Traffic engineers are not against roundabouts. Voters are, and because of that the whole thing becomes political. It becomes a policy decision and not engineering solution like it should be. Also, once we hit congestion limit roundabouts are worse than light intersections, but at that point the latter does not have any real benefits either, the traffic is congested no matter what. Traffic lights then just make things more organized. It only takes one car to grid lock a roundabout, not that it is so much better in any other solution we use after congestion.
As someone who works in this field in the Netherlands, I am obliged to say that roundabouts are great but we usually implement them in very specific circumstances. Sometimes a controlled intersection is better, sometimes an uncontrolled intersection. The nice thing about Dutch street design is that it's usually pretty clear what's expected from each type of road user. Many people claim roundabouts take up more space, but in most cases, especially when using Dutch street design, a roundabout that has to handle a similar kind of traffic flow and speed should mostly fit within the same footprint. Also, don't forget how much road space the US wastes most on all of this already. No amount of stopsigns can fix that, and often there is room (literally) for improvement! If you have any questions feel free to ask.
In The Netherlands, when we have the mandatory driving lessons, we learn the proper way to navigate those roundabouts. and actually it's all about giving notice of you direction, way in front of, or before you drive into, the roundabouts. But not everyone is aware of the tried and tested invention of a turnsignal. So, it's all about the turnsignal. When you approach the roundabout, and need to go to the right, you turn the signal on way in front so everybody else can anticipate what you speed and position will be when you drive in. When you go straight, you give no signal but only when you're going to leave the roundabout. This way there is no confusion about your turnsignal. When you need to go left, turn the turnsignal on, way in front of the roundabout. This way all the traffic users can anticipate your speed and position when you drive in. and then to the right only when you're going to leave it.------- update : ruclips.net/video/6zYHAdP8hRQ/видео.html: When you arived at this point you where confusing the other driver waiting for you because you did not have the turnsignal on to the left, he was about to enter 'till the last moment he saw you were turning left.... So again, it's all about the turnsignal
As a European, it's really hard for me to understand why one wouldn't like them. I remember my mother claiming once, when I was young (thus in the previous century) that old people (she meant way old by previous century standard) MIGHT have trouble with them because they didn't learn them. Back then it didn't really convince me. Now you are telling me that this country which is good at pretending to be a continent, which keep bragging about how it is supposed to be number one while having elected a yellow-winged turkey as President, and indeed does possess the highest economy thanks to the wars it didn't lost by applying the great but controversial strategy of being late at them, that country doesn't like them? Well it just proves they are great, doesn't it?
North American roundabouts are designed for the speed and throughout of cars to the detriment of everyone else. They are not pleasant to bike or walk through. Dutch roundabout on the other hand are amazing. It also doesn’t hurt that Dutch drivers are also amazing by American standards. My wife and I were in the Netherlands earlier this year and we biked through a bunch of roundabouts. She couldn’t get over how drivers actually gave way to us when we had priority! That’s something we rarely experience in Chicago.
It certainly helps, that most cardrivers in my country are also cyclists! As a Dutchman, I am aware of the vulnerability of cyclists and pedestrians, especially nowadays when more and more elderly people continue cycling on (electrical) bikes, often into their 80s or 90s. Driver training is also very rigorous! And expensive! When I had my lessons in the early nineties, I was told numerous times by my instructor to look over my shoulder before opening the driver's door! I also failed my first driving exam, because I crossed a cycle path without properly looking from side to side. Then there are the liability laws that protect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians. Even if they were partially responsible for an accident involving a car, the person driving the car must pay most of the damage through his or her (liability) insurance. And last bust not least, if the police can prove that you as the cardriver were under the influence of alcohol or drugs or showed reckless behavior, you can lose your drivers licence and/or get a hefty fine or even a prison sentence. And after that, you have to spend thousands of euros to regain your drivers licence, often in combination with mandatory classes on road rage and the effects of drugs/alcohol in traffic. I know somebody who had to go through this, was not very pleasant! Other than that, driving in the Netherlands is actually a pleasant experience! Well, most of the time!😀
Well get used to it. In addition to most drivers also being or have been cyclist, if an accident happens in general the driver is at fault. He/she needs to prove that they were not at fault. That approach makes a driver way more cautious.
In driving schools in Germany they tell you "Even if the pedestrian or cyclist don't have priority at this momentl, they have priority ever in case. And the driving teacher wanna see this responsible behavior all the time. I think it's at least the same standard in NL. Probably more, where cycling kind of religion is 😀
I think it's also a cultural thing. Pretty much everyone in the Netherlands cycles, according to a 2018 study there are 2.04 bikes per person in the country. So people have respect for cyclists cause they are a cyclists themselves. They are not so quick to cut people off cause quite possible they have faced it themselves. The alternatives to driving also lead to better drivers. Cause you can afford to put on higher standards for drivers and you can revoke people's license to drive. When a car hits a cyclist the burden of proof lies with the driver of the car. He/she needs to prove the cyclist was responsible and if they can't the driver is the one considered responsible. The idea is that cars are more powerful and dangerous vehicles and so should be held to a higher standard. This actually causes a lot of outrage when I explain it. That not all road users are considered equal in responsibility. But the truth is that cars make people feel empowered and so they should be held to higher standards. Cyclists and pedestrians actually are already more accountable, they are bodily accountable. They put their bodies on the line when interacting with drivers so I don't think it's unfair to hold drivers more legally accountable since their bodies aren't on the line as much.
I think the driving culture is different in Canada too. Coming from Finland, we were amazed of how eagerly Canadian drivers gave way to pedestrians. Just glancing towards a crossing, the cars would stop.
Hello!! I'm from Italy and here, near Milano, roundabouts started to be increased in number like 20 yrs ago. They definitely solve traffic problems keeping it smoother and they're safer than a traffic lamp/Stop sign (especially during the night time ), almost impossibile to be t-boned etc etc Many pros and few cons, from my side ✌🏼😉
I'm from Ireland and I love roundabouts! I lived in Canada and Texas for spells and was really surprised not to see any roundabouts over there. Every junction had traffic lights and the journey times were significantly longer as a result of waiting at the lights. Roundabouts are simple to learn and should be much more common in the USA/Canada!
Roundabouts are good & effective. We need more roundabouts here in North America. The Dutch style roundabouts in The Netherlands are my favorite as they accommodate people cycling in a very safe & seamless manner😀👍💯.
I'm from the Netherlands and while learning how to drive, roundabouts were a bit tough to get the hang of at first because of the amount of things you had to look for, however now I think they're pretty easy and I much prefer them over traffic lights
For me the problem wasnt the roundabout but what to do when i had to stop infront of it. Because i was pretty bad at releasing the clutch and then when i entered in first gear the rpms kept climbing and i wasnt confident enough to shift in the roundabout
@@TSWARD-xb9rk usually if its rush hour and there is a lot of traffic on roundabouts in the Netherlands the drivers usually give way to those entering the roundabout as a curtesy, so every other car gives way to those entering so everyone can get home :) its not "Always" the case but its usual to do this. my experience is that drivers communicate a lot with each other, give way to those that dont have the right of way if traffic is busy/stuck, else you would wait too long because it doesnt clear.
Hello from Indiana here in the States! As an American, I actually adore roundabouts! There is a city called Carmel (a suburb north of Indianapolis) that has 140+ roundabouts with a population of just over 100k, and I actually like driving around that city because there are not a lot of stoplights in that city. Heck, some DOTs, like Wisconsin and Indiana for example, actually study alternative intersection designs if they decide that a certain intersection needs improvements.
I watched a video on this little city. As far as I remember, this city had more than half of all roundabouts in American combined. The mayor had lived in Europe, and had been convinced of the efficiency of modern roundabouts - as opposed to the old, yield inside of the roundabout, lay out. Which, coincidentally and understandably, most American refers to when they criticize roundabouts - this lay out has been abandoned by Europe for decades.
I’m from the uk and I love roundabouts. It helps keep the flow of traffic moving. Although I must say the road designs and layouts are much better in continental Europe like Germany and Netherlands
That I can understand. I've seen some of the British creations, where you've got one big central roundabout, with numerous smaller roundabouts inside of the big central. And since you're driving on the wrong side of the road as well, it looks like utter chaos to me as a continental European.
Btw. : roundabouts are great ! The have a better flow (you don't have to wait for intervals like with traffic lights) and it is very hard to get fatal/serious injuries. The accident/injury rate will drop dramatically. They are also a very effective speed regulator. In Netherlands people tend to have a heavy right foot as well and there is a constant struggle in road design to keep speeds low (narrowings, speed bumps, suface etc) and roundabouts do it naturally. For example in rural areas when entering a village they are a natural barrier against speeding. It is almost impossible to enter a village at 80-100 kmh via a roundabout. And the operation costs are a lot lower than traffic lights.. In the dutch bike context : Don't have them with a painted bike lane, but with a separate bike path. Preferly at a car distance from the car lane (like 4:16 & 5:18 ; at 4:52 is a not a good example of that..). Near my house there is a roundabout with a painted ('bicycle gutter') lane and several times I almost got taken by a right-turning car, that had to give me priority as i continued on the roundabout (As is the common rule in NL) .
When I lived in New Zealand I liked roundabouts after I got used to them. But then coming back to Canada and using the few roundabouts we have I found frustrating mostly because no one knows how to use them properly. In Canada very few people would signal out of a roundabout to let me know it was safe to enter the roundabout.
In Australia, we have lots of roundabouts, especially in the suburbs. Nobody here gets confused by them and they defiantly increase traffic flow and reduce accidents.
In my town in The Netherlands we had a very busy crossing, with traffic lights, between the industrial/business area and the town center. At this particular crossing it took a long time to get past it, for all traffic participants. All roads towards the crossing were so congested that everyone came to a standstill. At rush hour it took almost 15 minutes or longer (many traffic light cycles) to pass this crossing. When they reconstructed this crossing into a turbo roundabout, there isn’t any waiting time anymore, only at rush hour it takes longer than 30 seconds to enter the roundabout because cyclists have priority and many of us go to their job on a bicycle. And because of pedestrians, the most important bus stop is just next to the roundabout. So there is a benefit for everyone, the car driver, the cyclist and the pedestrian. No one has to wait there turn in the traffic light cycle. The flow of all kinds of traffic is much better than before. But the main benefit of roundabouts is that motor vehicle drivers approach a roundabout much more cautious and at a lower speed than a normal crossing, because they always have to take a turn and can’t go straight ahead. Especially if they need to go straight ahead, they still have to slow down to take the curve of the roundabout. Well some people try to go straight ahead on roundabouts but that never ends well. They’re mostly under the influence of illegal substances or just plain stupid.
I found fascinating that you think roundabouts in the Netherlands are the most challenging in Europe. For me it’s the opposite : they are so well designed that they’re easy to navigate. Especially those roundabouts which have more lanes: for me they’re the most challenging roundabouts throughout Europe, but in NL they are most of the time turbo roundabouts, so you don’t have to worry when changing lanes in the roundabout or worry about other vehicles changing lanes. As a cyclist: using roundabouts in the Netherlands is great, outside the Netherlands it’s awful, since they aren’t designed with cyclists in mind. Drivers will cut you off when they’re leaving (and sometimes even when they’re entering) the roundabout.
