American living in Australia, have to laugh. Roundabouts only work when the majority of drivers using them are semi-intelligent and conscious beings. Good luck America.
100%. I lived for 18 years in Italy, and the roundabout is ubiquitous. Italians are legendary, of course, for driving everywhere too fast, on every occasion in whatever circumstance...and yet, somehow the roundabout does not present the level of difficulty experienced by these Floridians. Even the British use them, and THEY DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD (Maybe they do in Aus, too, I didn't check). This is just Americans really, really resistant to any change at all, even if it would make life better. It's the American way.
In Sarasota, Florida most of the roundabouts are so small in diameter that the outer circle is brick for trucks to drive on. And they do. They are not yet updated on the Google satellite map, but at Clark and Lorraine Roads in Sarasota the roundabout is so small that it's a joke. Ditto for Honore at Brookmeade, Honore at Webber, and Honore at Colonial Oaks, all again in Sarasota, Florida. And don't get me started on the diverging diamond highway entrances and exits!
I live in Jersey, USA. Lived briefly if Fla. I’m old…but born and raised in Jersey. The first time my gps lady said ‘follow the roundabout’… I had no idea what she was talking about. Kept driving in circles with her constantly saying ‘follow the roundabout’. Wasn’t fond of Fla weather….people go to sleep early and get up early. I’m not like them. Roundabouts seem as irrational, to me, as the 2nd amendment. 🤷🏼♀️🤦♀️
@@sandella11 your brain really thinks wasting time and gas by stopping at every intersection makes more sense than entering roundabouts in one direction, slowing only to yield to cars in the roundabout? No way.
I loved this…having been a teenager in Massachusetts in the 80s, and having to navigate both roundabouts and the eighth ring of hell known as Kelley Square where eight roads used to meet with no indication of who had the right of way…I really thought I was ready for anything. I seriously thought that Mr Cavello who was both our drivers ed instructor and our industrial arts teacher (hello, Mr bandsaw) must have had nerves of steel. Imagine my surprise when I spent most of a year living in Brussels where they up the ante of the roundabout with a neat little extra bit of fun called “priorite a droite” or the right has the right of way, meaning you could be on the main road or in the rotary and cars feeding in from the right had the right of way. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen and it was a rare morning that I didn’t see at least one accident on my way to or from work. So I guess I’m just saying that no matter how bad something is there’s always some genius out there who can make it so so much worse :)
I'm a truck driver.. I so hate roundabouts. Sleeper cab, 53 foot long trailer.. drivers that don't know what the hell they're doing and a small round about. What could go wrong?
Yes in the US driving a semi with 53' trailer. It will take occupying two lanes to get through it if there is or isn't two lanes. Most are small tight circles. Some places are smart and rounded out the curbs and put in bricks to make it easier for us.
I lived in Europe for 5.5 years. Roundabouts are easy. One yields to enter and signals to exit. Roundabouts eliminate traffic light upkeep and save electricity. Multiply the effect across the country and we will save millions.
Using your indicators in a roundabout??? What a novel concept! - one that obviously hasn't made it's way from the UK to where I live in Canada. I learned to drive a roundabout in the UK - signal in/signal out.
The problem is that they're relatively new and still unusual here so people aren't broadly used to them. The electricity and upkeep savings aren't the motivation, it's that you actually get better traffic throughput, and increased safety. And when there is a crash, they tend to be lower speed than with traffic lights where you can easily get high speed T-bone collisions that are quite likely to kill.
The irony is that roundabouts are objectively better in every way, and in places with proper implementations and over a decade of using them, they are so effective.
I have used proper roundabouts and improper ones. When made properly they are a dream, improper ones on the other hand can be just as dangerous as a four way if not more so. I had a roundabout where on of the exits had a concrete barrier that prevented you from merging back into the roundabout if you accidentally took it.
