Why Do Americans HATE Roundabouts?
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- Опубликовано: 30 окт 2023
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I think it is because roundabouts require the driver to think and make decisions that makes them unpopular in the USA. Traffic lights saves all that thinking.
True, driving automatic cars in a straight line doesn't require much thinking. It must be traumatic for them to attempt a manual on our country lanes.
With turn right on red, that's not even true. Must be one of the most stupid traffic rules ever thought of.
They might not let you in, if ya ever decide to go to the U.S. after that comment, mr Logan.
@@user-xi6nk4xs4s Actually, the rule itself actually makes sense. The problem is people don't actually FOLLOW the ACTUAL rule, they get the "Right on red" simplification in thier head and just plow through it irrespective of traffic. The actual rule is that on a red light the right turn can be treated simply the same as a stop sign. You stop, then proceed when safe to do so in regards to traffic with the right of way.
It is just a general problem in the US that a large number of drivers don't actually follow the traffic laws.
@@tekcomputers That's not the only problem with the rule. It lowers the mark on riding through a red light. I can't find any conclusive numbers, but I expect running a red light, either with turn right on red, or otherwise, costs many lives and injuries each year. As with any rule, one of the first rules is don't make it more complex than necessary. Stop on Red, Go on Green does not work with this rule.
With lanes on a roundabout, you just spiral outwards. You'll always have space to go outwards at each junction because cars will leave, just takes practice.
Here in the UK many two or three lane roundabouts have spiral road markings. You follow the signs into the correct lane then stay in that lane to spiral out to your exit.
Here in the Netherlands, we use 'turbo roundabouts' for roundabouts with multiple lanes. This means that the outer lane is dedicated for 1e and 2nd exit and segregated with a curb from the inner lane dedicated for 3rd exit.
you can’t put it any simpler
Honestly, I tried and no. To "spiral inward" one has to reach the inside first, through two or three lanes stuck with big rigs with their blind spots, no thanks. Perhaps it works in less congested areas, but not on my route.
I personally am puzzled by the large number of stop signs used in the US. We have stop signs in the UK but usually they are used when it hard to see the traffic on the road you are joining and extra vigalance is needed for safety. Mostly we use give ways which allows you to just continue on to a road is the route is clear.
In Europe it's either traffic lights or roundabouts, not both, a little consistency!
Yes!They just put a stop sign on every corner and thats it!!
@@christianc9894 Or both, sometimes with an added tunnel (cf. Favoriten Square in Vienna - the beauty of 1960s engineering).
I recently watched a couple of different people react to a video titled something like "British drivers swearing". Almost all of the stupid near accidents were from junctions, and about 3 were on roundabouts (one was someone stopped facing the wrong way at that). I think it's clear that in high traffic areas, a roundabout (where feasible) is very much a better choice. I think the US issue is simply lack of familiarity with them. You look one direction, if no one is coming you pull out, if you're taking the next exit you pull into the outside lane and straight off, otherwise inside lane so someone behind you can take the next exit if they're taking the next exit. Then just indicate when you're going to turn out. It's people not indicating which annoys me :)
In the UK there are some rounabouts where a major road meets a minor road. There is one near where I live.
Because the traffic around the roundabout coming from the major road can be relentless, thus giving drivers coming from the minor road no 'gap' to enter the roundabout, lights are installed to temporarily halt traffic from the major road so that the drivers on the minor road can get onto the roundabout.
I remember it before the traffic lights were installed. Back then, if you were coming from the minor road, you could spend up to 20 minutes waiting to proceed. Lights on heavily used roundabouts work. And work well.
20 minutes? ... I feel that's a bit of an exaggeration, I have never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes to pull out onto a roundabout in busy periods with heavy traffic.
@@martinwebb1681
Twenty minutes. Roundabout at the intersection of the A42, A511 and the A512.
I was on the A512. I know it was that long because I pulled up as the BBC Radio 4 news at 7.00 PM was starting and didn't get onto the roundabout until after The Archers programme had been finished for about 5 minutes.
I don't know how you put up with all your crossroads and queueing in traffic waiting the whole time in the US. I love our UK roundabouts and hate when there's one with traffic lights on when there isn't much traffic about, frustrating having to wait in those situations.
I'm reminded of a story from the US about a dangerous corner, they added stop signs, lights, mirrors and all sorts of other stuff to 'make it safer' finally they brought a expert in to look at it and they decided to take everything away to start fresh. Turns out it improved dramatically because people had to slow down to look what was coming instead of just following signals
Reminds me of a bridge near where i live in the UK, for decades they played with different shaped and sized mirrors so you could see around the bend as you went under the bridge. People just took it at speed in that case and so many crashes and broken mirrors . In the end they just removed it and now everyone has to slow right down for the corner.