I like them, most of the time, here in Wisconsin we have well over 100 of them and more being built and generally they work well. There is a spot in Oshkosh that has 4 or 5 of them in a row in a small stretch of road and that can be bit much.
I live in the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands, and just last year, two turbo roundabouts were replaced by good ol' traffic lights crossings. The main problem was people not signaling where they were going, causing others to wait for them. In the city of Nijmegen, there is a famous roundabout that is the most dangerous one in the Netherlands. It is the one on the Keizer Karelplein. Not for the faint of heart.
I’ve heard about the Nijmegen one! Maybe I’ll check it out one day. Interesting that they replaced turbo roundabouts with a traditional intersection with traffic lights!
I am from Aachen in Germany, and it was tough for me to learn to drive correctly the turbo- roundabouts in Heerlen. But now I love them. They are completely unknown in Germany.
Netherlands known for pioneer of Turbo-Roundabout. Also, they have variants of them and each of them has it own purpose. Can you show us what is the difference and the reason behind each one ?
Turbo-roundabout basically removes a need to make a lane change when your destination is the left exit. But it also allows two lane road to use two lanes for straight thru traffic, which is most likely going to be most used route. It is like two spirals.
Turbo roundabouts increase traffic flow because you have to choose the right lane before the roundabout and each direction has it's own lane. So, no need to check where you're going on the roundabout, no checking if you're in the right lane and no lane changing on the roundabout.
@@TSWARD-xb9rk 2 videos to start learning more about them: 😉 Bicycle Dutch introduction on Roundabouts: ruclips.net/video/41XBzAOmmIU/видео.html Royal HaskoningDHV's simulation (2013) of a standard turbo roundabout: ruclips.net/video/_U10sJJof-s/видео.html
Round abouts make a lot of sense. Just look how many major accidents you see at the intersections in the USA. When you see dash cam videos, you see a massive amount of the accidents happen on the intersections….
One of the causes of those accidents are the long waiting times on intersections with traffic lights, which give impatient drivers an incentive to jump a red light. Ontario Traffic Man made an excellent video ruclips.net/video/7KPGVP85WpU/видео.html which explains how the Dutch have cut the wasted time on an intersection to a minimum, and made those intersections a lot safer.
With everything you mentioned, you failed to mention speed! Speed is one of the main reasons for roundabouts as it forces everyone to slow down and pay attention. With a 4 way stop, you can easily just go through it without stopping but you can’t with a roundabout as there is a bump in the center and if you went in full speed, we’d all know what’ll happen to the car.
Roundabouts slow down cars but they don't stop cars. Often times they function to spread out the load of cars so there there is a more continuous flow. Unlike stop lights which tend to do the opposite.
Roundabouts have many advantages. No more head on collisions. Traffic flow is slowed down but fluid. No more stop and go traffic from the lights that makes you use more gas and pollute more. No more flashing or dead lights during power outages, which brings very low maintenance. The center of the roundabout can be decorated and personalized many ways. You can go around many times until you find your exit. If you took the wrong exit, you can always use the next roundabout to turn around, as in France where roundabouts are EVERYWHERE. The only disadvantage I can think of, it can be real problem for large American trucks to circulate through it. In three words, better through simplicity.
My city did some big reconstruction of a few major roads about 4 years ago and added 5 new roundabouts. They are definitely better than the old stoplight intersections they had there, because now the flow of traffic is much better balanced. With stoplights you get your green period and then there's no one coming from the sides, but you still have to wait. With these roundabouts you enter if there's no cars coming and the traffic pressure gets relieved much more naturally. I remember before the change you would some times wait in a line that's over a kilometer long at that intersection. Now this doesn't happen unless there's been an accident congesting everyone into one lane.
About signaling while you go on the roundabout: when you go threequarter round (so you could call that left) then it is very much appreciated when you signal to the left when you enter the roundabout until you the seccond exit (" strait forward") and then start signaling to the right. That way people can see that you will drive threequarter and can adapt to that.
Actually I disagree, and just to be clear it is not legally required to do so, because many people signal too late to the right or not at all. Just signal when you’re leaving the roundabout, that is complicated enough for most people. Also when somebody signals left and I see them in a late stage, I don’t where they came from so then there is little benefit to me.
@@k34xy4wmnb Maybe it's complicated to some (certainly not most) but with very little effort it actually becomes second nature very quickly. Just swith from left to right blinkers the moment you passed half of the last exit before you leave, easypeasy...
In The Netherlands, when we have the mandatory driving lessons, we learn the proper way to navigate those roundabouts. and actually it's all about giving notice of you direction, way in front of, or before you drive into, the roundabouts. But not everyone is aware of the tried and tested invention of a turnsignal. So, it's all about the turnsignal. When you approach the roundabout, and need to go to the right, you turn the signal on way in fron so everybody else can anticipate what you speed and position will be when you drive in . When you go straight, you give no signal but only when you're going to leave the roundabout. This way there is no confusion about your turnsignal. When you need to go left, turn the turnsignal on, way in front of the rounabout. This way all the traffic users can anticipate your speed and position when you drive in. and then to the right only when you're going to leave it.
4:34 Technically, if you would have been in a Dutch (European?) driver's exam, you would have failed. Stopping (blocking) on top of a zebra crossing is not allowed, although I see +/- 90% of the drivers do it daily. The design of roundabouts makes this quite a bit challenging too, tbh.
True, here in Spain that's a fault too but that's actually the city hall's fault for designing it like that. Generally, at least in my country, there's some space after the zebra crossing for you to stop and if there's a car there waiting, you have to wait before the zebra crossing. But some areas are bad design like the one in the video and you have to put yourself on top of the crossing to being able to see (not this case, you could see from there, but there're places with trees and bushes or corners and you really need to do it to drive safely :\
I read some statistics that roundabouts reduce accidents by a small percentage, but reduce substantial accidents that cause severe injury or death by a massive amount. Vehicles are not still traveling at 60 or 80km/h, head on, or adjacent. It is more likely a nose-to-tail or side knock.
That is why we use them, reduce death and serious injury. Sustainable safety is the design handbook we wrote and use. When you learn about it it is kind of sad that it took so long and still isn't used throughout the world, although vision zero (derived from sustainable safety) from Sweden gained some traction. Few design concepts:1. people make mistakes, those mistakes shouldn't lead to death or injury. 2. speed limits should be self inforcing, design the road so that speeding becomes impossible. 3. Seperate different modes of transit when speeds get higher, so no bikelane next to a highway, but seperate. There is much more, but everytime you think, hmmm should be common sense.
As the majority of urban road networks in Europe were built on top of ancient thoroughfares, the need for such solutions to keep modern heavy traffic moving has resulted in the excellent Dutch examples you show. Whereas, in the US, and following the requirement a hundred years ago to connect the vast nation for the newly arrived motor vehicle, it was the rapid building of long straight roads through the freely available areas of undeveloped land that resulted in what we see there. As a Brit visiting Virginia recently I was indeed treated to a few stroads and was glad I was a just a passenger! I feel a little sorry for the person who was chauffeuring me at that time, as he's just arrived for vacation driving around the UK, where he's going to also have to drive on the left as well as enjoy the millions of roundabouts we have. Excellent informative video Kerleem, thank you.
Do a search for 'The Magic Roundabout', not the children's television programme but the road junction in Swindon, England. I have never seen it because Swindon is not somewhere that I ever need to go, and I don't drive. As far as I know it's unique.
Roundabouts are not a matter of opinion, they're a matter of FACT. They dramatically reduce fatalities and accidents and even if an accident does happen, its extremely minor. That strongly outweighs the American view of driving being a strenuous and prolonged chore, which of course it is. The green light encourages people to increase their speed. To let their guard down. It does this despite the points of conflict between other road users, ultimately leading to drastic results. There's a price to pay for public safety, but mark my word is it worth it.
I grew up in New England, and we've had rotaries for about as long as Europe has had roundabouts. There are some technical differences from an engineer's perspective-roundabouts have more features designed to slow traffic down, whereas rotaries allow for higher speeds-but from a driver's perspective, the rules are the same: traffic already in the rotary has the right-of-way. Lots of people hate them, but I've always liked them, even the multiple lane rotaries. They save so much time compared to a traffic light, and they're not that hard to navigate if you just pay attention and give half a bother to learn the rules.
In the netherlands roundabouts are part of a system called traffic calming. If you watch this clip you see iT. The roads are designed to automaticly reduce steeds at sertain points. Look for video’s about traffic calming to understand the system
What I also like that when there is little traffic you don't need to stop and take off again. I hate stopping for a red light at night only to get a green immediately after stopping, with roundabouts I just need to slow down a bit.
Nice video Kerleem! Like some other people in the comment section already said, the Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen has to be the worst haha. It's one of the few roundabouts where cars entering have priority over cars already on it. To add to the chaos there are no lane markings but there is a need for constant lane changing. imo the best strategy to cross it without conflict is to go faster than the other cars.
Indeed. The Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen is complete chaos for decades now. And nobody in Nijmegen seems to care. When I go to Nijmegen (I live in Eindhoven) I always try to avoid that place. Even after nearly 50 years of driving.
I like roundabouts in places where they make sense, which isn't always the case. At some places a roundabout makes things unnecessarily complicated, especially when you interlace them with tram or railroad tracks going right through; A traffic circle, kind of layed out like a roundabout but with traffic lights or other traffic signs and different right of way regulations can make sense on roads with high amount of traffic. Also a standard intersection can make sense. one also has to keep the size of a roundabout: the smaller a roundabout the more complicated it is for trucks and buses to get around. Also oversize loads have to be kept in mind. And emergency vehicles love to go through at high speeds and a direct line as well
American drivers have no idea how to use roundabout! because the require you as a driver to SLOW DOWN ideal is about 20mph, but Americans have no idea that cars can go slow? they all want to go go go all the time, they have to drive all the time so its boring for them, they do not want to think?
With regards to something else: i learned to drive in the 80s when smaller cars (and larger too) didn't have servo-assisted stearing. When turning (and maneuvering while backing into parking slots) always try to pull the stearing wheel - don't push. For turning left: keep the wheel steady with right hand, move left to 1,pull to 10, let right hand steady the wheel and move your left again. The intention is too be able to turn the wheel fast and so let the arm and do its work. The wheel will unturn itself when leaving the roundabout so you dont need to push/force it. Turn right: about the same but with right hand instead - so get a hold with right hand at 11, pull to 2, take a new hold and pull. As soon as the hands is only a small bit above the horizontal axle thru the stearing wheel center, your hands doesn't have the same power any longer.
I live in the Florida and I'm starting to see more roundabouts show up. I do see lots of people who don't know how to use them. It really isn't that difficult.