@@tomokolovecraft3792 Those concrete barriers are frustrating, but they are a lot better than getting into a car wreck trying to make a u-turn into a busy roundabout. Yes, they are not busy all the time, but the city probably can't afford the concrete barriers that raise and lower depending on traffic.
40 odd years ago I took a trip to Florida to visit my retired Mum and my old Boss retired there too. I left the USA after 9 years Army to be a teacher in Australia... just like Lewis said it was insane on the road the day I got there in my rental car... my poor Australian wife was scared to death. When I got to my Mum's house , she said; it's social security day so all the retired, too old to drive folks are DRIVING. The next day I went to my old Boss's house and mentioned my traffic experience. He told me NEVER drive on that day of the month. He told me that Florida doesn't want to upset all that retired people income so they don't restrict them from driving???? That was the last time I went to Florida!
Screw all the morons who seem to have so much trouble with traffic circles or roundabouts if you prefer. Grew up with them in New England and they were a much simpler, faster alternative to four-way stops. Except maybe in very busy roads! It's a no-brainer for Christ sakes - you approach the roundabout, if nobody is in it or entering into it, fly right in, go around as far you need to and take the appropriate exit.....where the hell is the problem with this? Have we been dumbed down so much as a society that we can't handle something as simple as a traffic circle? 70 years old and have been driving for 54 years and don't have any problems with them whatsoever! Anyone who thinks they should be banned should have their drivers license permanently revoked immediately - they aren't safe on the roads!
People do not obey stop signs at intersections...a roundabout forces cooperation. I see it working in places with considerate drivers. Enough with the road rage a-holes.
As a highway engineer, one of the biggest things to keep from having traffic jams is to keep them damn cars moving! While these rants are a riot 😂, notice that most of them are ranting about the mindless mouth breathing drivers that can't figure out how to use them!😤
You grew up with them.... a lot of Americans haven't, that's why. People don't like what they don't know or understand. Some states... people don't know how to parallel park either.
Yes, that is so much more simple than just going through a green light or stopping at a red one. You have to slow down, yield to people that might be in that may or may not use a blinker on when they're leaving it. They're annoying and in no way speed things up.
When the roundabouts are only 25 feet in diameter, roundabouts are a pain. And when they are put in an area with 30,000 new homes going in down one of the legs off of a narrow roundabout, what could go wrong?
Stuart, Florida has a roundabout with FIVE roads intersecting at a RAILROAD CROSSING! 🥳 (Mr. Black performs less than a block away at the Lyric Theatre.)
OMG LEWIS LOVE 😮YOUR RANT ABOUT Roundabouts I Thought I was the ONLY one who felt those driving situations thank you thank you thank you for ranting about these horrifying and disturbing traffic situations‼️🤯
Lewis is great at making quips about local things. He appeared recently near me, and brought along a weekly paper, which headlined an errant car crashing into a gasoline convenience store.
Even though she is retired now, Cherie Berry will be part of North Carolina folklore for a long time to come. For those outside this state: She was the North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, for 20 years until 2021. As such, her portrait and her memorable name was on every elevator certificate in the state.
I'm in North Carolina. Some roundabouts in Raleigh do solve traffic problems in microcosm by making people want to take a different route. Of course this just creates traffic problems elsewhere.
Yep! Fellow NCian here, but I don't think it was her picture as much as it was here name... 😂 Sounds like she should be playing the part of 'best friend' in the Betty Boop cartoons
Thanks for the info about Cherie Berry. I'm from Erie Pa, and never heard of her. When Lewis said her name I thought it sounded like a name a comedian or a porn star would have. A portrait of Cherie Berry and elevator music combined....sorry about your luck!
Thank you so much! From Europe, it's great fun seeing americans, so advanced in so many things , coming so late and going mad to the roundabouts explossion. 🙂 Oh , that and the retrograde passing laws (and get ready for more fun coming: roundabouts are really nice but the best are the absurd ones, unnecessary, or impossibly small... placed only and exclusively for cunning speculators to fill their pockets)
I agree! It's hilarious!! Roundabouts are proving to the world how Americans are really NOT as advanced or civilized as we think we are! 😂😂😂 Any wonder I'm saving up to retire overseas?