I love our roundabouts in the UK, saves a lot of time when you are out and about, unlike the dreaded traffic lights that are a total pain, especially when you hit a red one and then you get red at all the following ones down the road. Roundabouts are also just so easy to use, even in really busy periods, you just wait till it's clear and then off you go.
If waiting till it's clear is a sensible option even when it's "really busy".. lucky. Perhaps, indeed, the UK has one of the best road traffic systems ever.
Traffic lights on roundabouts that join onto retail parks are the ones that I really approve of. Waiting forever to join the main carriageway can be frustrating when trying to gain access to a busy road, the roundabouts in such locations slow the traffic down so that people are less likely to jump the lights.
All you need is traffic lights set back from the RB, holding back one direction of traffic for 30 secs in turn.
Since Ethan has travelled abroad his knowledge and confidence has increased in really positive ways.
Well they do say, "Travel broadens the mind" so i suppose driving around so many in the UK helped. I went to France so had the added problem of old drivers stopping for me to enter onto the roundabout as they've changed it to giving way at the junction before entering onto the roundabout, as well as being on the wrong side of the road.
when i took my driving test, and you told to take second exit, if you missed that exit but carried on rouns safely and took the exit a second time you would not fail, because you missed the exit, does not mean your drove badly, and long as you go round corrrctly, or even take the wrong exit, it was not a fail, and long as you drove correctly. even as brits been driving for years, we miss and exit, but we not going to die lol
Yep. Examiners aren't looking for great drivers, necessarily, but rather _safe_ drivers.
@@KeplersDream i agree 100%
Exactly. After 43 years of driving in and around London since 1980, "When In Doubt,Leave It Out"...
Sometimes I have got the impression that roads in the US, were designed to create accidents. Especially in suburbs that have wide straight roads to encourage speeding and four way stops to encourage collisions.
You should look at the city of Carmel where the mayor Jim Brainard has created 120 roundabouts. They have just one sixth of the average US road fatality rate.
Just show it can be done. It seems to me that overall Americans would rather stay with the old. Guns and health being two as well ad roundabouts.
Our roundabouts with traffic lights are not the same as US Traffic Circles. They have the same giveway/yeld rules as regular roundabouts. Often these traffic lights only operate at busy times.
You just don't bash into traffic on the big roundabout which the lights have allowed to move ;-) There are yellow hatched boxes which you don't enter until your exit is clear. Modern roundabouts work well until you get more than 2 lanes each way in rush hour or holiday traffic.
If you come back to the UK, you have to go to Swindon, just to see the Magic Roundabout. I navigated it twice in one day!
What annoys me in the UK, is that they built roundabouts and now they are starting to put traffic lights on them.
Another positive is that if you miss the turnoff, just go around again.
Yea, come back to u, k, and try the magic round about. I would like to see how you would get on with that
Yes. You only need a few lights to hold back each entry lane in turn.
I live in Spain and I can't imagine traffic without roundabouts......especially with the increasing number of cars on the road....
We have a lot of roundabouts in the mid-sized city I live in in Ontario, Canada. People here just weren't used to them, at first, and didn't know what to do. I used to fear approaching a roundabout, not because I didn't know how they work, but because a lot of people weren't using them properly. My observation is that people here have now adapted. Personally, I love them. Much better than stop signs and traffic lights because they keep traffic moving better.
Many Americans being somewhat geographically challenged a roundabout deviates too much from their straight line roads, so they get lost. That's why.
No! How do you avoid the pizza drivers using them as mini race tracks and the inconsistent drivers four way stop avoids?
I think in the UK it's a "round about with lights", because it still has the same rules as a regular roundabout (i.e. yield to traffic already there), whereas a traffic circle has different rules that make them so messy.
you dont yield to traffic in a roundabout with lights , you yield to lights .
Usually there are lights on a roundabout where there is an unbalanced traffic flow. One roundabout, near where I used to live, had lights put up because at times during the day, there would be a continuous flow of traffic in just one direction. That would prevent other traffic from using it for long periods.
@@grahvis One near me had a similar issue. The Roundabout was fine with light traffic but as soon as rush hour hit, Absolute chaos. (And the chaos would remain for a couple of hours after) The lights needed to be put in to prevent that.
Yeah a big roundabout near me has now had lights added, it still flows well, but it does take longer to get through now than before. Thankfully most of the roundabouts around here are traffic light free and flow really fast and efficient.
In my home town in Scotland, we have a few junctions controlled by lights.
They are a pain in the arse; waiting for other vehicles wanting to cross over your path, sitting at lights waiting for the green light, when you're the only one at the junction.