As far as I know (IANATE, i'm not a traffic engineer) the order of traffic (slow aka pedestrians, medium aka cyclists etc, fast cars) is deliberate. You first slow down for the ones worst hit by you and you have plenty of time to see them as you usually have a long driveway towards them. Then you are slowed down and take on the medium speed traffic which is faster and you have less time to spot. At exit you first cross the medium speed traffic as you have already slowed down, which can -maybe- avoid you and might have spotted you since you slowed down. Then you cross the slowest traffic which you have had longer time to spot which is most impacted by you hitting them and has time to see anyways.
German roundabout here. Your arguments are on point. Specially through times of heavy traffic roundabouts make it much smoother. Same here, since cars are the toughest member in traffic you are the first to be aware of cyclist and pedestrians. Seems the Netherlands or driving over Europe puts one license to the test. 🤣 Next 'Place Charles-de-Gaulle' in Paris please. You know, the roundabout with the 'Arc de Triomphe' in the middle. 🤣
There's one major issue with roundabouts : There's always an exit that is taking the most outbound cars . The entry next to that exit has very little cars coming around the roundabout, thus allowing fast inbound traffic entering the roundabout. And this traffic keeps the cars on the next entry form accessing the roundabout. And results in congestion on that entry. ( make a little drawing, you will get my point). But, apart from that, they definitely are less prone to having major traffic accidents . Although some have dual carriage ways' and that can be a source of conflict. Btw, your very good at making these videos.
Fair point. Roundabouts don't work too well in situations with a high and very asymmetric traffic load. An uninterrupted stream of vehicles coming from one direction all going to the same direction almost block the roundabout for other vehicle movements. Conversely, a few vehicles from a 'minor' side can hamper the main stream quite considerably, causing a bit of a jam. My local municipality has converted two roundabouts back into regular intersections with traffic lights for exactly this reason. It does actually work better, provided that the lights don't run a fixed cycle, but are adaptive to the circumstances (time of day, traffic load, even the weather.) But that seems to be another wild concept 😉
I really like roundabouts, regardless of what mode of transportation I am using. Over here in Hilversum though, there used to be a roundabout called 'Den Uylplein' and they converted it to traffic lights. I think of all towns in the Netherlands Hilversum is pretty car centric and even though I drive my car around a lot too, I'd really prefer it to be less car centric. I think it would really help to relieve the streets from the overdose of cars if more people were incentivised to use something else, be it a bicycle, or public transport. I think the local government here has some pretty stubborn people in it that hold off any kind or good progress.
I grew up with traffic lights (born 1978) but I guess around 1995 or so, the country got an overhaul and everything became roundabout where it could. You can actually tell if an old person is driving on one or someone who doesn't know any better. But both as pedestrian, cyclist or driver I like them. Just approach with ease and think people will not yield and then it's no problem at all. I like the turbo roundabouts. What I sometimes do hate is when a buslane merges, they often drive like idiots and think you always saw them in your rear view.
1:18 main reason is poor level of drivers in USA/Canada because driving a car is compulsory. 2nd reason is miss leading design of this round about it looks like some unfinished job
Here in Montenegro we follow rules of european traffic protocol of roundabouts. Back in 2017. they built about 20 roundabouts in capital and since then waiting in traffic dropped a lot. I'm thankful for it but we need more ofc
3:28 This is not true, it is highly dependent on the type of road and the type of intersection. Typically when no designated infrastructure is present cars and bicycles are treated as equal and pedestrians need to yield to them unless cyclists or cars make a turn.
Generally in NL, cars are the lowest priority. However you are correct in that some roundabouts give cars priority for some parts. Nonetheless, as a driver, I believe I generally need to treat others (bikes, pedestrians) with priority in a roundabout.
I remember Mythbusters made simple experiment how much more efficient roundabout was and it was making traffic move a lot faster than standard intersection.
depends a lot on the actual intersection and roundabout. Thus e.g. on a 4 to 6 lane road with higher speeds a roundabout would be less effective than an intersection, while it perfeclty does make sense on 2 to 4 lane roads with lower speeds and only moderate amount of traffic
@@EnjoyFirefighting Apart from States, nobody else builds intersections on 4 or 6 lane roads! If road is more than 2 lanes, it usually is classed as a motorway/expressway and has collision free junctions, exits and entrances.
@@ukrytykrytyk8477 oh really? No, that's definetly not true. Just check out the Bavarian capital city of Munich: downtown ring road is mostly 4 to 6 lanes wide, partially 2 or 8 lanes and they have intersections all around: 16 intersections on the 4 to 8 lane sections, only counting the larger intersections. Pretty much the same situation on any other arterial road throughout the city: Landsberg Road with 7 lanes, Frankfurt Ring and Moosach Rd with 4 to 6 lanes or Middle RIng Road with 4 to 8 lanes. Same situations in pretty much any other large city, like Stuttgart with up to 9 lane wide roads, Berlin 6 lanes is a pretty common standard but wider ones might have as well 9 lanes ... all that for a completly normal large city street without being any sort of expressway and without being seperated from ground level. Even in my home town of only 200k inhabitants the largest intersection had 5 lanes of traffic coming from every direction. Very same thing also abroad: Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Paris, Linz, Copenhagen, Bergen, Groningen, ...just to name a few from cities from various countries ...
@@EnjoyFirefighting You mean Bundesautobahn 99? Most are collision free junctions. We count lines differently, when I'm talking about 2 lanes I mean to lanes straight each direction, not including local widening to include turn lanes at the junctions. You count everything including local widening for turning lanes in both directions. Next thing is speed, congestion and land availability. It's difficult to retrofit roundabout somewhere in the inner city where there is simply no space for it and some buildings would have to be demolished or a lot of the surrounding infrastructure moved to fit roundabout in. I'm not a traffic engineer to authoritatively say one is better than the other and I bet there are many nuances as with everything in the real world. Neither you're one I'm pretty sure. I have come across many instances where normal one level intersections have been changed, during road rebuilt, to something else, very often to the roundabouts. I can't recall seeing situation where roundabout been removed and replaced with a standard intersection and there must be a good reason to that. Conclusion is only because somewhere in older parts of city there still are standard junctions, it doesn't mean it's the most appropriate and the most efficient type of junction there.
@@ukrytykrytyk8477 no, highway 99 is the outer ring road, I was talking about the downtown ring road (stretching from Stachus to Sendling Gate to Isar Gate further up to the Bavarian State Chancellery to Oskar von Miller Ring back to Stachus) and the middle ring road (federal road B2R) and naming a few other arterial roads with lots of intersections: federal road 13 all the way from the city limits to the middle ring road, federal road 2 from the city limits to the middle ring road and beyond that to the downtown ring road, but also non-federal roads like Frankfurter Ring is a prime example as well you're right, I rather know intersections which got replaced by roundabouts, some of them are unfortunately utterly stupid. Thus e.g. North Avenue at Munich Intl. Airport used to be a straight line with intersections being primarily the access to the parking lots alongside; Now they placed 3 roundabouts in a row; Both units from the local public EMS station and from again the next EMS station are slowed down quite a bit when responding to incidents at the airport as they now have 3 roundabouts instead of a straight road. Some traffic light controlled or traffic circles get way too complicated the more lanes you add, especially if tram or bus lanes cut across. I remember a traffic circle in Gothenburg having the 6 lane main road cut right across the traffic circle; In Munich there was a 4 lane roundabout at the end of highway 8, was then turned into a traffic circle with the main road having the right of way and reduced 2 to 3 lanes within the circle. One of the worst layouts is the east city circle in Karlsruhe You might be correct about counting lanes, talking about 2 lanes I mean 1 lane in each direction adding up to 2 in total; So a 6 lane road will have 3 in either direction. Of course I will count turn lanes as well as the topic is kind of about intersections vs roundabouts - you won't have turn lanes in places you don't turn. However counting 6 (3+3 lanes) is also quite a normal thing without additional turning lanes to be counted which still supports my argument. I also didn't count any possible tram tracks which are still part of the traffic infrastructure and somehow have to fit into the intersection or roundabout layout. Thus e.g. take the intersection of Franken Rd. and Nordgau Rd. in the city of Regensburg, Germany. 5 lanes from either direction. A roundabout wouldn't in any way be possible to manage the load of traffic although the layout of the intersection is very basic;
Roundabouts are safer because you are less likely to get T boned. They are faster to get through until you get to about 85% of the capacity of a signaled junction at the location. Therefore at most times of the day even a busy junction will be faster if it is a roundabout. Signals are expensive to build and maintain. Roundabouts are cheaper as no electronics and no communications cables. If some crashes into a traffic signal it has to be fixed now. If someone hits a giveaway sign you can ignore it for a week or two, or just put out some temporary road work signs.
another advantage of roundabouts is that the speed of traffic is slower. So if something goes wrong the speed is slower and the damage and/or injury is less severe.
Thanks for sharing your observations. Us 'Muricans' are insulated spoilt babies who need a lot of exposure, & I don't expect that to change any time soon.
There are a few roundabouts showing up in Fort Lauderdale as well. I was surprised to see them when I was visiting earlier last year. They were in Las Olas. Mini roundabouts.
@@Kerleem I don't know about anyone else, but I love them. Even the mini ones. But I'm an American living and driving in the UK for the last 15 years. So my judgement is skewed. :)
Here in Portugal Roundbands is named "Rotundas" And it works like the same as in the netherlands. The only main diference is that we do not have the cyclists lane. Ty for the video. Iam moving to netherlands at this year 2022. And I would love to see a video about Motocicles made by yourself. (Taxs.. BPM... etc)
It is less the driving lessons or any driving test - it is the attitude of the drivers now. People here in the USA act as if yielding the right of way is an insult to themselves ! People will not use turn indicators, people speed, people will not allow other drivers to merge.
Hello from the Netherlands . roundabouts give much more and a better flow than traffic lights. you see in many cities that they are removing the traffic lights and making a roundabout in their place to have a better traffic flow. also roundabouts are much safer than an intersection with or without traffic lights because you simply can't accelerate quickly and race straight across an intersection, you have to drive around the roundabout so the speed is lower, it's a big thing a lot happens so it turns out you pay more attention on a roundabout than on an intersection , and because you have to take the time to drive around the roundabout your speed is automatically lower , because of the lower speed you have more time to get around properly to look at the other road users and therefore see more like those cyclists who were still approaching the roundabout
Great video about roundabouts thanks! FYI at 4:28 when taking a roundabout to make a left turn, you're supposed to signal left before entering. You can see the oncoming car doubt slightly whether you're going to exit or continue as not turning on your signal at a roundabout means "going straight" or "BMW driver" hehe ;)
This is actually not true. It is only mandatory to indicate when you leave the roundabout. A roundabout is essentially a road that keeps on going forever. If you stay on it, you are not turning off it and therefore don’t have to indicatie.
@@Bloemplantstuifmeel Not mandatory, agreed. But most people appreciate it if you do. I even do it (by handsignaling) when cycling sometimes if a driver seems hesitant where I'm going.