We actually have had "traffic circles" for a long time. They were usually in high traffic areas. I was raised in a small "hick town" and even we have a few. They've been there all my sixty years. It's lately that they want to shove them everywhere, at every intersection. I can think of better things for our tax money to be spent on.
Somehow, in some countries roundabouts prevent traffic jams. One of the things we actually protest for in my hometown are less traffic lights and more roundabouts... But I can understand the sudden cultural shift.
The real problem with roundabouts in the US is that we tend to get them horrifically wrong. They'll design them wrong, they'll put up incorrect signage, and then to top it all off they'll paint lines wrong in a way that is nowhere close to the design OR signage. They put in a couple roundabouts near me a few years ago. Nasty nasty intersections. Traffic backed up into the travel lanes on the highway, tons of accidents, gridlock at rush hour. Well, they screwed up the roundabouts so badly things ended up WORSE. 3 years later and someone with half a brain tweaked the design, corrected signage, and corrected the line markings. Traffic flows beautifully, and everyone quit bitching about the damn roundabouts. Other roundabouts in the state haven't been so lucky and are still utterly useless. It's not so much that we just hate roundabouts because they're different, we hate them because they get them so wrong, and most rarely ever get fixed!
@@jblyon2 Yeah this is reason I hate roundabouts and for some reason the parks dept of every city or town that has roundabouts love to stuff bushes and other crap right up at the enterance/exits of them. Then everyone has to stop before entering them which defeats the purpose of them.
Maybe it doesn't work for some places but in my neighborhood they replaced this wacky intersection that had 2 lights with a roundabout and it saves so much time. It gets a little backed up from time to time but you don't ever wait there nearly as long as you did with the lights.
I remember the first time I drove in the Boston area and my friend warned me that the first rule of driving in the Boston area is "The other guy's got brakes"
You must have missed the heyday of the Mic Mac Rotary. Instead of being a simple circle with multiple entrances and exits with traffic flowing smoothly, some genius had the thought "What if we made it a double circle? What if a driver going more than the next exit would move into the inner circle so more entrances were open to let traffic in easier and more traffic could go around at once?" There's a reason for the song "Living in Dartmouth, Working in Halifax, Mic Mac Rotary Blues" Even Metro Transit busses would get stuck in the middle. The driver would sometimes have to announce, "Ok ladies and gentlemen, looks like we're going to have to go around again. 😮💨"
@@StyphonYup…a rotary. NOT a roundabout. No changing lanes in a roundabout. Yield to all traffic IN the roundabout not the other way around. Not lights. Roundabouts work GREAT. Rotaries are a nightmare.
They put a roundabout up here in northern Minnesota, in a tiny town with a little less than 5000 people. Like traffic would be that bad that we couldn't just leave the traffic lights up and change the light bulbs in them once in a while? The roundabouts they're building up here also aren't built right, the snow plows get stuck in them constantly! No, the plow drivers aren't bad, but someone designed them without thinking there would be (at any given time in the winter) about 3 feet of snow packed in around these circles of hell! GAAAH!
YES! The Kingston NY roundabout off exit 19 on I-87! My hometown! It had to be built twice because of the tractor trailers dragging their ass ends up onto the center!!! It was designed too small!!!
Am I the only person in America who loves roundabouts? I spent 10 days driving in ireland. They are literally everywhere. Once you figure them out, they're fantastic. No more constant stopping. No more waiting behind 5 cars while each of them slowly take their turn getting thru the intersection. Everybody keeps moving. Roundabouts ROCK!
Here in Indiana we are just getting road closure season-April-November when ALL the roads are closed for construction. So we can have more roundabouts.
I'm not sure what the design of these roundabouts are, but if you hate the simple ones, don't ever bother going to Washington DC. Why, you ask? Because not only is there a roundabout at almost every godd*mn intersection, but they all have TRAFFIC LIGHTS in them!