At the roundabouts, I have none of that to put up with.
One day Ethan will agree with Angela instead of trying to correct her all the time...
Yep, 001, he gets tiresome after about five minuits.
She's so smart. I don't know why she's on this idiot's dumb videos.
There's a freedom issue here. If a light's red then you have to stop, regardless whether your exit is clear. With a roundabout, you alone get to decide when it is safe to proceed.
Why do Americans hate roundabouts? Because they work.
That must be the best summary regarding how to navigate a roundabout: You just look at the oncoming traffic, and if you have enough space, you go. If not; you wait. It's that simple.
Having driven in the us its staggering how many americans have no concept of the hazards they cause by not concentrating on the actual principle of driving. People reading a book or texting checking makeup turning round to talk to passengers in the back eating running red lights i watched a woman chatting to back seat passengers drive into the back of a stopped truck at a intersection near LA.
A few other benefits of roundabouts:
1) It's not just the reduced speed that increases the safety, but the direction of travel. At a 4-way traffic light, collisions are likely to be head on, whereas at a roundabout, collisions are likely to be side on or even nearing parallel, so the net speed at the point of collision is lower.
2) Roundabouts force people to take the initiative themselves. It keeps drivers more alert because they need to constantly keep thinking, rather than letting the lights do the thinking for them. The increased concentration benefits safety on all parts of the road, not just at intersections.
3) Because traffic keeps moving at a steady rate, there is much less opportunity for people to go on their phones at an intersection, another big improvement for safety.
4) A traffic lighted intersection really has a limit of 4 directions. A roundabout has a theoretically unlimited number of directions roads could come from (although generally is bounded by the size), and so are much more diverse than the traffic light. Although, that probably doesn't make much difference on America's grid system. It also makes it fairly simple to just add another road, as you can just attach it to the roundabout, assuming there's space for it. At a traffic light, you'd probably have to rework the whole intersection into 2 sets of lights a small distance apart.
5) The roundabout gives equal presidence to all directions. You only have to give way to one direction, and once you're on, it doesn't matter whether you're turning left, right or going straight, you'll be on your way within a few seconds. There's no waiting for traffic to pass if you want to turn right (in the UK) or left (in the US). It also means that the traffic flow balances itself out to the volume of traffic from each direction. There's no waiting at a traffic light for 1 car to pass from the other direction.
6) If you don't know where you're going approaching a junction, you can do a few laps round before you finally decide. I don't know why that woman made it seem like a negative, if you don't know what direction you're going in, not being forced to pick until you do know is definitely a positive.
Just to point out, most roundabouts in the UK with 2+ lanes and large enough to need to worry about getting out of the centre have the lanes divided up into spirals rather than circles, so just following the lane naturally leads you to the outside. There should be no need to worry about being caught in the centre.
I love your "keyboard inspection gremlin" you bought out towards the end of the video ...too cute
Traffic circles are a US thing, we don't have them in the UK. Having traffic lights at a modern roundabout is still not the same as a traffic circle.
Love watching you two and your honest appraisals. Generally you stay in the outside lane of a roundabout if you are leaving either of the first two exits. If you are going to the third/fourth/fifth exit then you go to the inner circle until you get to your turn off (hope that makes sense). Love the Welsh flag in the background, however it is back to front, as the dragon should be facing left.
The UK rule of yield to traffic on the right means that the inner lanes have priority over the outer too.
Just a update (that video is over 3 years old).
USA has actually opened up a little more to Roundabouts. That Mayor and their replacement is still making it a key priority in their policies... and that party has been re-elected on many occasions. That state run by that Mayor is now breaking records... good ones.
Roundabouts reduce congestion, reduce power consumption, reduce pollution, reduce maintenance, reduce crashes and reduce fatalities... all proven facts. They are quite simply... good for everyone.
Hello Ethan and Angela. I remembered the absence of these on my tour of US in 1990s.
In my native Bradford, some were replaced by traffic lights, due to the flow of traffic in and out at peak times being hugely biased in one direction. Remember this trend was described in US cities on the video about Tesco there.
In my girlfriend's home town they took out the lights and put back a double roundabout, but there are crashes, as it is still new to some.
My old style Ford Puma was at a traffic light on a roundabout, coming off the motorway and a lorry driver never saw it. Luckily I had released the hand brake and was pushed and my car dented rather than crushed. I bought a Focus, to be a bit more visible.
Years later I was on a two lane roundabout, when a car bounced off another, after trying to do a 270 degree manouvre in the outside lane, and hit my car.
Pity you never went to Swindon, where your previous roundabout video hit the news.
