirl: The ones in Australia are nuts! Multil-lane, busy busy traffic, and you are on the wrong side of the road! LOL! We have several in town and once you figure out what lane you want to be in to go where you need to go, they are fine. I'm thinking if you go 60 through it, there will be multiple issues. They are designed to slow people down. It's strange that it's not at an intersection. I guess they want to slow down traffic through the area.
It is an intersection. An uncontrolled intersection at the bottom of our road where it hits the highway.
I just don't understand though because it is so much semi-truck traffic . And the place in the road isn't side enough to put in a big enough circle for semis to make the turn (it's a hilll on one side and a drop on the other, no flat ground available besides the width of the two lane road).
Can the neignbourhood rally together to petition it or apply to the council to have traffic lights instead? If it is a dangerous suggestion surely the council will consider alternatives.
where I live in NZ is a loggin city with no traffic lights just roundabouts and I can tell you the logging trucks manoeuver their huge trucks and loads around them pretty easily, but then they have done it for years. they are sometimes busy, multi laned and single laned, and unfavourable conditions too. being the main street of Masterton city (22,000 people), it gets heavy traffic now and then and th etrucks all slow down..it is actually the intersections that have no roundabouts that cause the most issues with holding up traffic and accidents because of impatient drivers. trucks, vans, RVs, trailes,busess they all handle them well.