Speeding

[Nerys Ghemor]

In New Jersey, back when I lived there, the law literally said that what you do in a traffic circle (who yields to whom) is determined "by local custom." In other words, no standard right-of-way. That made it a lot worse.

But that's very true--we rarely have traffic circles where I live, so the few that I AM familiar with are anomalous situations.

 

[MacLeod]

^ But like I said, how are newbies supposed to know all that before they get there? Do they have a lot of accidents in that thing? Is there a kind of 'cheat sheet' that can be used to figure it out before drivers have to do it for real?

The rule for roundabouts whether they be mini-roundabouts are it's big brother. In the case of the Magic Roundabout it is clearly signposted as a series of mini-roundabouts. So on approach you yeild to traffic already on the roundabout or traffic entering to the right of you, Once you reach the second mini-roundabout you treat it as if it was a new roundabout and follow the same prinicple.

As for how they are supposed to know that, well at least 2 ways.

They would have read the rules regarding rundabouts in the Highway code.

Their driving instructor explained the rules regarding roundabouts to them.

As for number of accidents I believe in general roundabouts have fewer accidents than say light controlled intersections.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Roundabouts in general rock, but I despair at some of the series you encounter in new business developments which are unmarked and have no landmarks. Surely we can name them at least to help motorists?

 

[Deckerd]

Isn't it funny how many cars conk out at roundabouts?

 

[Sean Aaron]

Isn't it funny how many cars conk out at roundabouts?

Yes, if you're neither in one or behind one.

 

[RoJoHen]

They would have read the rules regarding rundabouts in the Highway code.

Their driving instructor explained the rules regarding roundabouts to them.

We literally didn't have roundabouts anywhere around where I grew up. The first one I ever encountered was 5 states away.

They didn't teach us about roundabouts in Driver's Ed because they didn't exist in my state!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The rule for roundabouts whether they be mini-roundabouts are it's big brother. In the case of the Magic Roundabout it is clearly signposted as a series of mini-roundabouts. So on approach you yeild to traffic already on the roundabout or traffic entering to the right of you, Once you reach the second mini-roundabout you treat it as if it was a new roundabout and follow the same prinicple.

What about the one on the inside?

 

[cultcross]

^ That's not actually a roundabout despite Wikipedia describing it as one, that's just a circular piece of land. You can tell because the sign doesn't have a roundabout symbol in the middle. Really what 'the magic roundabout' is is a roughly circular road with mini roundabouts on it.

To be honest, if you found it that daunting, there are only two in the country so they're fairly easy to avoid. Normal roundabouts are very simple to navigate, and don't disrupt traffic flow anything like traffic lighted junctions do. Obviously if you haven't been taught how to do them in your driving lessons they can be a bit confusing, but really it all works on two simple rules: go round clockwise and give way to the right. As you drive on the other side of the road I'm assuming the opposite would be true.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

That is actually not uniformly true. Rules differ by state and locality in many cases, so learning in one state or even city here in the US does not always teach you what to do in a different part of the country. In fact, as I mentioned with New Jersey, it explicitly stated when I lived there that the right-of-way in a traffic circle was dictated "by local custom." Meaning you literally had to get up to the thing and hope you could figure it out before it was your turn to enter!

 

[ares93]

That is actually not uniformly true. Rules differ by state and locality in many cases. In fact, as I mentioned with New Jersey, it explicitly stated when I lived there that the right-of-way in a traffic circle was dictated "by local custom." Meaning you literally had to get up to the thing and hope you could figure it out before it was your turn to enter!

That's about how it is over here. Step on the accelerator and hope for the best. No indicators, no yielding, especially in roundabouts with two lanes.

FYI, I go to church regularly. With this kind of traffic, I want he be on his good side.

 

[Lindley]

There are many roundabouts in Dubai. Fortunately, they have a very sane, very logical system for them: you get in a different lane prior to entry depending on which exit point you want, and you stay in that lane throughout the circle. Presuming everyone follows the rules it works great.

But then, I recently encountered some rotaries on Cape Cod. There, the rotary effectively has only one lane, even if there are 2 lanes entering and leaving it.

 

[ares93]

^ We have a roundabout down south where the roundabout itself has two lanes, but the exits are all singles.

I never managed to wrap my head around that one. While I can successfully navigate the bloody thing, it still baffles my mind how someone can design something so daft.

 

[Roger Wilco]

That is actually not uniformly true. Rules differ by state and locality in many cases. In fact, as I mentioned with New Jersey, it explicitly stated when I lived there that the right-of-way in a traffic circle was dictated "by local custom." Meaning you literally had to get up to the thing and hope you could figure it out before it was your turn to enter!