If anyone is interested, the mini roundabout @ 9:46 is at Benfleet, Essex, and the sign beside the light-coloured car, read, at that time, "Priority from Right throughout Function!!?!" (exactly as I have typed). It wasn't corrected to 'Junction' for a long while.
The Mythbusters have proven how safe they are also.
From watching other Americans commenting on videos about British driving, there seems to be a big difference between the two countries in the way drivers are expected to behave. British drivers seem to be required to read the road and rely on their own initiative much more than Americans. As mentioned in the video, US drivers seem to like traffic lights because "they tell you exactly what to do". Although roundabouts are simple to negotiate, it's the driver's responsibility to read the conditions and decide when and how to move. So widespread acceptance of roundabouts in the US might not happen until there's a fundamental change in the way driving is taught.
I wonder how much energy would be saved if you removed a large number of the signaled intersections as well as the reduction in maintenance costs of those signals?
What I also hear a lot is that a driving test doesn't take much longer than 15 minutes. And then the lessons it takes. I myself had a lesson 40 of 1.5 hours. And 2x a theory exam. Yes, with all the signs and does that horse have priority? Afterwards I managed to get my heavy trailer in one go. Because at work I drive a forklift with trailers up to 40 tons. And already had 3 years of experience.
Roundabouts are treated exactly the same as your turning right on a red light and merging after the traffic clears.
It's also interesting that in the UK at least, if crossroad traffic lights fail, traffic flows better.
There are a lot of traffic circles in Massachusetts and New England. Saw this on our holidays there from the U.K. this year.
Hello from Switzerland, we also have some roundabouts and the principle is actually so simple and logical. Whether a gyro really works well depends on certain things, including: also the signaling (especially signposts for orientation where you have to leave in order to drive in the desired direction). In addition, the "outflow" of traffic from the roundabout should, if possible, not be hindered by subsequent traffic lights etc., otherwise a backlog can form right into the roundabout (which then definitely negates the advantage of a roundabout).
I remember encountering a few roundabouts when I was driving though Arizona.
I wonder how many accidents are caused by criminals being chased. In the US if a car is being chased by police that car will certainly try to jump red lights meaning a fatality is more likely. However since there is a feed in system on a roundabout if a collision happens it’s far more likely to be a glancing blow. 🤔
If you can turn right when the light is on red it is not surprising that you have accidents. There are a few simple rules around roundabouts that are taught in driving lessons and they are in the Highway Code. If everyone obeys them there is no problems at roundabouts. Most accidents on UK roads are caused by people who think that the rules do not apply to them.
Ah! You mean cyclists.
Roundabouts are awesome. On medium and lower density roads it makes decision making on crossroads easier but most of all it improves traffic flow a lot. What is also a thing is that nearly all roundabouts are one lane. The video you use are mostly multi-lane roundabouts, but roundabouts are most effective on one lane roads. With busy roads they get less effective. By then we just use left, ahead and right lanes traffic lights.
15:34 The right lane is usally for people who want to take the first or second exit meanwhile the left lane is usally for people who want to take the second or third exit. This is a general rule but can be slightly different if the sign before the roundabout says something else.
One thing you missed out on is that most cars have GPS navigation or you can sit a smart phone in a cradle and use apple maps or google maps navigation. This makes it so much easier to negotiate a roundabout than it used to. Mine says what exit to take eg 3rd exit and it also advises which lane to be in to begin with. It really shouldnt be hard to get out the middle as the outside has to yeild to the inner and in the UK you cannot undertake (maybe that is a problem in the US). Staying in the outside and going round for too many exits can be worse for you because the other drivers will assume you will be taking the first or second exit and might not expect you to be there when they are going for the third too.
You can't just install roundabouts, they need to be correctly sized and have roughly even trafic flow to work best.
Yes you can. Most fourways in America are big enough to place a mini roundabout in the centre of them.
With your traffic light rules, you could install a roundabout and just have permanent red lights on every entrance until drivers got the hang of them.
Regarding getting off the inner lane. We still have a the rule that you shouldn't undertake (overtake on the left), but it works out without drivers having to think too much about the rules. Traffic to the outside exits the roundabout before traffic on the inside, creating space for the remaining traffic to move out. If more traffic joins it will usually be going slower, but even if it isn't, the path around an inner lane is shorter so vehicles on it will pull ahead of vehicles in an outer lane even if their speed is the same. Just indicate to exit as soon as you pass the previous exit and move over. If a roundabout is big enough to have more than 2 lanes it will have road signs, or road markings telling you which lane to be in when for any particular exit.