The reason they're replacing everything with roundabouts is because they are the most efficient, effective and safest way to intersect multiple roads, that is just a fact. HAVING SAID THAT, introducing them to a community that has never had them and never had to navigate them, they will cause more problems than solutions for at least two decades.
I was in the Army in the mid-late eighties. I was stationed in Germany. I drive flatbed truck in a support battalion. The roundabouts were already there!! I love them! Fast forward to present time. I live in a house that is very close to an intersection. The antiquated traffic light system always turns red, stops and holds the few cars that are there with no opposing cars waiting. Talk about a waste of fuel!!! The United States is not the most advanced nation in the world by far. 😤 Drivers education ahd commercials ought to teach Americans how to use them properly. Once you quickly understand them age get used to them, you'd be amazed at the time and gas saved. The golden key to use them is to think ahead and look ahead to determination lane you need to be in.
Love these rants!😂 Roundabouts are suppposed to be safer, but sometimes it seems the make roundabout just for the sake of it!🙃 Greetings from Sweden!🇸🇪 Read a thread online, where people from all around the world boasted about which country had the worst potholes. I can't remember who won, but it was so funny!2
People talk shit too much about Americans not knowing how to maneuver roundabouts. Um im sorry there is 1 roundabout for every 45,000,000,000 miles of road here and they all have different signage and faded lines and driving school doesnt usually mention them because they are so rare.
Oh the joy of driving in Nebraska; road work is announced by signs...immediately before the road is ripped up. No warning, just driving driving oh sh*t the road is gone on the other side of the sign that is the first warning I got that the road is gone, every damn time.
Roundabouts are a safer alternative to traffic signals and stop signs. The tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down, and the most severe types of intersection crashes - right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions - are unlikely. Roundabouts improve traffic flow and are better for the environment.
plus: traffic is more fluid because you do not have to wait for a light to change. But that's what most of the commenters here don't seem to understand.
I grew up in a town that had no traffic lights. 21 stop signs were enough to regulate traffic. I have never seen a roundabout. However, I do know about potholes. My dad would put us through the windshield before he would hit one.
I don't get the hate for roundabouts. It's purely irrational. There are places I had to run a gauntlet of stop lights even when there was no traffic. Now I just flow right through the roundabouts. What is aggravating is people who think the yield sign is a stop sign and feel they have to come to a complete stop even when nobody else is there - but I'll take that trade.
If you you're going straight though a round about that may be so. and if traffic is light. but where I live they have built so many of them. there are numbers of them that are less than a block apart no lie. it's beyond ridiculous.
@@MusicAuthority-b9r What's ridiculous about that? If they built a roundabout then there would otherwise either be a stop-light or a stop sign, and also intersecting traffic at speed. All of those things are worse.
@@GlennC789 There's nothing worse than a round about every five hundred feet from each other. and then when you get a round about there's a bunch of morons that don't know how to navigate them. you must be a moron?
Because people don’t know what to fucking do at them. They’ll come to a complete stop with NO traffic in the circle. And I have people pull right in front of me in the circle. I hate these fucking, God awful things! And if one street has more traffic than the others, it’s a never ending line in the circle that no other cars from other streets can even get into!
The main reason for roundabouts is to replace electric and electronic traffic signals because of how expensive they are to maintain and/or replace if damaged. I agree with many commenters about the majority of them being too small for many of the vehicles that are forced to use them. 🙄
I live in Vermont, and in my state they are putting in a diverging diamond interchange. I don't remember the exact location. Think how many people will screw that up!
The funny part is we've been eliminating these things for years in New England! The thing is...we never used to call them roundabouts...we always called them rotaries until recently! I think we got this roundabout term from Europe. They're essentially the same thing...1. Have yield signs that nobody knows what they are 2. People that ride around that circle forever because they don't know which road to take. 3. Those who stop forever at the yield signs in perpetual fear of pulling into the rotary. 4. Lines of traffic backed up during rush hour waiting to go around the stupid circle!
