Roundabouts?

[djkeev]

I'm from NJ!
Traffic Circles..... great things until entered by idiots or screwed up by politics and "safety" engineers.

Crappy car rule....... not afraid of a dent or scratch? You absolutely have the Right of Way!

Dave

 

[GotSmart]

I like to enter a destination into both my Magellan GPS and Google Maps on the phone. Compare and Contrast. For entertainment I use both, each with a different routing. I listen as the one I am not following gets a little crazy. Hilarious when I actually use a third route and both units go crazy. Not often I can get away with ignoring two female voices giving me directions. Why do they use female voices?

First;  The voices in your head.  

It is said that men never ask directions, therefore nobody listens to a guy giving directions.  (  :s Kind of makes sense )

Second;  The voices in your head.  Are you a club member?  As a single man with three daughters, I fail to see the appeal of adding two other voices giving me wrong directions.  That ain't right son!  (I can see the amusement possibilities   )

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Want to get really confused.  Have two GPS with the same voice giving you two different directions at the same time.

 -- Spiff

 

[Vagabound]

...

State 372 in Pahrump is getting circles to avoid left turns crossing busy 372 with the stream of heavy truck traffic on the road. The alternative is many traffic signals in a short length of road with the multiple timing to allow left turns, etc. The traffic signals at the intersection of 160 and Basin do not make a good experience. Ditto 160 and 372.

The alternative of a yield to enter circle is way more appealing than idling at a traffic signal. Safer, no light to run, no way to cross oncoming traffic. Easy to make a legal U-turn. Did you think of that benefit?

...

For entertainment I use both, each with a different routing. I listen as the one I am not following gets a little crazy. Hilarious when I actually use a third route and both units go crazy. Not often I can get away with ignoring two female voices giving me directions. Why do they use female voices?

Wayne,

Funny stories.

Pahrump: thanks for the explanation. I have to scratch my head about that a little bit because what I saw scenes to be hard even for cars to negotiate period I can't imagine big trucks getting through there. That's sad, construction isn't done so it might be better when they're finished.

U-Turns: No, I hadn't period that's a good point.

On roundabouts in general, although it was assumed I guess, I wasn't even saying that they're bad things. I was just stunned that they started popping up like bunny rabbits all over the place.

Female voices: I think that technology first popped up in the military for pilots and of course nearly all of them were men. It was thought that a female voice would be more soothing or acceptable. I think it might have backfired. As I recall, the voice of the cockpit information system in some planes like the F-16 was nicknamed by the pilots -- Bitching Betty. The name always made me laugh.

GPS units can be useful, but they badly need a "Just Shut Up!" button.

Tom

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

On roundabouts in general, although it was assumed I guess, I wasn't even saying that they're bad things. I was just stunned that they started popping up like bunny rabbits all over the place.

GPS units can be useful, but they badly need a "Just Shut Up!" button.

I also am ambivalent about roundabouts, its just that they don't work at every intersection.  I have also noticed at a couple of roundabouts that in a max effort to eliminate cutting the corner and making them pretty the designers have severely restricted visibility.  Add to that some of the young bucks around here think they are the perfect place to practice drifting.

As to shutting up the GPS, I run my iPhone through the radio; just turn it off if the directions are annoying.

 -- Spiff

 

[Gary68]

change your gps to romanian

[video=youtube]

 

[user 37446]

I had my roundabout experience just this morning. They are very prevalent up in western Canada (probably all of Canada), I was In one and saw a tractor trailer that had to crowd the 2 lanes (there are signs warning drivers to not go besides trucks). I witnessed a near wreck due to the other driver beside the truck get squeezed into the median concrete. It was their fault, I guess, but the whole right of way as you go around issue gets clouded when you are in the correct lane to continue (inside lane) and the truck just pushes you over...  None of that would have happened at a light.   
:-/

 

[dextours]

You know you are in the USA when drivers roll through stop signs and stop at roundabouts.  :s

 

[Vagabound]

I had my roundabout experience just this morning. They are very prevalent up in western Canada (probably all of Canada), I was In one and saw a tractor trailer that had to crowd the 2 lanes (there are signs warning drivers to not go besides trucks). I witnessed a near wreck due to the other driver beside the truck get squeezed into the median concrete. It was their fault, I guess, but the whole right of way as you go around issue gets clouded when you are in the correct lane to continue (inside lane) and the truck just pushes you over...  None of that would have happened at a light.   
:-/

I've been in roundabouts for the last two days (not stuck, but off and on).  That was not my first time.  One thing that I'm still confused about is how to negotiate roundabouts that have two lanes.  My guesses are these:  

* Enter the roundabout in its outside lane
* If exiting at the first exit, stay in the outside lane until exiting.
* If exiting at a later exit, change to the inside roundabout lane,
   and then prior to exiting, change back to the outside lane.