Going all the way round in the outside lane is actually what large vehicles are supposed to do, but it hardly ever happens as it's trumped by the road markings, as above.
at 16.00 you brought up a good point about the 2 lanes, what to do its easier than you think,
if you come down in 2 lanes, im working on the british drive on the left
if you turning left, you stay in left lane to turn left
if your going straight, you can use both lanes, on the exit there is usally 2 lanes, so if you inside lane you take inside lane, if your outside lade you take outside lane on exit then filter in if it goes to single lane,
if your turning right, you stay in right lane and close to roundabout till you exit, then you glance over and move to the left lane to take the exit, there should be know one at your side, as they have to yield, the inside should have gone straight on, you might get someone that tries to go round the outside all the way to beat traffic, but a glance over shoulder fixes that
You might enjoy the videos by Bicycle Dutch about this topic. They're old videos but very informative. The video "Junction design, the Dutch - cycle friendly - way" is a good one that explains, shortly, the basics of a well designed roundabout. The video "Junction design in the Netherlands [311]" might be a good follow up on that.
If you're interested it could be made into one video together.
Oh and if you're enjoying watching a roundabout at work, this video is quite interesting "5 minutes of traffic on a Dutch roundabout with bi-directional cycling lanes".
25k roundabouts? That’s probably just the number in Milton Keynes.
The most dangerous situation is what we had in Europe in the 1980s: Some junctions were roundabouts, some were traffic circles; on some entering traffic had to yield, and on some right of way was "right before left", with and without lights, or with lights that were disabled.. And then there were the the structures where traffic coming off the highway had priority, but the rest of the thing was "merging traffic yields". It was a disaster and a common trap for driving tests.
At least these days there's really only roundabouts.
I remember in the 80s when we started for real to adding roundabouts for new roads. Lots of comments was made and many was not happy at all. 40 years later and we love them. Traffic flow is a lot better, safety increased and most major cross sections where i live have them now. Perfect for cars, cyclists and pedestrians
In the UK roundabouts have been with us a long time. As a Learner driver negotiating a roundabout is the hardest to learn but with time they become second nature. The trick is if you are in the wrong lane or miss your exit you just drive around the roundabout and try again.
I've never been afraid that I'll get stick within the loop, however; I know of one round about where there is considerable bumper to bumper traffic going northbound that want to either go westward or loop all the way around and go back south. At the same time there is bumper to bumper coming from the east that want to go west or south. The result is that on several occasions I have been stuck for 5 minutes or more while going south because cards ahead of me can't find a gap large enough to get into the flow. We never had issues like this when we had a regular intersection with lights. This is the worst one I've experienced, but the problem exists to some degree everywhere I see one of these things installed, and they're going up like wild fire. I'm glad other countries with far less traffic than we have find these useful, but they're a pain in the neck for us.
You will always find one plonker who has missed their exit and cut across you to get back on their route,I had one just last week thank god for air horns to let them know how stupid they are
You can get more traffic through a signal controlled junction than a roundabout, in the region of 15% more. But most junction are only at capacity for an hour or a two a day if they are on busy routes. When the junction has fewer vehicle movements vehicles can transit faster threw a roundabout, which is most of the time for most junctions.
Not too far from me there is a huge roundabout on a dual carriageway (2 lane) road towards the coast - heavily used, and it is controlled by lights - ie traffic circle - causes long delays due to the amount of traffic. There was a time when the lights failed - some sort of electrical issue that took around 9 months to 'fix' so then became what is described here as a 'modern roundabout' - less delays - flowed quicker - no surprise to anyone - really annoyed when the lights were 'fixed'
The official name of that X-crossroad thing you're driving on is "Diverging Diamond Interchange," if you want to look it up. It's disadvantages have to do with how much more dangerous it is for pedestrians and cyclists crossing. But for car traffic optimization, it's efficient.
But who cares about pedestrians and cyclists in the US of A?
Also known as "The crazy things Americans do to avoid having roundabouts" :)
@@user-xi6nk4xs4s Indeed. But it has to be mentioned at least, lest the Americans complain about the lack of diverging diamond interchanges everywhere in Europe.
@@misterflibble9799 Believe it or not, it was invented in France, in the 1970s.
@@amyloriley I totally agree. I live in Europe.
Roundabouts are far, far more efficient that traffic lights, where one must wait for the green light irrespective of whether there is contrary traffic flow.
I think the US had traffic circles early on in the history of motoring, but scrapped them. The flaw in the design is giving priority to vehicles entering over leaving is a recipe for traffic jams.
Where we have traffic lights on roundabouts the priority remains unchanged. If there are lights actually on the roundabout they will always be in sequence with others controlling traffic entering the roundabout. We also have "box junctions" to prevent traffic queueing in the path of traffic from other directions.