Yeah we called them rotaries in Nova Scotia when I lived there. We only had two in the Halifax area and they were despised by most. The local radio station even created a song about one of them called "The Mic Mac Rotary Blues". It was pretty popular on the local station. Now I live in BC and they are popping up everywhere here also. I still hate them. ua-cam.com/video/cTe4lfITphE/v-deo.html
I don't know what you've been eliminating, but perhaps rotaries are synonymous to traffic circles, which are different than roundabouts. I've seen many US drivers treat stop signs as yield signs so it's funny if they get confused and actually stop at yield signs without a reason.
We had one going back before the 1960s that had five streets feeding into it and multiple Lanes on the circle. People who weren't used to it would get stuck in the middle and have a hard time getting back off and have to circle around two or three times. So there's nothing new but the design has improved over years increasing the functionality.
I'm in St.Paul MN and the potholes are so bad that they broke my last car. Don't get me started about the roundabouts, they're in places they shouldn't be. No high traffic, no speeding and they're not at 4 way stops, it's the same two stop signs that were always there since I was a kid and I'll be 62 in a minute
@davedixon2068 as a former cop spent 2.5 years in traffic. Directing and investigating accidents Roundabouts for average driver is I beat you too it. Yield? Unfortunately no, not everyone goes by the rules.
The great thing about roundabouts is you can go around as many times as you want to. Get a couple drinks under your belt and put on your favorite tunes. It's best after Dark.
There are 13....THIRTEEN FREAKING Roundabouts within a 10 minute drive of my house. One is at the end of my street. I swear I hate these damn things because of the dumbasses that cant figure out how to hit the freaking gas and just go! Its not a place to stop and wait for the damn thing to be completely clear of cars before going. Drive people!😂
Here in American, having several roundabouts in an area means less traffic in those areas as people avoid them if possible. Of course, 4-way stops are still a hazard as many people drive right through them if their peripheral peripheral vision even hints at the cross traffic being light.
All that comes to mind is XTC's "English Roundabout" or "Get me out of this English Roundabout..." from 1982. They're in NorCal, too. Almost always find myself singing that song when I encounter one. 😆
Roundabouts would be wonderful, if only people knew what "Yield" means. Everyone comes to a stop, even when there's no one else in the circle. My first time driving through one was in Bahrain, 9 lanes of traffic in and out from 3 roads. It was like clockwork, as long as you know how to push down the accelerator, and just cut people off if you must to get to your exit.
Roundabouts require us to reinstate mandatory high school driver's education. People have a hard enough time driving straight. I had a great teacher with a sense of humor who loved his job. We were told the horrors of accidents and the consequences of those horrors. We had a semester of in-class training and a semester of driving with an instructor. On my 16th birthday, I had my license. If cars start to fly we are all in trouble.
I think roundabouts are wonderful where they are needed. I have seen intersections where roundabouts were installed and it has been a major blessing. With that being said, if traffic has no reason to slow down prior to the circle, and can enter the roundabout at high speeds (all ages), then the damn thing wasn't needed. Also drivers who do enter the circle at high speeds aren't watching for or yielding to other drivers already in the circle, therefore causing an increase in accidents at that intersection. There have been very few times that I've been on the roundabout, in our city, that I haven't had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting someone entering the circle at a high speed. Others haven't been as lucky as me and I'm sure my time will come.
I live in a suburb of Sacramento CA. A while back I visited a relative in the hospital downtown. Going off the freeway down a main street for about 12 blocks, every intersection was random. Some had traffic signals. Some 4 way stop, some 2 way stop,some were no stop, and some were roundabouts....Talk about mental. Who built this town?
