WE FEEL THEIR PAIN

A roundabout was recently installed in Bath County, Kentucky and drivers were confused on how to use it.

Roundabouts -- down here we call them "traffic circles" -- started appearing in South Florida a couple of decades ago, and at first, hoo boy. They can still be pretty comical. By which we mean terrifying.

(Thanks to John Lobert and pharmaross)

Comments

[ripleysparrow]

This thing was not engineered with fire engines or 18-wheelers in mind. Great drone camera work!

[MOTW]

I have had to use a traffic circle in FW on occasion. There is signage. Trouble is: when using Google maps, it has the colloquial name and the signage has the Hwy number. So which exit is which? The day I 'figured it out', I tell ya, I felt like celebrating.

[man tom]

A LIVE VIEW of a famous, very old, Roundabout near where I live. I refer to it as, "don't go near that traffic jam."

I learned to do 'a controlled swerve' by going through there. I passed the D.O.T. licensing exam with the help of navigating that stretch.

[man tom]

A live view of a famous roundabout near my home.

I posted this earlier with bonus comments. Please don't come here. For any reason.

[man tom]

Third try at posting a live shot of a roundabout near my home. Please read my comment should my other two attempts at posting this appear.

[coscolo]

My first encounter with a traffic circle was as a cowering passenger on Mexico City's multi-lane Paseo de la Reforma. We wound up trapped going round and round the center island for several circuits before our driver broke out. I've also heard of traffic circles so tight that, surprise, the local fire truck tipped over the first time it had to go that way. I was not pleased to find a formerly 65 mph highway between my hometown and a favorite restaurant had been infested with the darn things since my last visit, a big shock in the dark. They're okay in low-speed areas, not so much on the once open rad.

[coscolo]

rad = road
BTW, installation of traffic circles is considered "traffic calming." That's not the effect it has on most driver.

[Guin]

We call them rotaries, and they work fine mostly because they've been part of our traffic patterns forever. I can't imagine installing one in an area where people have never driven around one.

[Not My Usual Alias]

Valparaiso, Indiana has a couple of them. As a college town, the hope is that people are smart enough to figure it out.

On Freshman drop off day, tow trucks wait to haul away the collisions. Local residents sit a safe distance away and cater in meals.

One was installed by us, mostly as a way to cut down on 18-wheelers taking the shortcut to avoid backed up main roads

[cfjk]

Q.)Mommy, Mommy why do I keep walking in circles? A.) Shut up, or I'll nail your other foot to the floor!

[Clankie]

Don't get me started.

[man tom]

Live view of a famous Roundabout near my home. I have tried unsuccessfully to post this three prior times. My message is stay on Florida's Roundabout, Do NOT under any traffic circumstances come here.

[cfjk]

Circular logic at it's finest.

[man born to be wild tom]

Live view of a famous Roundabout near my home. I have tried unsuccessfully to post this four prior times. My message is stay on Florida's Roundabout, Do NOT under any traffic circumstances come here.

[cfjk]

What comes around goes around.

[vaporsmith]

Because Karen said so, that's why.

[man tom]

Sixth time trying to post this live shot of a roundabout near my home. For my comment wait to see if the other 5 attempts at posting this show up.

[Jeff Meyerson]

I got used to driving them - on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road - in England years ago. If you can do that, you can do anything. No problemo.

[man tom]

Test. I have unsuccessfully seven times prior tried to post a link and comment about a treacherous roundabout near my home.

https://camstreamer.com/live/stream/6456-city-of-orange-plaza-camera

[man tom]

This is the NINTH time I have attempted to post this link.

This roundabout is near my home and I never go near it unless I need something from the ARMY/Navy store. Like grenades or a mess kit.

[Rod Nunley]

I once got into an argument with a traffic engineer about this. He said traffic circles were by far the most efficient way to get people through an intersection.

I pointed out that the traffic circle on the west side of Fort Worth was Tarrant County's leading intersection for accidents for the past 40 years.

He said it didn't matter, and the traffic circle we were discussing indeed was built in Arlington. He must have gotten his degree from A&M....

[MOTW]

@Rod, that's the one I'm talking about.
Alta Mere is considered Arlington now? I'm confused.

'Round, round, get around, I get around ...

[Mike Smith]

I grew up and learned to drive in a country with tens of thousands of traffic circles (rotaries, roundabouts, or whatever).

They work and are FAR, FAR better than 4-way stops or traffic lights in many (although not all) settings.

The rules are very simple and can be learned in a minute. After a few practice drives they are easy and intuitive to use. Any teenager can learn the skills and millions of them actually do, right across most of Europe.

[feeling2]

From the City of Sunrise brochure (reading between the lines):

Enhancements included modifying the existing four-lane road section down to a two-lanes…
(Bottle-neck, long lines, twice the time to commute to the next traffic circle)

…with 8-foot bicycle lanes and buffers in each direction…
(Haven’t seen a single bike in 2 years, but bike lanes are now larger than vehicle lanes)

..and installing new eight-foot-wide sidewalks with ADA connections at intersections…
(For all the blind people negotiating the traffic circle, also bigger than the vehicle lane)

…as well as decorative crosswalks..
(Chipped curbs and tire marks)

… and drainage improvements…
(Ruts and potholes being dug out of the dirt in the easement because it wasn’t because it wasn’t designed for garbage trucks, buses, emergency vehicles or anything larger than a mid-sized)

… and space for future public art..
(Memorial Markers to commemorate all those engineers who lost their common sense)

[pharmaross]

Traffic engineers have gone beyond roundabouts and this is their latest design creation:

https://azdot.gov/projects/central-district-projects/i-17-ti-reconstruction-happy-valley-rd-and-pinnacle-peak-rd/diverging-diamond-interchange

https://youtu.be/kmZoQFYYx8U

[Rod Nunley]

MOTW, the one they were building was next to the new (now the old) ballpark. This was supposed to make it easier for people to get in and out of games. I used the one on Alta Mere as the example that was the crash magnet.

They built the one next to the ballpark anyway. Somehow, all the wrecks on it seem to be on game days.

[man tom]

Yes.

[Ralph]

A roundabout is not the same as a traffic circle. They work differently and the rules are different. That's assuming anybody pays any attention to the rules so that they work at all. And in New England, we call them both rotaries, which are not the same as lions or masons.

[Steverino]

Remember, these are the same people who voted for Mitch and Rand Paul.

[pogo]

I have an old Porsche, named "Brunhilde". She loves roundabouts.

[man tom]

Pogo - 'Brunhilde' should have a personalized plate that reads: BIGGUNS.

[Mad Hatter]

Let's just all meet at the Arc de Triomphe and hash it out, shall we?