Minor correction, but there are never shark teeth for pedestrian crossings. The zebra crossing markings indicates right of way for pedestrians. There is also dashed crossing lines which indicate where a pedestrian may cross (that's not to say that it'd be illegal in other places), without priority over general traffic. The reason why the shark teeth are in front of the zebra crossings at roundabouts is because they are more visible that way. They actually indicate that there is a cycle path right after the pedestrian crossing. Placing them after the zebra striped blends them in visually resulting in unclear priority situation for cyclists and drivers. The 'elephant feet' blocked markings along cycle path crossing with priority also tend to indicate priority but aren't as well known or legally binding as shark teeth, which is why you usually see both.
As a Dutch citizen i think every country that does not have them are missing out. It sure helps traffic going on and no endless waiting in front of traffic light. Especially when it's crowded because then people in like Belgium all drive through the traffic light without beeing able to cross the crosspoint and causing a trafficjam when the light for the other side goes green and the crosspoint is still filled with cars from the other side that just ignore the rules. With roundabouts you don't have that issue and the flow of the traffic is always better. And it's not hard once you really get used on it. We are a very populated country and therefor need a coordinated way of driving. In the Netherlands you generally are forced to use your brain more when driving cities. But there are still a lot of anti socials that lack any rule and think they are alone in the world. I drove in many European countries and in think the Netherlands are one of the best out there. Also the quality of the roads and all the signs we use. We pay a heavy roadtaxs but it's vissible when you drive. I live close to Belgium and go over there regularry and you always notice when you go over the border. They even don't need to put border signs because it's so evident you crossed it.
Some larger roundabouts in The Netherlands are designed in a way you hardly need to slow down if there is no traffic on your side. You go from 80km/h to 50km/h and are back to 80 km/h before you know it. Beats stop signs and traffic lights every time.
Looking at your video, it strikes me that you were driving through a big city, but everything went very smoothly. You did not have to wait for many minutes at crossings. As there are alternatives for driving, cycling, walking, public transport, there are few cars on the road.
The shark-teeth is not just to yield for pedestrians. It is to yield, period. At various roundabouts you see them before the pedestrian/bike crossing and before the roundabout itself.
Please do one about the Keizer Karelplein roundabout in Nijmegen. By far the most challenging one in NL, since you don't have right of way on the roundabout (unlike almost all other roundabouts). Or try Velperbroek Arnhem if you happen to pass there someday.
Roundabouts are good, but can be over-used as well. In an urban setting, they are usually great. But in a more rural setting they can become quite annoying when they seem to be used for every single very minor side-road.
The image right at the start of the video: Why doesn't the cycleway have continuous red asphalt across the roundabout? It's customary for a reason: it's a much more clear setup...
Dutch guy here, I think roundabouts are a great tool of implemented correctly. They obviously don't allow traffic to flow as smoothly as an intersection with lights does, but it is significantly better than a 4-way intersection, especially in buildup area's were fast and slow traffic is often mixed. The speed reduction doesn't bother me to be honest, since (at least in my opinion) a 4-way intersection can be quite slow as well, if you want to do it safely. Much better to be safe rather than sorry. (I should point out that I only have about 2 years of driving experience at this stage, so feel free to disagree)
Lars, how are they less smooth? Isn't slightly reducing speed while entering a roundabout and slightly accelerating after leaving it the very definition of "smooth", as compared to stopping to standstill and starting again?
Day 1 in Norway - I hate roundabouts, these are stupid. Glad we don't have them in Canada. Day 2 in Norway - OK, they aren't that bad. Day 3 in Norway - WOW, these are awesome, how can we get more of them in Canada.
Not driven in the Netherlands so much, hadn't appreciated the commonality of give way / yield to exit roundabouts. I feel it's not such a common feature of UK roundabouts. That's probably down to the difference in priority - the Dutch have long had it as pedestrians, cyclists then cars, whereas UK roads have been built around the reverse (more or less).
Roundabouts are actually good and something told me that America should just build roundabouts to reduce those intersection crashes like the one that just happened in Vegas.
Navigating roundabouts makes you very wary of your surroundings. You are more careful and generally drive better and better understand the flow of traffic and others.
roundabouts are weird when you have pedestrian and cycling crossings, I think they work best in country roads where there is only car traffic to worry about, not having to come to a complete stop is more energy efficient. once you add the crossings you have to stop more and maybe even have lights, at that point it just takes up more space for no good reason.
Russians have a completely different approach to roundabouts. When they approach from, lets say the six o'clock direction, they speed up and use the curb of the central island to launch themselves across said island so that they might land in the twelve o'clock lane on the other side. I really like that; traffic can be so boring. Or was that from a tv program ?
Single lane roundabouts in the USA work rather well, even though oncoming cars speed and do not indicate turns, wasting the time of yielding drivers. Multilane roundabouts are horrible, due to the same issues as well as drivers refusing to allow other drivers to merge.
There is no infrastructure in the US for pedestrians or cyclists, so stating that it is complicated to "mind" people walking or cycling is pretty funny through they eyes of a Dutch person.
Check mythbusters. They did an episode about roundabouts. Conclusion Must faster for cars. Also crashes in roundabouts are way less...and at much lower steeds then american crossings.
Not at all difficult to use as long you pay attention, as you mention several times. Cars are at the bottom, as it should be. They won't work in the US (North America) because they can't drive and don't take others into account. Try double-triple lane roudabouts. You'll figure it out by the second or third time.
At 5:35 you state also to look to the right for cyclists on the roundabout although the shouldn't come from that direction Be ware.. we do have roundabouts in the Netherlands which have a 2 way cycle path on the roundabout itself. So expect cyclists from two directions. You will be warned for this in front of the roundabout when applicable. A sign which a cyclist with an extra sign beneath showing two arrows ( )
Roundabout is not roundabout in europe, the current dutch roundabouts are great and safe with separate , levitated lanes for cyclist and pedestriants but i experienced horrible roundabouts in germany for cyclist and pedestriens without any separate lanes.
1:15 Kerleem , the Kentucky roundabout video (routes 60-801 in Mooread) is fake (set up anyway). It was produced as a 'How-Not-To-Use-a-Roundabout' example video. You can see that the roundabout was not yet finished with road markings and signs. (And there's way too much traffic for a rural junction too..). But it got on the net and went viral , so all over internat it gives a wrong impression of both Americans and Roundabout Complexity .
Btw. : roundabouts are great ! The have a better flow (you don't have to wait for intervals like with traffic lights) and it is very hard to get fatal/serious injuries. The accident/injury rate will drop dramatically. They are also a very effective speed regulator. In Netherlands people tend to have a heavy right foot as well and there is a constant struggle in road design to keep speeds low (narrowings, speed bumps, suface etc) and roundabouts do it naturally. For example in rural areas when entering a village they are a natural barrier against speeding. It is almost impossible to enter a village at 80-100 kmh via a roundabout. And the operation costs are a lot lower than traffic lights.. In the dutch bike context : Don't have them with a painted bike lane, but with a separate bike path. Preferly at a car distance from the car lane (like 4:16 & 5:18 ; at 4:52 is a not a good example of that..). Near my house there is a roundabout with a painted ('bicycle gutter') lane and several times I almost got taken by a right-turning car, that had to give me priority as i continued on the roundabout (As is the common rule in NL) .
I did some more digging and couldn't find anything to refute that. I agree that it looks incomplete but I just couldn't find any evidence that the video isn't real traffic. In any case, Americans still hate roundabouts and would probably use them incorrectly anyway.
@@Kerleem You're right Kerleem, it is a true roundabout and not some conspiracy to give people wrong impressions about Americans. It seems your videos, very weirdly so, attract some strange types of people. Whether it is people that look like they're on drugs or pro-American fake news people. Quite annoying, but I think your video is absolutely great. You can be the channel I like most (well, maybe after Not just bikes) but you certainly got the same awesome vibe!
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Let me know what you think about roundabouts (and where you live) in the comments below!
Traffic engineers are not against roundabouts. Voters are, and because of that the whole thing becomes political. It becomes a policy decision and not engineering solution like it should be. Also, once we hit congestion limit roundabouts are worse than light intersections, but at that point the latter does not have any real benefits either, the traffic is congested no matter what. Traffic lights then just make things more organized. It only takes one car to grid lock a roundabout, not that it is so much better in any other solution we use after congestion.
As someone who works in this field in the Netherlands, I am obliged to say that roundabouts are great but we usually implement them in very specific circumstances. Sometimes a controlled intersection is better, sometimes an uncontrolled intersection. The nice thing about Dutch street design is that it's usually pretty clear what's expected from each type of road user.
Many people claim roundabouts take up more space, but in most cases, especially when using Dutch street design, a roundabout that has to handle a similar kind of traffic flow and speed should mostly fit within the same footprint. Also, don't forget how much road space the US wastes most on all of this already. No amount of stopsigns can fix that, and often there is room (literally) for improvement!
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
In The Netherlands, when we have the mandatory driving lessons, we learn the proper way to navigate those roundabouts. and actually it's all about giving notice of you direction, way in front of, or before you drive into, the roundabouts. But not everyone is aware of the tried and tested invention of a turnsignal. So, it's all about the turnsignal.
When you approach the roundabout, and need to go to the right, you turn the signal on way in front so everybody else can anticipate what you speed and position will be when you drive in. When you go straight, you give no signal but only when you're going to leave the roundabout. This way there is no confusion about your turnsignal. When you need to go left, turn the turnsignal on, way in front of the roundabout. This way all the traffic users can anticipate your speed and position when you drive in. and then to the right only when you're going to leave it.------- update :
ruclips.net/video/6zYHAdP8hRQ/видео.html: When you arived at this point you where confusing the other driver waiting for you because you did not have the turnsignal on to the left, he was about to enter 'till the last moment he saw you were turning left.... So again, it's all about the turnsignal
@@MuZeSiCk77 Never heard of the strait and left rule on roundabouts, since when is this a rule?
As a European, it's really hard for me to understand why one wouldn't like them.
I remember my mother claiming once, when I was young (thus in the previous century) that old people (she meant way old by previous century standard) MIGHT have trouble with them because they didn't learn them. Back then it didn't really convince me.
Now you are telling me that this country which is good at pretending to be a continent, which keep bragging about how it is supposed to be number one while having elected a yellow-winged turkey as President, and indeed does possess the highest economy thanks to the wars it didn't lost by applying the great but controversial strategy of being late at them, that country doesn't like them?
Well it just proves they are great, doesn't it?
North American roundabouts are designed for the speed and throughout of cars to the detriment of everyone else. They are not pleasant to bike or walk through. Dutch roundabout on the other hand are amazing. It also doesn’t hurt that Dutch drivers are also amazing by American standards. My wife and I were in the Netherlands earlier this year and we biked through a bunch of roundabouts. She couldn’t get over how drivers actually gave way to us when we had priority! That’s something we rarely experience in Chicago.
It certainly helps, that most cardrivers in my country are also cyclists! As a Dutchman, I am aware of the vulnerability of cyclists and pedestrians, especially nowadays when more and more elderly people continue cycling on (electrical) bikes, often into their 80s or 90s.