In European traffic, the people already inside the roundabout have priority over people entering.
If you have a roundabout with 2 lanes. Is the right lane. Turn right before and go straight ahead. The inside is for turning left or back. Then you indicate to the outer lane (right) just after the exit, straight ahead. And you switch from the left to the right lane. And then turn right. What turned left was before you entered the roundabout. At a roundabout in the Netherlands you usually have priority. Because that is a priority road in itself. And when leaving you must always indicate the direction to the right. I hope this explanation is of some use to you. Greetings from Spakenburg, Netherlands. A small fishing village in the province of Utrecht near Amersfoort. With 22,000 inhabitants and 10 roundabouts and 2 traffic lights.
I'm actually surprised we have 4000 of the things here.
Roundabouts in the UK worked great right up until they put traffic lights on them.. Obviously there are some busy roundabouts where we need traffic lights but most roundabouts do not need them at all.. Evidenced by the fact that when these traffic lights beak down the flow of traffic is much much better.. You will find most drivers in the UK are frustrated by the excessive and unnecessary us of traffic lights on roundabouts.. They are a waste of taxpayers money..
The reason why you have roundabouts is so you don't need lights.
What stupid society puts lights where roundabouts are....lol
Surely you're joking.
Traffic light failure merely increases flow no matter where located as the *pause* between directions of traffic is temporarily eliminated completely.
Not @@brucefale6132 Not at all.. Many large roundabouts have numerous traffic lights on them and often stop you at every set.. Very annoying in the middle of the night when your the only car on the roundabout.. We are ruled by morons..
@@Forestfalcon1 isn't the point of the roundabout is to do away with unnecessary traffic lights?
My understanding is that when there are multiple lanes, say more than 4 then traffic lights are present to regulate flow. But if that's the case why bother having a roundabout there at all?
The most lanes I've come across going into a roundabout in Auckland NZ is 4 and that didn't have traffic lights. Since Auck is the biggest city I doubt there would be larger ones anywhere else in NZ
I just find it odd that there would be both.
Many roundabout only have traffic lights that work at peak times.
‘Yield’ 😂 an apt word it you’re living during the crusades and riding a horse in a suit of armour 😂
"Afraid to miss the exit and have to go around" it 100% better than making illegal u-turns and endangering everybody else.
Although I love roundabouts, I find it dangerous implementing them without education the drivers and cyclist on how to use them properly. Especially when it is a roundabout with 2 or more lanes.
I´ve witnesses a lot of potentional crashes in e.g. Bosnia. At least most roundabouts force you to slow down your speed thus the crashes are most likely not fatal. Unless you are an unfortunate overlooked pedestrian or cyclist.
You really should watch 'National Lampoon's European Vacation' if you can get a chance. A great film for sitting down with pop-corn, snacks and especially on a 'lazy wet weekend'... Although, perhaps a 'little' dated? It's still very funny and has some great scenes, gags and humour. It's one I bring out every few years and recommended. Happy to give it three thumbs up... 👍👍👍
Roundabouts are used where america uses a 4way stop. A roundabout is effectively a 4way yoeld with a seies of one way roads. They are much more effiecient as if built properly then cars can enter from every road at the same time.
They fail when they get completely gridlocked as they dont contain box junctions. Then traffic lights are better
A roundabout is just a tee junction to a one way road, it's just that the one way road is circular and just as a tee junction, the road that you are merging with has priority.
Roundabouts are dead easy to use, I fail to see how anyone could find them difficult. At worst, as you mentioned, if you do get confused (and I've never known of anyone who was) you just carry on and exit on your second cycle.
We live on a road that exits onto a state highway which is just a high speed road, not a motorway, and having to stop at a stop sign before exiting our road could hold us up for five or more minutes. Now, with a new roundabout in place there is almost immediate access to the highway, going either right or left. These are being installed all along a sftretch of road with a bad accident record and results are better traffic flow and fewer intersection accidents.
Roundabouts are a logical replacement to 4 way stop signs in America where you have to completely stop even if the crossing is clear. I hated them when driving in the USA and Canada as it all about eyeballing the other drivers at the 4 way in deciding who goes first. Also in America I don't think it's universal that you give way to cars already on the roundabout - it possibly varies with states as they don't have nationwide road rules.
Actually all roundabouts I have seen in the US around me are marked with Yield signs or indications at the entraces to the roundabout. So you do in fact give way. It's more of an issue that a number of my fellow Americans don't seem to grasp what "Yield" means.
@@tekcomputers
Why I said this was that at one Canadian roundabout I stopped for a semi already on the roundabout and he stopped as well giving me a glaring look. I still let him go first as he was considerably larger than me!