That's about how it is over here. Step on the accelerator and hope for the best. No indicators, no yielding, especially in roundabouts with two lanes.

FYI, I go to church regularly. With this kind of traffic, I want he be on his good side.

I don't see what the problem is? The rule is simply right-of-way as in: the car coming from the right has right of way. So if there are no other markings the car that already is in the roundabout has to yield to the car coming into it - which is a little counter-intuitive, so many roundabouts have yield signs for entering the roundabout.

Why is that so complicated? There's no local customs stuff needed, just general rules of traffic.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

RogerWilco--My point is, there is no uniform rule in the US. Some states do not even have uniform rules. New Jersey had none, and what I told you is what was literally on the law books at the time that I lived there. In some places, you yield to the traffic already in the circle, and in others they are expected to yield to you.

That is actually not uniformly true. Rules differ by state and locality in many cases. In fact, as I mentioned with New Jersey, it explicitly stated when I lived there that the right-of-way in a traffic circle was dictated "by local custom." Meaning you literally had to get up to the thing and hope you could figure it out before it was your turn to enter!

That's about how it is over here. Step on the accelerator and hope for the best. No indicators, no yielding, especially in roundabouts with two lanes.

LOL, I would never have figured Sweden to be a country with driving as wacky as here!

FYI, I go to church regularly. With this kind of traffic, I want he be on his good side.

And that can never hurt.

 

[Roger Wilco]

RogerWilco--My point is, there is no uniform rule in the US. Some states do not even have uniform rules. New Jersey had none, and what I told you is what was literally on the law books at the time that I lived there. In some places, you yield to the traffic already in the circle, and in others they are expected to yield to you.

Well, no offense, but I don't believe that. Priority to the right is the fundamental rule all individual traffic relies on (or I assume priority to the left in British and British-"inspired" countries) and that rule is in place on any roundabout that doesn't have signs saying otherwise too.

 

[ares93]

LOL, I would never have figured Sweden to be a country with driving as wacky as here!

Well, it all depends on where in Sweden you are. These parts are mostly foreign dominated. The town I live in for instance has a 60% Iraqi population (+10% Syrian). You know, the camels don't have turn indicators.

Then again, I should leave out the stereotypes, we hungarians drive like absolute shite too. You should see central Budapest during rush hour... Bloody hell. If the traffic doesnt kill you, a heart attack will.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I assume priority to the left in British and British-"inspired" countries

No, here priority is to the people in the roundabout, though if two people approach at the same time you're supposed to yield to the person entering on the right.

The only roundabout I ever encountered in the States was in Berkeley and pretty much nobody would know what to do when they hit it. Everyone stops and waits for someone else to make the first move!

 

[cultcross]

RogerWilco--My point is, there is no uniform rule in the US. Some states do not even have uniform rules. New Jersey had none, and what I told you is what was literally on the law books at the time that I lived there. In some places, you yield to the traffic already in the circle, and in others they are expected to yield to you.

Well, no offense, but I don't believe that. Priority to the right is the fundamental rule all individual traffic relies on (or I assume priority to the left in British and British-"inspired" countries) and that rule is in place on any roundabout that doesn't have signs saying otherwise too.

Priority is to the right here too on a roundabout - the idea being that two people approaching on opposite sides of a roundabout can both go at once because they'll pass on opposite sides of the roundabout. The only time that doesn't work is when people drive over mini-roundabouts instead of round them.

 

[Holdfast]

Two roundabouts in my city have now been converted into "hamburgers". Actually, they're "hamburgers with fries on the side" as there are slip roads added in that allow some traffic to dodge the roundabout.

They actually work remarkably well to speed up traffic flow at really busy roundabouts; they work as a kind of hybrid between a normal roundabout and a junction with traffic lights, by regulating the through-flow of traffic with lighs just a little more than a roundabout alone does, and freeing thru-traffic from dealing with the whole intersection. One of them, the Headington hamburger, is below so you can get an idea of how they work.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[ares93]

Two roundabouts in my city have now been converted into "hamburgers". Actually, they're "hamburgers with fries on the side" as there are slip roads added in that allow some traffic to dodge the roundabout.

They actually work remarkably well to speed up traffic flow at really busy roundabouts; they work as a kind of hybrid between a normal roundabout and a junction with traffic lights, by regulating the through-flow of traffic with lighs just a little more than a roundabout alone does, and freeing thru-traffic from dealing with the whole intersection. One of them, the Headington hamburger, is below so you can get an idea of how they work.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Let me get this straight. You can drive right through (a40) the roundabout, but the roundabout itself is London Rd? And there are lights too?

One thing is bloody certain, I'll never, ever, drive in Britain after I move. First that multi roundabout, now this?