Driver training is also very rigorous! And expensive! When I had my lessons in the early nineties, I was told numerous times by my instructor to look over my shoulder before opening the driver's door! I also failed my first driving exam, because I crossed a cycle path without properly looking from side to side.
Then there are the liability laws that protect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians. Even if they were partially responsible for an accident involving a car, the person driving the car must pay most of the damage through his or her (liability) insurance. And last bust not least, if the police can prove that you as the cardriver were under the influence of alcohol or drugs or showed reckless behavior, you can lose your drivers licence and/or get a hefty fine or even a prison sentence. And after that, you have to spend thousands of euros to regain your drivers licence, often in combination with mandatory classes on road rage and the effects of drugs/alcohol in traffic. I know somebody who had to go through this, was not very pleasant!
Other than that, driving in the Netherlands is actually a pleasant experience! Well, most of the time!😀
Well get used to it. In addition to most drivers also being or have been cyclist, if an accident happens in general the driver is at fault. He/she needs to prove that they were not at fault. That approach makes a driver way more cautious.
In driving schools in Germany they tell you "Even if the pedestrian or cyclist don't have priority at this momentl, they have priority ever in case. And the driving teacher wanna see this responsible behavior all the time. I think it's at least the same standard in NL. Probably more, where cycling kind of religion is 😀
I think it's also a cultural thing. Pretty much everyone in the Netherlands cycles, according to a 2018 study there are 2.04 bikes per person in the country.
So people have respect for cyclists cause they are a cyclists themselves. They are not so quick to cut people off cause quite possible they have faced it themselves.
The alternatives to driving also lead to better drivers. Cause you can afford to put on higher standards for drivers and you can revoke people's license to drive. When a car hits a cyclist the burden of proof lies with the driver of the car. He/she needs to prove the cyclist was responsible and if they can't the driver is the one considered responsible. The idea is that cars are more powerful and dangerous vehicles and so should be held to a higher standard.
This actually causes a lot of outrage when I explain it. That not all road users are considered equal in responsibility. But the truth is that cars make people feel empowered and so they should be held to higher standards. Cyclists and pedestrians actually are already more accountable, they are bodily accountable. They put their bodies on the line when interacting with drivers so I don't think it's unfair to hold drivers more legally accountable since their bodies aren't on the line as much.
I think the driving culture is different in Canada too. Coming from Finland, we were amazed of how eagerly Canadian drivers gave way to pedestrians. Just glancing towards a crossing, the cars would stop.
I live in Portugal, and on a 5 mile commute, i have 11 roundabouts. Rarely i have to stop. Please don't ever replace them with lights!
Nice!
Hello!! I'm from Italy and here, near Milano, roundabouts started to be increased in number like 20 yrs ago. They definitely solve traffic problems keeping it smoother and they're safer than a traffic lamp/Stop sign (especially during the night time ), almost impossibile to be t-boned etc etc
Many pros and few cons, from my side ✌🏼😉
I bet the oldest roundabout in Italy is in Rome with the Colesseum as its centre. :)
I'm from Ireland and I love roundabouts! I lived in Canada and Texas for spells and was really surprised not to see any roundabouts over there. Every junction had traffic lights and the journey times were significantly longer as a result of waiting at the lights.
Roundabouts are simple to learn and should be much more common in the USA/Canada!
Roundabouts are good & effective. We need more roundabouts here in North America.
The Dutch style roundabouts in The Netherlands are my favorite as they accommodate people cycling in a very safe & seamless manner😀👍💯.
I'm from the Netherlands and while learning how to drive, roundabouts were a bit tough to get the hang of at first because of the amount of things you had to look for, however now I think they're pretty easy and I much prefer them over traffic lights
But, the “ car 🚗 “ traffic is sooooo much less there? K no? It is absolutely gorgeous!!!! I love the Netherlands. Blessings and good health to you.
For me the problem wasnt the roundabout but what to do when i had to stop infront of it. Because i was pretty bad at releasing the clutch and then when i entered in first gear the rpms kept climbing and i wasnt confident enough to shift in the roundabout
@@TSWARD-xb9rk usually if its rush hour and there is a lot of traffic on roundabouts in the Netherlands the drivers usually give way to those entering the roundabout as a curtesy, so every other car gives way to those entering so everyone can get home :) its not "Always" the case but its usual to do this.
my experience is that drivers communicate a lot with each other, give way to those that dont have the right of way if traffic is busy/stuck, else you would wait too long because it doesnt clear.
Hello from Indiana here in the States! As an American, I actually adore roundabouts! There is a city called Carmel (a suburb north of Indianapolis) that has 140+ roundabouts with a population of just over 100k, and I actually like driving around that city because there are not a lot of stoplights in that city. Heck, some DOTs, like Wisconsin and Indiana for example, actually study alternative intersection designs if they decide that a certain intersection needs improvements.
I watched a video on this little city. As far as I remember, this city had more than half of all roundabouts in American combined. The mayor had lived in Europe, and had been convinced of the efficiency of modern roundabouts - as opposed to the old, yield inside of the roundabout, lay out. Which, coincidentally and understandably, most American refers to when they criticize roundabouts - this lay out has been abandoned by Europe for decades.
I’m from the uk and I love roundabouts. It helps keep the flow of traffic moving. Although I must say the road designs and layouts are much better in continental Europe like Germany and Netherlands
That I can understand. I've seen some of the British creations, where you've got one big central roundabout, with numerous smaller roundabouts inside of the big central. And since you're driving on the wrong side of the road as well, it looks like utter chaos to me as a continental European.
Btw. : roundabouts are great ! The have a better flow (you don't have to wait for intervals like with traffic lights) and it is very hard to get fatal/serious injuries. The accident/injury rate will drop dramatically. They are also a very effective speed regulator. In Netherlands people tend to have a heavy right foot as well and there is a constant struggle in road design to keep speeds low (narrowings, speed bumps, suface etc) and roundabouts do it naturally. For example in rural areas when entering a village they are a natural barrier against speeding. It is almost impossible to enter a village at 80-100 kmh via a roundabout. And the operation costs are a lot lower than traffic lights..
In the dutch bike context : Don't have them with a painted bike lane, but with a separate bike path. Preferly at a car distance from the car lane (like 4:16 & 5:18 ; at 4:52 is a not a good example of that..). Near my house there is a roundabout with a painted ('bicycle gutter') lane and several times I almost got taken by a right-turning car, that had to give me priority as i continued on the roundabout (As is the common rule in NL) .
When I lived in New Zealand I liked roundabouts after I got used to them. But then coming back to Canada and using the few roundabouts we have I found frustrating mostly because no one knows how to use them properly. In Canada very few people would signal out of a roundabout to let me know it was safe to enter the roundabout.
Yeah, and frustration builds exponentially in this situation, so people just grow to detest roundabouts
If you want to make a dutch driver real mad, exit a roundabout without signaling (loosing precious seconds waiting :p)
lol @ that roundabout clip from the US. Hilarious ;D
Honestly: hearing that the roundabouts are "controversial" is the most bizzare thing ever.
I know right?
In Australia, we have lots of roundabouts, especially in the suburbs. Nobody here gets confused by them and they defiantly increase traffic flow and reduce accidents.
I'm sure it's just a typo, but I enjoy the thought roundabouts are defiantly efficient in the face of nay sayers
In my town in The Netherlands we had a very busy crossing, with traffic lights, between the industrial/business area and the town center. At this particular crossing it took a long time to get past it, for all traffic participants. All roads towards the crossing were so congested that everyone came to a standstill. At rush hour it took almost 15 minutes or longer (many traffic light cycles) to pass this crossing. When they reconstructed this crossing into a turbo roundabout, there isn’t any waiting time anymore, only at rush hour it takes longer than 30 seconds to enter the roundabout because cyclists have priority and many of us go to their job on a bicycle. And because of pedestrians, the most important bus stop is just next to the roundabout. So there is a benefit for everyone, the car driver, the cyclist and the pedestrian. No one has to wait there turn in the traffic light cycle. The flow of all kinds of traffic is much better than before. But the main benefit of roundabouts is that motor vehicle drivers approach a roundabout much more cautious and at a lower speed than a normal crossing, because they always have to take a turn and can’t go straight ahead. Especially if they need to go straight ahead, they still have to slow down to take the curve of the roundabout. Well some people try to go straight ahead on roundabouts but that never ends well. They’re mostly under the influence of illegal substances or just plain stupid.
I found fascinating that you think roundabouts in the Netherlands are the most challenging in Europe. For me it’s the opposite : they are so well designed that they’re easy to navigate. Especially those roundabouts which have more lanes: for me they’re the most challenging roundabouts throughout Europe, but in NL they are most of the time turbo roundabouts, so you don’t have to worry when changing lanes in the roundabout or worry about other vehicles changing lanes.
As a cyclist: using roundabouts in the Netherlands is great, outside the Netherlands it’s awful, since they aren’t designed with cyclists in mind. Drivers will cut you off when they’re leaving (and sometimes even when they’re entering) the roundabout.
I like them, most of the time, here in Wisconsin we have well over 100 of them and more being built and generally they work well. There is a spot in Oshkosh that has 4 or 5 of them in a row in a small stretch of road and that can be bit much.
I live in the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands, and just last year, two turbo roundabouts were replaced by good ol' traffic lights crossings. The main problem was people not signaling where they were going, causing others to wait for them.
In the city of Nijmegen, there is a famous roundabout that is the most dangerous one in the Netherlands. It is the one on the Keizer Karelplein. Not for the faint of heart.
I’ve heard about the Nijmegen one! Maybe I’ll check it out one day.
Interesting that they replaced turbo roundabouts with a traditional intersection with traffic lights!
It has 6 entry points and is the most central crossing of the city. That makes it pretty busy and maybe too complex to handle.
I am from Aachen in Germany, and it was tough for me to learn to drive correctly the turbo- roundabouts in Heerlen. But now I love them. They are completely unknown in Germany.
Nijmegen is for pussies! I survived the Arc the Triomph, Barcelona and Rome roundabouts.
.
.
Barely, but still.
Netherlands known for pioneer of Turbo-Roundabout. Also, they have variants of them and each of them has it own purpose.
Can you show us what is the difference and the reason behind each one ?
Turbo-roundabout basically removes a need to make a lane change when your destination is the left exit. But it also allows two lane road to use two lanes for straight thru traffic, which is most likely going to be most used route. It is like two spirals.
Turbo roundabouts increase traffic flow because you have to choose the right lane before the roundabout and each direction has it's own lane. So, no need to check where you're going on the roundabout, no checking if you're in the right lane and no lane changing on the roundabout.
🙀🙀🙀TURBO roundabout? My anxiety disorder has peaked 😂. I apologize. I am drawn into this convo. Open to learning.
@@TSWARD-xb9rk 2 videos to start learning more about them: 😉
Bicycle Dutch introduction on Roundabouts: ruclips.net/video/41XBzAOmmIU/видео.html
Royal HaskoningDHV's simulation (2013) of a standard turbo roundabout: ruclips.net/video/_U10sJJof-s/видео.html
Totally agree. Living in Denmark and we have changed many intersections with roundabouts and traffic flow is so much better.
