Spot on!!! I lived in England & Australia for several years. One of the
sheer pleasures of driving there are the roundabouts!!! I hated it when I
had to deal with stop signs and traffic signals. Even if they were
installed at major intersections - our current road design paradigm doesn't
facilitate this type of thinking - I also think most Americans are/would be
confused by them. It would have to be something taught through drivers
education - if they even still do that.
Dave
San Diego - Stuck in traffic controlled by signs and lights...dreaming
about roundabouts
1970 TR6 PI RHD CP51649
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streeter@sanders.com on 11/04/97 08:58:38 AM
Please respond to streeter@sanders.com
To: triumphs@autox.team.net
cc: (bcc: David J Stauffacher/TMG/CSC)
Subject: Re: Right turn / roundabouts
Jim Harroun wrote:
> I just returned from a vacation in England, and I loved
> the roundabouts. They keep the traffic moving, no matter
> how busy it is.
I, too, loved the roundabouts when living in England. However,
wherever I've seen them in the states, American drivers just
don't understand them; neither do the local authorities.
Roundabouts (called "rotaries" in the colonies) are not too
uncommon in the New England states, but really haven't worked
too well, because of the following:
* The drivers haven't seen how the traffic is supposed to
flow through them: gently slowing down, merging, and
exiting, even on simple one-lane roundabouts. Trying to
get American drivers to drive properly through a two-lane
roundabout (rotary) is just about hopeless.
* Since drivers don't know how to drive through them,
accidents happen, and the well-intentioned authorities
"fix" the problem by putting up signs which contradict the
way that traffic is supposed to flow in the roundabout.
At least half of the rotaries I am familiar with in
NH / Mass have a yield sign somewhere IN the roundabout,
where traffic in the roundabout is supposed to yield to
traffic entering the roundabout. This causes immediate
gridlock in heavy traffic, since the roundabout fills up.
* The rotaries that don't have a yield sign IN the roundabout
seem to have stop signs on the entrances, so that entering
traffic must first come to a complete stop -- this prevents
the gentle merging that is intended, and leads to even more
problems, which often seem to end up with the roundabout
getting replaced with stop lights, or, worse let, having
stop lights placed at the entrances!
My conclusion is that the aptitude of the American driver doesn't
allow them to deal with anything so complicated as a roundabout --
Americans are much more comfortable with stop lights, unfortunately.
I wish we could educate the public on how roundabouts work
so that the drivers would know what they are doing, and we could
have smoothly flowing traffic, but I'm afraid it would be a long,
uphill battle doomed to failure.
--ken
'70 & 74 TR6 Daily Drivers
VTR WWW Maintainer -- http://www.vtr.org
--
Kenneth B. Streeter | EMAIL: streeter@sanders.com
Sanders, PTP2-A001 |
PO Box 868 | Voice: (603) 885-9604
Nashua, NH 03061 | Fax: (603) 885-0631
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