Quote from: MX793 on January 23, 2020, 04:52:31 PM
We've got a couple like that around here.  There's so little space between entries into the round about that it can be tough to actually flow into it and you see people having to stop anyway.

Yeah there's no time to react to a car already in the circle like larger roundabouts. Once the car enters the roundabout, it's about to hit you.

Compared to regular 4-way intersections, there are fewer side collisions in roundabouts and they when they do happen, they're at much lower speeds.

Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 23, 2020, 05:09:32 PM
Yeah there's no time to react to a car already in the circle like larger roundabouts. Once the car enters the roundabout, it's about to hit you.

I've seen those in residential areas.  There're usually a lot of speed bumps just to keep the traffic from driving too fast.

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 23, 2020, 06:34:43 PM
I've seen those in residential areas.  There're usually a lot of speed bumps just to keep the traffic from driving too fast.

No speed bumps, but the speed limit is only 30 mph and the nature of the intersection is such that people are going to be slowing to 15-20 mph.  Even when it wasn't a roundabout, people typically slowed to about 20 mph because there's a moderately sharp, blind corner.  It's a 3-way intersection with a roundabout that's only about 75 ft across.

But even at those speeds, you don't really have time to blend.  Including curvature, the driven distance from entrance to entrance is only about 75 ft.  At 15 mph, that's a little over 3 seconds from entrance to entrance.  You can go a full circle of the roundabout in 10 seconds.

Quote from: Laconian on January 23, 2020, 06:31:30 PM
Compared to regular 4-way intersections, there are fewer side collisions in roundabouts and they when they do happen, they're at much lower speeds.

Unfortunately, my wife was on the receiving end of one of those collisions a couple of months ago. She was going through the roundabout and a lady came in without stopping and plowed into the side of my wife's minivan. Due to the age of the minivan it was a total loss but my wife wasn't injured.

Quote from: giant_mtb on January 23, 2020, 01:36:01 PM
False. They are two different things.

Yup - the video mentions the difference. It seems traffic circles had such a bad reputation that roundabouts got massive collateral damage.

Quote from: RomanChariot on January 24, 2020, 08:45:57 AM
Unfortunately, my wife was on the receiving end of one of those collisions a couple of months ago. She was going through the roundabout and a lady came in without stopping and plowed into the side of my wife's minivan. Due to the age of the minivan it was a total loss but my wife wasn't injured.

Center street?

Quote from: Morris Minor on January 24, 2020, 09:49:41 AM
Yup - the video mentions the difference. It seems traffic circles had such a bad reputation that roundabouts got massive collateral damage.

I don't think I've ever driven through or seen a traffic circle TBH

Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 24, 2020, 10:39:51 AM
I don't think I've ever driven through or seen a traffic circle TBH

Same.

Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 24, 2020, 10:39:51 AM
I don't think I've ever driven through or seen a traffic circle TBH

They seem to be the exclusive feature of insufferable gated communities around here.

Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 24, 2020, 10:39:23 AM
Center street?

920 South Freedom

Quote from: RomanChariot on January 24, 2020, 11:07:02 AM
920 South Freedom

Oh yeah people fly through that one. I'm glad the buses avoid it.

Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 24, 2020, 10:39:51 AM
I don't think I've ever driven through or seen a traffic circle TBH

Traffic circles are somewhat common in New Jersey. 



So that should clue you in to how shitty they are.

I don't think I have ever seen a traffic circle, but roundabouts used to be fairly common here. There is only one left that I drive through occasionally though.

They've become more common in the countryside here and are a great (and perhaps even more environmentally friendly) alternative to traffic lights.

It's hating roundabouts less, they're pretty common in the Columbus, OH area.

Like any decent American, I hated roundabouts when they started popping up, esp. the multi-lane ones (which are NOT intuitive - I actually had to Google how to use them). The short of it is, after some experience, they're WAY better than stoplights overall. But they take up more room and are more expensive to build.

We would have far less suburban gridlock if we used more roundabouts. Imagine if Sultan used them instead of their stoplights. Highway 2 would be a dream.

Quote from: Laconian on January 26, 2020, 01:28:00 PM
We would have far less suburban gridlock if we used more roundabouts. Imagine if Sultan used them instead of their stoplights. Highway 2 would be a dream.

We would have a lot less suburban gridlock if the suburbs had a grid, instead of this ridiculous system of nested cul-de-sacs.

My mom grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, and it's most prominent intersection had a traffic circle that was always known simply as "the circle."  In 1972, the circle was taken out and replaced with a regular signaled intersection but most people continued to call the location the circle.  The circle had a statue in the center that was moved to an adjacent park.

I went through there about a year ago, for the first time in a long time, and saw that they have put the circle back, including the statue.  Another example that everything eventually comes full circle (pardon the pun).