Agreed!
Round abouts make a lot of sense. Just look how many major accidents you see at the intersections in the USA. When you see dash cam videos, you see a massive amount of the accidents happen on the intersections….
One of the causes of those accidents are the long waiting times on intersections with traffic lights, which give impatient drivers an incentive to jump a red light. Ontario Traffic Man made an excellent video ruclips.net/video/7KPGVP85WpU/видео.html which explains how the Dutch have cut the wasted time on an intersection to a minimum, and made those intersections a lot safer.
Kerleem, please do a video about the turbo roundabouts. They are even better. Because you explain this so well.
With everything you mentioned, you failed to mention speed! Speed is one of the main reasons for roundabouts as it forces everyone to slow down and pay attention. With a 4 way stop, you can easily just go through it without stopping but you can’t with a roundabout as there is a bump in the center and if you went in full speed, we’d all know what’ll happen to the car.
100%
Sadly, fear of damaging their car is the only thing that will make most drivers slow down lol
ruclips.net/video/j1Nswhpa8XY/видео.html
Roundabouts slow down cars but they don't stop cars. Often times they function to spread out the load of cars so there there is a more continuous flow. Unlike stop lights which tend to do the opposite.
Speed is NOT reduced at any of the roundabouts in my area. It is as if the roundabout makes people want to drive faster.
Roundabouts have many advantages. No more head on collisions. Traffic flow is slowed down but fluid. No more stop and go traffic from the lights that makes you use more gas and pollute more. No more flashing or dead lights during power outages, which brings very low maintenance. The center of the roundabout can be decorated and personalized many ways. You can go around many times until you find your exit. If you took the wrong exit, you can always use the next roundabout to turn around, as in France where roundabouts are EVERYWHERE. The only disadvantage I can think of, it can be real problem for large American trucks to circulate through it. In three words, better through simplicity.
I agree however they are popping up more and more across America so they can be designed to account trucks as well.
My city did some big reconstruction of a few major roads about 4 years ago and added 5 new roundabouts. They are definitely better than the old stoplight intersections they had there, because now the flow of traffic is much better balanced. With stoplights you get your green period and then there's no one coming from the sides, but you still have to wait. With these roundabouts you enter if there's no cars coming and the traffic pressure gets relieved much more naturally. I remember before the change you would some times wait in a line that's over a kilometer long at that intersection. Now this doesn't happen unless there's been an accident congesting everyone into one lane.
Exactly!
Excellent video!
About signaling while you go on the roundabout: when you go threequarter round (so you could call that left) then it is very much appreciated when you signal to the left when you enter the roundabout until you the seccond exit (" strait forward") and then start signaling to the right. That way people can see that you will drive threequarter and can adapt to that.
Actually I disagree, and just to be clear it is not legally required to do so, because many people signal too late to the right or not at all. Just signal when you’re leaving the roundabout, that is complicated enough for most people.
Also when somebody signals left and I see them in a late stage, I don’t where they came from so then there is little benefit to me.
@@k34xy4wmnb Maybe it's complicated to some (certainly not most) but with very little effort it actually becomes second nature very quickly. Just swith from left to right blinkers the moment you passed half of the last exit before you leave, easypeasy...
In The Netherlands, when we have the mandatory driving lessons, we learn the proper way to navigate those roundabouts. and actually it's all about giving notice of you direction, way in front of, or before you drive into, the roundabouts. But not everyone is aware of the tried and tested invention of a turnsignal. So, it's all about the turnsignal.
When you approach the roundabout, and need to go to the right, you turn the signal on way in fron so everybody else can anticipate what you speed and position will be when you drive in . When you go straight, you give no signal but only when you're going to leave the roundabout. This way there is no confusion about your turnsignal. When you need to go left, turn the turnsignal on, way in front of the rounabout. This way all the traffic users can anticipate your speed and position when you drive in. and then to the right only when you're going to leave it.
4:34 Technically, if you would have been in a Dutch (European?) driver's exam, you would have failed.
Stopping (blocking) on top of a zebra crossing is not allowed, although I see +/- 90% of the drivers do it daily.
The design of roundabouts makes this quite a bit challenging too, tbh.
True, here in Spain that's a fault too but that's actually the city hall's fault for designing it like that. Generally, at least in my country, there's some space after the zebra crossing for you to stop and if there's a car there waiting, you have to wait before the zebra crossing. But some areas are bad design like the one in the video and you have to put yourself on top of the crossing to being able to see (not this case, you could see from there, but there're places with trees and bushes or corners and you really need to do it to drive safely :\
I read some statistics that roundabouts reduce accidents by a small percentage, but reduce substantial accidents that cause severe injury or death by a massive amount. Vehicles are not still traveling at 60 or 80km/h, head on, or adjacent. It is more likely a nose-to-tail or side knock.
That is why we use them, reduce death and serious injury. Sustainable safety is the design handbook we wrote and use. When you learn about it it is kind of sad that it took so long and still isn't used throughout the world, although vision zero (derived from sustainable safety) from Sweden gained some traction. Few design concepts:1. people make mistakes, those mistakes shouldn't lead to death or injury. 2. speed limits should be self inforcing, design the road so that speeding becomes impossible. 3. Seperate different modes of transit when speeds get higher, so no bikelane next to a highway, but seperate. There is much more, but everytime you think, hmmm should be common sense.
As the majority of urban road networks in Europe were built on top of ancient thoroughfares, the need for such solutions to keep modern heavy traffic moving has resulted in the excellent Dutch examples you show. Whereas, in the US, and following the requirement a hundred years ago to connect the vast nation for the newly arrived motor vehicle, it was the rapid building of long straight roads through the freely available areas of undeveloped land that resulted in what we see there. As a Brit visiting Virginia recently I was indeed treated to a few stroads and was glad I was a just a passenger! I feel a little sorry for the person who was chauffeuring me at that time, as he's just arrived for vacation driving around the UK, where he's going to also have to drive on the left as well as enjoy the millions of roundabouts we have. Excellent informative video Kerleem, thank you.
Very true. Thank you!
6:39 ooh! A Touareg police car! Don't see those too often anymore.
Yeah I see them regularly around Amsterdam! Surprising to still see them on the road!
Those are armoured. They are not regular police cars
Do a search for 'The Magic Roundabout', not the children's television programme but the road junction in Swindon, England. I have never seen it because Swindon is not somewhere that I ever need to go, and I don't drive. As far as I know it's unique.
Wow, that's wild!
Not quite unique, there's one in Hemel Hempstead too. But yes, they're not common.
Roundabouts are not a matter of opinion, they're a matter of FACT. They dramatically reduce fatalities and accidents and even if an accident does happen, its extremely minor. That strongly outweighs the American view of driving being a strenuous and prolonged chore, which of course it is.
The green light encourages people to increase their speed. To let their guard down. It does this despite the points of conflict between other road users, ultimately leading to drastic results. There's a price to pay for public safety, but mark my word is it worth it.
I grew up in New England, and we've had rotaries for about as long as Europe has had roundabouts. There are some technical differences from an engineer's perspective-roundabouts have more features designed to slow traffic down, whereas rotaries allow for higher speeds-but from a driver's perspective, the rules are the same: traffic already in the rotary has the right-of-way.
Lots of people hate them, but I've always liked them, even the multiple lane rotaries. They save so much time compared to a traffic light, and they're not that hard to navigate if you just pay attention and give half a bother to learn the rules.
Nice! Yeah absolutely
That roundabout in Kentucky was very strange. Cars going right ánd left ?? Very confusing. You always go right onto the roundabout.
I found out after it may have been fake or staged, but still, not far off from the truth!
In the netherlands roundabouts are part of a system called traffic calming.
If you watch this clip you see iT.
The roads are designed to automaticly reduce steeds at sertain points.
Look for video’s about traffic calming to understand the system
What I also like that when there is little traffic you don't need to stop and take off again. I hate stopping for a red light at night only to get a green immediately after stopping, with roundabouts I just need to slow down a bit.
Yes exactly!!
Nice video Kerleem!
Like some other people in the comment section already said, the Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen has to be the worst haha. It's one of the few roundabouts where cars entering have priority over cars already on it. To add to the chaos there are no lane markings but there is a need for constant lane changing. imo the best strategy to cross it without conflict is to go faster than the other cars.
Hey! Thanks!
That sounds crazy, I might have to check it out. Sounds a lot like the arc de triomphe in Paris!
@@Kerleem I just subscribed to you because of this comment, you know your classics.
Indeed. The Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen is complete chaos for decades now. And nobody in Nijmegen seems to care. When I go to Nijmegen (I live in Eindhoven) I always try to avoid that place. Even after nearly 50 years of driving.
I like roundabouts in places where they make sense, which isn't always the case. At some places a roundabout makes things unnecessarily complicated, especially when you interlace them with tram or railroad tracks going right through; A traffic circle, kind of layed out like a roundabout but with traffic lights or other traffic signs and different right of way regulations can make sense on roads with high amount of traffic. Also a standard intersection can make sense.
one also has to keep the size of a roundabout: the smaller a roundabout the more complicated it is for trucks and buses to get around. Also oversize loads have to be kept in mind. And emergency vehicles love to go through at high speeds and a direct line as well
American drivers have no idea how to use roundabout! because the require you as a driver to SLOW DOWN ideal is about 20mph, but Americans have no idea that cars can go slow? they all want to go go go all the time, they have to drive all the time so its boring for them, they do not want to think?
🤣🤣
With regards to something else: i learned to drive in the 80s when smaller cars (and larger too) didn't have servo-assisted stearing.
When turning (and maneuvering while backing into parking slots) always try to pull the stearing wheel - don't push. For turning left: keep the wheel steady with right hand, move left to 1,pull to 10, let right hand steady the wheel and move your left again.
The intention is too be able to turn the wheel fast and so let the arm and do its work.
The wheel will unturn itself when leaving the roundabout so you dont need to push/force it.
Turn right: about the same but with right hand instead - so get a hold with right hand at 11, pull to 2, take a new hold and pull.
As soon as the hands is only a small bit above the horizontal axle thru the stearing wheel center, your hands doesn't have the same power any longer.
Interesting!
the biggest pro for a ROUNDABOUT is that it doesnt frustrated drives and keep them busy instead of waiting for all the red lights
I live in the Florida and I'm starting to see more roundabouts show up. I do see lots of people who don't know how to use them. It really isn't that difficult.
I’ve noticed more in Florida when I go back home. I’ve seen roundabouts and diverging diamonds in Viera Florida
Well Milwaukee seems to be a good example how not to approach a roundabout. Based on what i’ve seen on RUclips.