In Britain you don't get your driving licence until you can handle roundabouts.
think roundabout as a clock face, going straight on or right you use right lane if you turning left or going all way round so u turn you use the inside lane. uk other way around but the clock face before 12 you use left lane after 12 you generally use the inside lane, that is just the general rule, what can change as its not always the case it depending on road markings (paint) as some tells you that you can do right turn in left lane so in usa that be turning left from a right lane the out side. the spiral roundabouts yes they can be a nightmare if you new to area, key thing on entry you pick correct lane, if its like 5-6 exit roundabout you may need to move to the inside a few times, but when you see the road you want printed on the lane your in that lane auto spiral you of the roundabout at the exit you want so no merging across to exit, so after each exit the out lane goes but replaced with the middle lane now becoming the outer lane and a new inner lane is formed that is for every exit so as long as you pick correct lane on entry stay in lane or move to inside when your lane splits in to two they very simple but only simple if you know the area and road number you need or using satnav, going with no idea of area sometimes you may no see name place you heading too as still to far away then its not so easy as you should never need to change lane esp moving to inside when lane split in to two but you do see people crossing 2-3 lanes traffic to exit so clear not understand how they work. so they great if you know where you heading like road name / number / place then they pretty simple, we have lots different types of roundabouts, Single-lane roundabout, Mini roundabout, Multi-lane roundabout, Access-controlled roundabout so traffic lights, Magic roundabouts so group roundabouts working as one sorta, Cut-through roundabouts so the ones big trucks or emergency or a normal road cuts though as he name says cut through, Turbo roundabouts One of the newer types of roundabout, turbo roundabouts are a form of two-lane roundabout that require the driver to choose their intended direction upon approach. This may sound familiar-but there's a difference. Unlike with standard roundabouts, once you choose your path on a turbo roundabout, you're locked into your choice. Typically, on a turbo roundabout, you'll see one lane for drivers taking the first exit to the left, and one for drivers taking all exits further to the right. so basically first exit you have your own lane to bypass the roundabout with a give way at end useful for busy times so the only ones on roundabout are straight on or turning right all first exit bypass it reducing the amount traffic keep it flowing better. think we have one more that temp light controlled roundabout so lights turn on at busy times mostly at big motorway junctions they can choose to give priority one most at need as you not want traffic backing up on to the motorway.
Try looking up Swindon Magic Roundabout. They look crazy, but they work. Another is at Hatton Cross (heathrow airport.
It's like the old "night stick" that the US police used for quite a long time. There was a US sheriff that went to China and saw how the police there used the Tonfa for great effect.
Does anyone else see the irony of having the front cover of the Roundabout Design Guidelines in the video at the same time as a map of Paris featuring Place de l'Étoile? For those that don't know, its the roundabout in Paris with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle.
Well.. if you miss your exit in a roundabout, you can just.. you know, go around and take the exit the next time around. Which reminds me of a time when i was the driver, but I had no idea where we were going. My mate was supposed to tell me that, but he got caught in conversation with my other mates in the car.. so after two full rounds around the roundabout, I asked him if we were supposed to go somewhere or just go around right here until morning. 😅
Without watching: because people are very impolite and won't let new traffic in ahead of them frequently, they're generally unattractive, and when I want to go straight I'd rather not turn right first and have to indicate when I'm exiting the intersection.
The roundabout in the square of the town I work in scares my elderly mother.
Edit: 9:00 Ok, the town has something between a roundabout and a circle then. No lights, but people enter and exit from the same street access point and most people don't use turn signals to indicate an exit.
I’m noticing more in the uk councils getting rid of traditional round abouts for either “traffic circles” or light controlled junctions
islands off all types work well, they work even better if people use their indicators （blinkers)
25,000 roundabouts in the UK? Feels like most of them are in Aberdeen!
LOL! Or near where I live in S Yorkshire. One road has at least 21 roundabouts along it and at most of them you can only go straight on - the other left and right turnings were started but never finished so there's no roads linked to them!
There is no such thing as a "traffic circle" in the UK, they are all roundabouts. Some of the larger ones do have light control and some are light controlled only at busy times (like rush hour on commuter routes). The rule for a roundabout is give way to traffic on the right, for you that's yield to traffic from the left.
Well, a big chunk, if not the majority of european roundabouts are not the slightest bit confusing or difficult to navigate, because they are just one lane. In low traffic situations, those allow drivers from all sides to enter and exit fluently, without unnecessary stops due to red lights. And most of the time, you can see without any efford, if, where and how fast drivers in the roundabout are and get through without yielding to anyone - when you more likely would have to, if it was just a crossing intersection.