If that is correct, it seems like a lot of lane changing in a very short time and small space with lots of opportunity to be trapped in a lane or trap someone else or run people off the road (or into the center, as TWIH described above).

Makes me want to stay outside of roundabouts, especially during busy times when all of the above is exacerbated.

If I'm missing something, please set me straight.

Tom

 

[tx2sturgis]

If I'm missing something, please set me straight.

Yes.

Just enter the roundabout, switch to the inside lane, and orbit there until your gasoline is gone. Then coast to the first exit and check in here with Tap-a-Talk.

Simple.

 

[Vagabound]

Yes.

Just enter the roundabout, switch to the inside lane, and orbit there until your gasoline is gone. Then coast to the first exit and check in here with Tap-a-Talk.

Simple.

That clears everything right up.  Thanks.

Tom

 

[user 37446]

I think you basically got it right. Most roundabouts allow for 1 or 2 exits as well as making a u-turn... the outside lane is for the quick 1st exit, sometimes the 2nd exit, then there's Brian's comment which I will slightly modify, you go round and round faster and faster then get thrown off into some other direction, kinda' like spinning in a circle and releasing something on a rope...

This article segment below is from a search termed "roundabout rules" from the UC Davis website, of all places. If you read the last part carefully, it basically says "good luck":

[font=proxima-nova, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2-LANE ROUNDABOUTS:[/font][font=proxima-nova, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] In general, if you want to make a left turn, you should be in the left lane or other lanes that are signed and marked as left-turn lanes. If you want to make a right turn, you should be in the right lane or other lanes that are signed and marked as right-turn lanes. If you want to go straight, observe the signs and arrows to see which lane is correct.  :huh: [/font]

I missed my exit last week in one up here and it put me on the highway where I drove 5 miles (7 k's) before I could get back around. There was a cut through the median lane about 2 miles up with that pesky "for emergency vehicles only" sign and I almost took it, but the gentleman in the SUV with lots of lights on top who was sitting in that same cut through may have given me some additional information...   :-/

 

[Vagabound]

...

[font=proxima-nova, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2-LANE ROUNDABOUTS:[/font][font=proxima-nova, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] In general, if you want to make a left turn, ...[/font]

Could be that I'm misunderstanding something, but as far as I can tell, in a roundabout, there's no such thing as a left turn. Sure, people go around to the left in a counterclockwise direction, but there are only right turns or exits. So, I'm not sure what they're talking about.

Tom

 

[user 37446]

Yeah, well, to the people from UC Davis maybe they need to say "left turns" when you are driving to the left (turning?)...  :huh:

But generally yes, you cannot make a real left turn, as in a 45 or 90 degree left hand change of direction in a roundabout... That's where Sturgis' comment comes into play.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . . then there's Brian's comment which I will slightly modify, you go round and round faster and faster then get thrown off into some other direction, kinda' like spinning in a circle and releasing something on a rope...
 . . .
I missed my exit last week in one up here and it put me on the highway where I drove 5 miles (7 k's) before I could get back around.

Kind of like 'crack the rope' we used to play on the ice as kids.  A couple of roundabouts near a high school look like someone has been practicing his drifting, judging by the pattern and amount of rubber laid down.

I've done the continue on around (360º+) when I missed my exit a couple of times.  Other drivers look at me kind of funny, like I'm having a senior moment.

Could be that I'm misunderstanding something, but as far as I can tell, in a roundabout, there's no such thing as a left turn. 

Left turn in the roundabout age: turn right 90º then left 270º then right 90º.

 -- Spiff

 

[westriver]

I was surprised to see them sprouting like sunflowers in rural Wisconsin, while hanging around the Dells last summer. Then I saw a local newspaper article that said that the local ones typically replaced four way stops when two rural two lane highways cross, and had reduced serious accidents by 70-70% and fatalities to zero. They might be a PITA, but apparently they work pretty well in some areas.

 

[westriver]

True story.  PA. is planning one on a pretty busy highway in an area with a lot of Old Order (horse and buggy) Mennonites. The traffic engineers stop at a shop owned by a Mennonite guy that I know. They ask him to review their drawings, and see if he had any input regarding buggy traffic in the circle. After a few minutes he replies, "well you have an urgent care place on one corner, and a funeral home just down the road, so you're pretty well covered when the buggy traffic starts". The engineers were not amused.

 

[gargoyle]

Not my picture, but I escort wind towers across the US.
A roundabout is an almost possible maneuver when 100+ feet long.  Especially if the curbs are high. The flatter , low profile one are nicer, since we can ride over them.