As far as I know (IANATE, i'm not a traffic engineer) the order of traffic (slow aka pedestrians, medium aka cyclists etc, fast cars) is deliberate. You first slow down for the ones worst hit by you and you have plenty of time to see them as you usually have a long driveway towards them. Then you are slowed down and take on the medium speed traffic which is faster and you have less time to spot. At exit you first cross the medium speed traffic as you have already slowed down, which can -maybe- avoid you and might have spotted you since you slowed down. Then you cross the slowest traffic which you have had longer time to spot which is most impacted by you hitting them and has time to see anyways.
Yeah definitely
German roundabout here. Your arguments are on point. Specially through times of heavy traffic roundabouts make it much smoother. Same here, since cars are the toughest member in traffic you are the first to be aware of cyclist and pedestrians.
Seems the Netherlands or driving over Europe puts one license to the test. 🤣
Next 'Place Charles-de-Gaulle' in Paris please. You know, the roundabout with the 'Arc de Triomphe' in the middle. 🤣
Oh yes, I have driven around the Arc de Triomphe. Craziest roundabout ever. I will have to do a video on this one day soon!
Or the Große Stern in Berlin - next-level roundabout ;)
There's one major issue with roundabouts : There's always an exit that is taking the most outbound cars . The entry next to that exit has very little cars coming around the roundabout, thus allowing fast inbound traffic entering the roundabout. And this traffic keeps the cars on the next entry form accessing the roundabout. And results in congestion on that entry. ( make a little drawing, you will get my point). But, apart from that, they definitely are less prone to having major traffic accidents . Although some have dual carriage ways' and that can be a source of conflict. Btw, your very good at making these videos.
You have exactly the same issue for intersections.
Fair point. Roundabouts don't work too well in situations with a high and very asymmetric traffic load. An uninterrupted stream of vehicles coming from one direction all going to the same direction almost block the roundabout for other vehicle movements. Conversely, a few vehicles from a 'minor' side can hamper the main stream quite considerably, causing a bit of a jam.
My local municipality has converted two roundabouts back into regular intersections with traffic lights for exactly this reason. It does actually work better, provided that the lights don't run a fixed cycle, but are adaptive to the circumstances (time of day, traffic load, even the weather.) But that seems to be another wild concept 😉
This is literally why turbo roundabouts are a thing. They deal with asynchronous traffic flow a lot better.
I really like roundabouts, regardless of what mode of transportation I am using. Over here in Hilversum though, there used to be a roundabout called 'Den Uylplein' and they converted it to traffic lights. I think of all towns in the Netherlands Hilversum is pretty car centric and even though I drive my car around a lot too, I'd really prefer it to be less car centric. I think it would really help to relieve the streets from the overdose of cars if more people were incentivised to use something else, be it a bicycle, or public transport. I think the local government here has some pretty stubborn people in it that hold off any kind or good progress.
I grew up with traffic lights (born 1978) but I guess around 1995 or so, the country got an overhaul and everything became roundabout where it could. You can actually tell if an old person is driving on one or someone who doesn't know any better. But both as pedestrian, cyclist or driver I like them. Just approach with ease and think people will not yield and then it's no problem at all. I like the turbo roundabouts. What I sometimes do hate is when a buslane merges, they often drive like idiots and think you always saw them in your rear view.
1:18 main reason is poor level of drivers in USA/Canada because driving a car is compulsory.
2nd reason is miss leading design of this round about it looks like some unfinished job
Here in Montenegro we follow rules of european traffic protocol of roundabouts. Back in 2017. they built about 20 roundabouts in capital and since then waiting in traffic dropped a lot. I'm thankful for it but we need more ofc
Awesome! Thanks for watching
Multiple-lane roundabouts, or even turbine roundabouts, are great!
Hate traffic lights lol love roundabouts . Went to college in Uk in 81 , and loads of roundabouts were appearing and work just great 😀👍
Definitely!
3:28 This is not true, it is highly dependent on the type of road and the type of intersection. Typically when no designated infrastructure is present cars and bicycles are treated as equal and pedestrians need to yield to them unless cyclists or cars make a turn.
Generally in NL, cars are the lowest priority. However you are correct in that some roundabouts give cars priority for some parts. Nonetheless, as a driver, I believe I generally need to treat others (bikes, pedestrians) with priority in a roundabout.
I remember Mythbusters made simple experiment how much more efficient roundabout was and it was making traffic move a lot faster than standard intersection.
depends a lot on the actual intersection and roundabout. Thus e.g. on a 4 to 6 lane road with higher speeds a roundabout would be less effective than an intersection, while it perfeclty does make sense on 2 to 4 lane roads with lower speeds and only moderate amount of traffic
@@EnjoyFirefighting Apart from States, nobody else builds intersections on 4 or 6 lane roads! If road is more than 2 lanes, it usually is classed as a motorway/expressway and has collision free junctions, exits and entrances.
@@ukrytykrytyk8477 oh really? No, that's definetly not true.
Just check out the Bavarian capital city of Munich: downtown ring road is mostly 4 to 6 lanes wide, partially 2 or 8 lanes and they have intersections all around: 16 intersections on the 4 to 8 lane sections, only counting the larger intersections. Pretty much the same situation on any other arterial road throughout the city: Landsberg Road with 7 lanes, Frankfurt Ring and Moosach Rd with 4 to 6 lanes or Middle RIng Road with 4 to 8 lanes.
Same situations in pretty much any other large city, like Stuttgart with up to 9 lane wide roads, Berlin 6 lanes is a pretty common standard but wider ones might have as well 9 lanes ... all that for a completly normal large city street without being any sort of expressway and without being seperated from ground level. Even in my home town of only 200k inhabitants the largest intersection had 5 lanes of traffic coming from every direction.
Very same thing also abroad: Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Paris, Linz, Copenhagen, Bergen, Groningen, ...just to name a few from cities from various countries ...
@@EnjoyFirefighting You mean Bundesautobahn 99? Most are collision free junctions.
We count lines differently, when I'm talking about 2 lanes I mean to lanes straight each direction, not including local widening to include turn lanes at the junctions. You count everything including local widening for turning lanes in both directions.
Next thing is speed, congestion and land availability. It's difficult to retrofit roundabout somewhere in the inner city where there is simply no space for it and some buildings would have to be demolished or a lot of the surrounding infrastructure moved to fit roundabout in.
I'm not a traffic engineer to authoritatively say one is better than the other and I bet there are many nuances as with everything in the real world. Neither you're one I'm pretty sure.
I have come across many instances where normal one level intersections have been changed, during road rebuilt, to something else, very often to the roundabouts. I can't recall seeing situation where roundabout been removed and replaced with a standard intersection and there must be a good reason to that.
Conclusion is only because somewhere in older parts of city there still are standard junctions, it doesn't mean it's the most appropriate and the most efficient type of junction there.
@@ukrytykrytyk8477 no, highway 99 is the outer ring road, I was talking about the downtown ring road (stretching from Stachus to Sendling Gate to Isar Gate further up to the Bavarian State Chancellery to Oskar von Miller Ring back to Stachus) and the middle ring road (federal road B2R) and naming a few other arterial roads with lots of intersections: federal road 13 all the way from the city limits to the middle ring road, federal road 2 from the city limits to the middle ring road and beyond that to the downtown ring road, but also non-federal roads like Frankfurter Ring is a prime example as well
you're right, I rather know intersections which got replaced by roundabouts, some of them are unfortunately utterly stupid.
Thus e.g. North Avenue at Munich Intl. Airport used to be a straight line with intersections being primarily the access to the parking lots alongside; Now they placed 3 roundabouts in a row; Both units from the local public EMS station and from again the next EMS station are slowed down quite a bit when responding to incidents at the airport as they now have 3 roundabouts instead of a straight road. Some traffic light controlled or traffic circles get way too complicated the more lanes you add, especially if tram or bus lanes cut across. I remember a traffic circle in Gothenburg having the 6 lane main road cut right across the traffic circle; In Munich there was a 4 lane roundabout at the end of highway 8, was then turned into a traffic circle with the main road having the right of way and reduced 2 to 3 lanes within the circle. One of the worst layouts is the east city circle in Karlsruhe
You might be correct about counting lanes, talking about 2 lanes I mean 1 lane in each direction adding up to 2 in total; So a 6 lane road will have 3 in either direction. Of course I will count turn lanes as well as the topic is kind of about intersections vs roundabouts - you won't have turn lanes in places you don't turn. However counting 6 (3+3 lanes) is also quite a normal thing without additional turning lanes to be counted which still supports my argument. I also didn't count any possible tram tracks which are still part of the traffic infrastructure and somehow have to fit into the intersection or roundabout layout.
Thus e.g. take the intersection of Franken Rd. and Nordgau Rd. in the city of Regensburg, Germany. 5 lanes from either direction. A roundabout wouldn't in any way be possible to manage the load of traffic although the layout of the intersection is very basic;
Roundabouts are safer because you are less likely to get T boned.
They are faster to get through until you get to about 85% of the capacity of a signaled junction at the location. Therefore at most times of the day even a busy junction will be faster if it is a roundabout.
Signals are expensive to build and maintain. Roundabouts are cheaper as no electronics and no communications cables. If some crashes into a traffic signal it has to be fixed now. If someone hits a giveaway sign you can ignore it for a week or two, or just put out some temporary road work signs.
another advantage of roundabouts is that the speed of traffic is slower. So if something goes wrong the speed is slower and the damage and/or injury is less severe.
Definitely
Norway is the land of roundabouts I think 😅 Cant imagine anything better. It is so easy to use.
Thanks for sharing your observations. Us 'Muricans' are insulated spoilt babies who need a lot of exposure, & I don't expect that to change any time soon.
Hahah true, much of this is deep rooted cultural expectations that no one wants to change.
There are a few roundabouts showing up in Fort Lauderdale as well. I was surprised to see them when I was visiting earlier last year. They were in Las Olas. Mini roundabouts.
Wow that’s surprising! How do people like it?
@@Kerleem I don't know about anyone else, but I love them. Even the mini ones. But I'm an American living and driving in the UK for the last 15 years. So my judgement is skewed. :)
6:00 main reason why window tint on windshield and front side windows is illegal in the Netherlands and pretty much all European countries.
Good point!
Here in Portugal Roundbands is named "Rotundas" And it works like the same as in the netherlands. The only main diference is that we do not have the cyclists lane. Ty for the video. Iam moving to netherlands at this year 2022. And I would love to see a video about Motocicles made by yourself. (Taxs.. BPM... etc)
Thanks! Unfortunately I don’t know much about motorcycles here
Possibly its because in the US you don't have driving lessons or a proper driving test.
💯% agree
Americans: Something something "freedom" something something
It is less the driving lessons or any driving test - it is the attitude of the drivers now. People here in the USA act as if yielding the right of way is an insult to themselves ! People will not use turn indicators, people speed, people will not allow other drivers to merge.
@@allthingsharborHow to make life as stressful as possible especially when there's no real option to drive.
Malaysian here, roundabouts are common but most Malaysian drivers are in offensive mode. Roundabouts are proned to traffic jam.