Many other roundabouts for a little more traffic situations are still one lane, but come with sliplanes for right turns which give the drivers even better options to avoid any problems with traffic.
In normal life drivers do not care a lot, if a solution is more secure, because accidents are not part of normal life, but those are advantages, which people experience every day. The advantages of big multilane roundabouts for high traffic situations are much less obvious (and can be completely lost, if a roundabout gets to enormous).
Acceptance and appreciation for roundabouts comes from their implementation at places, where they are most obviously usefull. The US does not have neighbours or many international car-travelers to countries, where those systems are already implemented with overwhelming success, that makes it more difficult, of cause. But starting to built some roundabouts at places and scales where they are most effective, as described above (and for which "how stupid are you" would be the most common reply, if anybody suggested that navigating them is somehow difficult), attitudes would quickly change.
Hi Evan Edinger is a US UK dual national who posts on RUclips I was astounded to hear him say that in his home state the state how to drive manual (can't remember it's name but it's aparently the equivalent to the UKs Highway Code) actually says something along the lines of there are no rules for using roundabouts just do what you think works or maybe stick to the way people have got used to using this particular roundabout.
She is partly right in it being the "first traffic circle in the world", I think if you go by the size and the rules of using them over there. But either the UK or France were starting to mess around with mini-roundabouts (very early 1960s) years and years after the first one used, so not really the first in the world as she is suggesting.
We Brits hate roundabouts too i have been driving for nearly fifty years having to change lanes on the roundabout can be dangerous due to cars not giving way if you trying to change lanes
Can I respectfully suggest that the picture of Angela on the wall, definitely deserves to be protected behind glass in a suitable picture frame. It’s too lovely to risk being damaged accidentally, keep it safe!
Yes, I noticed that picture, its really nice and as you say should be protected.
It will be an heirloom one day.
Yes, and pass it on to their children one day...
ooooh the Welsh flag in the background!! 😍
I think , from what us folks have told me, US drivers are not taught as well as UK drivers. We in the UK are taught properly how to use them and they are soo much better keeping the traffic moving. New York is an example of a major city which has far too many controlled junctions.
Why not more roundabouts? Perhaps the lobby for US Car repairers has more power in congress than the safety lobby??? Or they have more grease dollars!!!
Actually, the UK is not the country with the most roundabouts. France has 43,000 to the UK's 26,000. Italy, Spain, and Brazil each have over 10,000 each. Measuring by the number per million drivers, the UK doesn't even get into the top five. France, Portugal, Iceland, Norway, and Ireland top this matrix. There are about 9,000 in the US, with Wisconsin having most.
Staying in the outside lane on a roundabout doesn't work when turning right because there will be sometime wanting to exit at the exit before
In USA the fourway stop is a cash cow for local law enforcement. Roundabouts will produce very little revenue from traffic violations.
That's a good point.
You're licence expired too much? How long does it take to expire that you needed to take your test again? In the UK we have licences that last 10 years (and no DMV nonsense) so is it more frequently than that?
Actually, the licence only has to be reissued every ten years because the photograph is deemed to be out of date. Your driving entitlement lasts from when you pass your test until you are 70. Then, your entitlement expires, but you can automatically restore it if you provide evidence that you are still fit to drive.
The biggest problem is people don't know the rules and treat them as a 6 way intersection with stop signs or assume they have right of way always and try to blow right through.
For comparison, Milton Keynes has 130 roundabouts for a population of 287,000. I don't know if they have the highest number of roundabouts per population in the UK, but they must be up near the top of the leader board.
I agree that a lot of people think that "Traffic Circle" is the American English word for roundabout, when actually they are two different things. The British English word for traffic circle is "Rotary" or "Gyratory".
Don't you just think that Americans hate the word roundabout and would change it anyway?
And 70mph in between many of them! Used to love driving round there when it wasn't busy.
@@c_n_b But visually they are nicer to look at too, than just a row of traffic lanes, so it's a plus for the environment
I am sure, once Americans got used to roundabouts they would say" Why ever didn't we have these sooner!" in America, the roundabout would work like this, you approach and give way to traffic on your left, moving slowly let him get in front and so on around the roundabout always giving way to your left even when your on the round about. Ease off at the road you want. Ok you had to slow down but you never actually stopped. That keeps traffic moving and not having to guess who was first at the cross roads!
.....because they are easily confused!
Should take a look at magic roundabouts :)
It's too difficult for them, they can;t get off, so they starve to death driving in circles..
You guys can "navigate" around roundabouts anywhere in the world without leaving the comfort of your home, just choose a location and use Street View. 😉
Just Remember in Britain Give way to the Right. The French obviously gives way to the Left .But the Traffic in Both Countries because of Round abouts Flows better.. ?