I was born and raised and lived in Philly until 11 years ago. Oxford Circle along Rt. 1 -The Roosevelt Blvd., has always been an outstanding challenge. I avoided it like the plague. Well, I moved near Quakertown, Pa., and discovered the Roundabout! It seemed it was old, like Oxford Circle. I figured they learned some things and weren't building them anymore. But NO! They're doing more all of the time as they build neighborhoods! 🤣🤣🤣
The main problem with roundabouts is that when the traffic is backed up, it's almost impossible to go straight, because you have to merge left and then immediately right again with very little room, at least, the way that most roundabouts are designed. An overpass is a much simpler way. If you're going straight through, you don't have to change lanes or even slow down, and if you're making a turn, you have plenty of time to get into the correct lane, even with heavy traffic. Also, there's much more room for tractor trailers. Of course, if we REALLY want to fix the traffic problem in this country, we'd get some decent fucking public transportation systems!
A roundabout with 2 lanes approaching it and going around is easy, for left turn_left lane then exit left, straight ahead_left lane then exit straight ahead, (notice you havent had to change lanes so far!) right turn_right lane, indicate right to exit before yours then indicate left, change lane and leave at your exit. If you are in the states for left read right and vice versa. Hope that helps but probably not
Well, come to Hamilton County Indiana, the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. We are the roundabout capital of the country. They're going up everywhere, but we have the most of any other county in the country.
Driven in the US and a four way stop to any sane driver is crazy… roundabouts are simple 😂 America is still stuck with inches and lbs so I’m not surprised…
@@johncipolletti5611 But at least if it is designed properly, they will be moving slower, so you might be injured but are much less likely to be killed. All you have to do now is improve driver training, probably impossible in the States I know but you could at least try it
@Dave Dixon Do you have a science or engineer background? Have you seen the circles in Europe? First, 90% of the cars going around a traffic circle aren't much bigger than a Ford Focus there. Next, their circles are 30 to 80% bigger. Most drivers outside the USA don't move at more than half of the speed our stupid drivers when entering a circle (see speed bump comment). So, this makes our circle two to three times more dangerous than in other countries (Europe).
@@johncipolletti5611 But you don't stop at red lights or stop signs either, so it isn't the roundabouts it's the exceptionally bad drivers in the states who according to the posts on this site can't understand simple rules to use a simple traffic calming measure. I have driven in the states and in Europe and I know which I prefer. The size of the circle is mostly irrelevant, many in the UK are called Mini Roundabouts and consist of a circle of white paint in the centre of the junction you just treat it as a roundabout with all the rules that pertain and its great. I am not saying everyone in the UK always does the right thing but most of the time its fine and accidents don't normally result in deaths as opposed to people blowing through redlights at a million mph. It would upset your police though; they wouldn't be able to ticket people for not stopping at stop signs cos they would all be yields.
A way for local governments to spend taxpayers money and accomplish nothing with it. My city added 13 of them on one stretch of road. At a cost est of $1-2 million each that is $13-26 million for 1 road. Heaven forbid they don't f'up a perfectly good intersection with light by changing it to a roundabout. Could we just take the money and invest it in something useful. Like local schools. Or added police to enforce existing traffic laws.
It is not the roundabouts that are the problem. It is the American drivers that do not know how to use them. Not that I know how to use them. I am American.
How did they come up with that? Do you drive on it and that thing rotates like a conveyor belt to drop you off at your chosen exit? A rotary is normally something that rotates by itself.
@@einundsiebenziger5488 Beats me, but there are conspicuously large signs on the "circle" to remind you that you're on a ROTARY. Maybe it's because the cars rotate around it
They're is a double roundabout close to where I live. For the life of me that's the most confusing combination. My 83 year old mother can navigate that better than me.
Just do what we citizens of Cotati, California did....get a ballot measure to ban roundabouts on your ballot as we did in 2012. It was successful and now roundabouts are banned here in Cotati indefinitely. The roundabout plan is actually not about the physicality of the roundabouts, but about poor planning and insistence on roundabouts throughout the city needlessly that led to the ban.
American living in Australia, have to laugh. Roundabouts only work when the majority of drivers using them are semi-intelligent and conscious beings. Good luck America.