Interesting! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Hello from the Netherlands .
roundabouts give much more and a better flow than traffic lights.
you see in many cities that they are removing the traffic lights and making a roundabout in their place to have a better traffic flow.
also roundabouts are much safer than an intersection with or without traffic lights because you simply can't accelerate quickly and race straight across an intersection,
you have to drive around the roundabout so the speed is lower,
it's a big thing a lot happens so it turns out you pay more attention on a roundabout than on an intersection ,
and because you have to take the time to drive around the roundabout your speed is automatically lower ,
because of the lower speed you have more time to get around properly to look at the other road users and therefore see more like those cyclists who were still approaching the roundabout
I agree!
That looks like a really nice country, I'm from the UK and it looks like a slightly alternative universe version of here.
The difference is that we drive on the RIGHT side of the road😉
@@mauritsbuskens6595 Haha oh yes.
Great video about roundabouts thanks!
FYI at 4:28 when taking a roundabout to make a left turn, you're supposed to signal left before entering. You can see the oncoming car doubt slightly whether you're going to exit or continue as not turning on your signal at a roundabout means "going straight" or "BMW driver" hehe ;)
Yes, that was my bad. I also wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go 😅😂
I see that explains, I guess driving around to film stuff brings its own unique challenges haha.
This is actually not true. It is only mandatory to indicate when you leave the roundabout. A roundabout is essentially a road that keeps on going forever. If you stay on it, you are not turning off it and therefore don’t have to indicatie.
@@Bloemplantstuifmeel Not mandatory, agreed. But most people appreciate it if you do.
I even do it (by handsignaling) when cycling sometimes if a driver seems hesitant where I'm going.
Minor correction, but there are never shark teeth for pedestrian crossings. The zebra crossing markings indicates right of way for pedestrians. There is also dashed crossing lines which indicate where a pedestrian may cross (that's not to say that it'd be illegal in other places), without priority over general traffic. The reason why the shark teeth are in front of the zebra crossings at roundabouts is because they are more visible that way. They actually indicate that there is a cycle path right after the pedestrian crossing. Placing them after the zebra striped blends them in visually resulting in unclear priority situation for cyclists and drivers. The 'elephant feet' blocked markings along cycle path crossing with priority also tend to indicate priority but aren't as well known or legally binding as shark teeth, which is why you usually see both.
As a Dutch citizen i think every country that does not have them are missing out. It sure helps traffic going on and no endless waiting in front of traffic light. Especially when it's crowded because then people in like Belgium all drive through the traffic light without beeing able to cross the crosspoint and causing a trafficjam when the light for the other side goes green and the crosspoint is still filled with cars from the other side that just ignore the rules.
With roundabouts you don't have that issue and the flow of the traffic is always better. And it's not hard once you really get used on it. We are a very populated country and therefor need a coordinated way of driving. In the Netherlands you generally are forced to use your brain more when driving cities.
But there are still a lot of anti socials that lack any rule and think they are alone in the world. I drove in many European countries and in think the Netherlands are one of the best out there. Also the quality of the roads and all the signs we use. We pay a heavy roadtaxs but it's vissible when you drive.
I live close to Belgium and go over there regularry and you always notice when you go over the border. They even don't need to put border signs because it's so evident you crossed it.
!Yeah I know what you mean
Some larger roundabouts in The Netherlands are designed in a way you hardly need to slow down if there is no traffic on your side. You go from 80km/h to 50km/h and are back to 80 km/h before you know it. Beats stop signs and traffic lights every time.
Heck yeah, I agree!
Looking at your video, it strikes me that you were driving through a big city, but everything went very smoothly. You did not have to wait for many minutes at crossings. As there are alternatives for driving, cycling, walking, public transport, there are few cars on the road.
Indeed but this was filmed on a weekend so keep that in mind
The shark-teeth is not just to yield for pedestrians. It is to yield, period. At various roundabouts you see them before the pedestrian/bike crossing and before the roundabout itself.
Yep indeed
Please do one about the Keizer Karelplein roundabout in Nijmegen. By far the most challenging one in NL, since you don't have right of way on the roundabout (unlike almost all other roundabouts).
Or try Velperbroek Arnhem if you happen to pass there someday.
Big roundabouts are not a good idea. Many of them were removed.
The easiest way to remember what to do in roundabout in netherlands is just give priority to left hand side traffic and u r good to go :)
Definitely
Until you approach a roundabout with 2-way bikepaths, and some ebike coming from the right.
Once on the roundabout you have the right of way. If you're not sure of your exit, just do a complete extra round and consider..
Yep that’s the beauty
Roundabouts are good, but can be over-used as well. In an urban setting, they are usually great. But in a more rural setting they can become quite annoying when they seem to be used for every single very minor side-road.
Yeah I see your point. They can be annoying when overused.
Try the Keizer Karelplein in Nijmegen on a saturday afternoon (when the lockdown is over).
The image right at the start of the video:
Why doesn't the cycleway have continuous red asphalt across the roundabout?
It's customary for a reason: it's a much more clear setup...
not sure
Dutch guy here, I think roundabouts are a great tool of implemented correctly. They obviously don't allow traffic to flow as smoothly as an intersection with lights does, but it is significantly better than a 4-way intersection, especially in buildup area's were fast and slow traffic is often mixed.
The speed reduction doesn't bother me to be honest, since (at least in my opinion) a 4-way intersection can be quite slow as well, if you want to do it safely. Much better to be safe rather than sorry.
(I should point out that I only have about 2 years of driving experience at this stage, so feel free to disagree)
Thanks for watching! I agree with you.
Lars, how are they less smooth?
Isn't slightly reducing speed while entering a roundabout and slightly accelerating after leaving it the very definition of "smooth", as compared to stopping to standstill and starting again?
Day 1 in Norway - I hate roundabouts, these are stupid. Glad we don't have them in Canada.
Day 2 in Norway - OK, they aren't that bad.
Day 3 in Norway - WOW, these are awesome, how can we get more of them in Canada.
Not driven in the Netherlands so much, hadn't appreciated the commonality of give way / yield to exit roundabouts. I feel it's not such a common feature of UK roundabouts. That's probably down to the difference in priority - the Dutch have long had it as pedestrians, cyclists then cars, whereas UK roads have been built around the reverse (more or less).
Good point! Yes, cars are definitely the lowest priority in NL.
Roundabouts are actually good and something told me that America should just build roundabouts to reduce those intersection crashes like the one that just happened in Vegas.
That's why that our country are the best one of the pioneers especially in engineering public roads and highways.
Navigating roundabouts makes you very wary of your surroundings. You are more careful and generally drive better and better understand the flow of traffic and others.
Agree 100%
roundabouts are weird when you have pedestrian and cycling crossings, I think they work best in country roads where there is only car traffic to worry about, not having to come to a complete stop is more energy efficient. once you add the crossings you have to stop more and maybe even have lights, at that point it just takes up more space for no good reason.
Where do you live?
I never understood the fuzz with roundabouts. If you're incapable of using one, maybe the road would be a better place without you anyways
I agree!!
Russians have a completely different approach to roundabouts.
When they approach from, lets say the six o'clock direction, they speed up and use the curb of the central island to launch themselves across said island so that they might land in the twelve o'clock lane on the other side.
I really like that; traffic can be so boring.
Or was that from a tv program ?
😆😆😆
Single lane roundabouts in the USA work rather well, even though oncoming cars speed and do not indicate turns, wasting the time of yielding drivers. Multilane roundabouts are horrible, due to the same issues as well as drivers refusing to allow other drivers to merge.
There is no infrastructure in the US for pedestrians or cyclists, so stating that it is complicated to "mind" people walking or cycling is pretty funny through they eyes of a Dutch person.
Americans: Hate having to pay attention to multiple things while driving
Also Americans: Get mad when told they can't text and drive
I like roundabouts more then stopsigns at every crossing like in the US .
I know, stop signs suck.
Check mythbusters.
They did an episode about roundabouts.
Conclusion
Must faster for cars.
Also crashes in roundabouts are way less...and at much lower steeds then american crossings.
Roundabout is far superior, there is no arguing...
Everyone should drive their driving license in the Netherlands 🥳
Not at all difficult to use as long you pay attention, as you mention several times. Cars are at the bottom, as it should be.
They won't work in the US (North America) because they can't drive and don't take others into account.
Try double-triple lane roudabouts. You'll figure it out by the second or third time.
Haha true!
Or prins Bernhard roundabout in Zaandam, a 3 lane roundabout.
I will have to check that out!
Sorry, it is called Prins Bernhard Plein, in Zaandam. Classic roundabout included in every driving examination in the Zaanstreek.
I live in Australia and I love roundabouts, I used to not know how to use them but overtime I got used to it
At 5:35 you state also to look to the right for cyclists on the roundabout although the shouldn't come from that direction
Be ware.. we do have roundabouts in the Netherlands which have a 2 way cycle path on the roundabout itself. So expect cyclists from two directions. You will be warned for this in front of the roundabout when applicable. A sign which a cyclist with an extra sign beneath showing two arrows ( )
Yes but this particular roundabout was not a two way one
Roundabout is not roundabout in europe, the current dutch roundabouts are great and safe with separate , levitated lanes for cyclist and pedestriants but i experienced horrible roundabouts in germany for cyclist and pedestriens without any separate lanes.
1:15 Kerleem , the Kentucky roundabout video (routes 60-801 in Mooread) is fake (set up anyway). It was produced as a 'How-Not-To-Use-a-Roundabout' example video. You can see that the roundabout was not yet finished with road markings and signs. (And there's way too much traffic for a rural junction too..).
But it got on the net and went viral , so all over internat it gives a wrong impression of both Americans and Roundabout Complexity .
Btw. : roundabouts are great ! The have a better flow (you don't have to wait for intervals like with traffic lights) and it is very hard to get fatal/serious injuries. The accident/injury rate will drop dramatically. They are also a very effective speed regulator. In Netherlands people tend to have a heavy right foot as well and there is a constant struggle in road design to keep speeds low (narrowings, speed bumps, suface etc) and roundabouts do it naturally. For example in rural areas when entering a village they are a natural barrier against speeding. It is almost impossible to enter a village at 80-100 kmh via a roundabout. And the operation costs are a lot lower than traffic lights..
In the dutch bike context : Don't have them with a painted bike lane, but with a separate bike path. Preferly at a car distance from the car lane (like 4:16 & 5:18 ; at 4:52 is a not a good example of that..). Near my house there is a roundabout with a painted ('bicycle gutter') lane and several times I almost got taken by a right-turning car, that had to give me priority as i continued on the roundabout (As is the common rule in NL) .
I did some more digging and couldn't find anything to refute that. I agree that it looks incomplete but I just couldn't find any evidence that the video isn't real traffic.
In any case, Americans still hate roundabouts and would probably use them incorrectly anyway.
@@Kerleem You're right Kerleem, it is a true roundabout and not some conspiracy to give people wrong impressions about Americans. It seems your videos, very weirdly so, attract some strange types of people. Whether it is people that look like they're on drugs or pro-American fake news people. Quite annoying, but I think your video is absolutely great. You can be the channel I like most (well, maybe after Not just bikes) but you certainly got the same awesome vibe!