Yep there screwed.
"Semi-intelligent and conscious beings" ... lol
That's expecting a lot.
100%. I lived for 18 years in Italy, and the roundabout is ubiquitous. Italians are legendary, of course, for driving everywhere too fast, on every occasion in whatever circumstance...and yet, somehow the roundabout does not present the level of difficulty experienced by these Floridians. Even the British use them, and THEY DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD (Maybe they do in Aus, too, I didn't check). This is just Americans really, really resistant to any change at all, even if it would make life better. It's the American way.
As an Australian, where roundabouts are a way of life, this is hilarious to hear everyone in the US losing their minds over them.
In Sarasota, Florida most of the roundabouts are so small in diameter that the outer circle is brick for trucks to drive on. And they do.
They are not yet updated on the Google satellite map, but at Clark and Lorraine Roads in Sarasota the roundabout is so small that it's a joke. Ditto for Honore at Brookmeade, Honore at Webber, and Honore at Colonial Oaks, all again in Sarasota, Florida.
And don't get me started on the diverging diamond highway entrances and exits!
I live in Jersey, USA. Lived briefly if Fla. I’m old…but born and raised in Jersey. The first time my gps lady said ‘follow the roundabout’… I had no idea what she was talking about. Kept driving in circles with her constantly saying ‘follow the roundabout’. Wasn’t fond of Fla weather….people go to sleep early and get up early. I’m not like them. Roundabouts seem as irrational, to me, as the 2nd amendment. 🤷🏼♀️🤦♀️
@@sandella11 your brain really thinks wasting time and gas by stopping at every intersection makes more sense than entering roundabouts in one direction, slowing only to yield to cars in the roundabout? No way.
Not all of us, it’s also kind of entertaining though infuriating watching fellow Americans lose their minds over this.
Americans are not the smartest
I loved this…having been a teenager in Massachusetts in the 80s, and having to navigate both roundabouts and the eighth ring of hell known as Kelley Square where eight roads used to meet with no indication of who had the right of way…I really thought I was ready for anything. I seriously thought that Mr Cavello who was both our drivers ed instructor and our industrial arts teacher (hello, Mr bandsaw) must have had nerves of steel. Imagine my surprise when I spent most of a year living in Brussels where they up the ante of the roundabout with a neat little extra bit of fun called “priorite a droite” or the right has the right of way, meaning you could be on the main road or in the rotary and cars feeding in from the right had the right of way. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen and it was a rare morning that I didn’t see at least one accident on my way to or from work. So I guess I’m just saying that no matter how bad something is there’s always some genius out there who can make it so so much worse :)
Also a Massachusetts driver.. we love a good rotary
Roundabouts started here about 10 years ago but they were mainly up north. Now they are EVERYFUCKINGWHERE!
That's because there are Federal grants to any locality that builds them.
I'm a truck driver.. I so hate roundabouts. Sleeper cab, 53 foot long trailer.. drivers that don't know what the hell they're doing and a small round about. What could go wrong?
funnily enough there are large lorries in the UK and in all but a very minimal number of instances they have no problem with roundabouts.
You will take up 2 lanes and people need to learn that.
Yes in the US driving a semi with 53' trailer. It will take occupying two lanes to get through it if there is or isn't two lanes. Most are small tight circles. Some places are smart and rounded out the curbs and put in bricks to make it easier for us.
I lived in Europe for 5.5 years. Roundabouts are easy. One yields to enter and signals to exit. Roundabouts eliminate traffic light upkeep and save electricity. Multiply the effect across the country and we will save millions.
Using your indicators in a roundabout??? What a novel concept! - one that obviously hasn't made it's way from the UK to where I live in Canada. I learned to drive a roundabout in the UK - signal in/signal out.
no one knows what yeild means thats the problem
Using Signals is considered "woke" by the poorly educated in the USA.
Especially by the worst of our drivers.
The problem is that they're relatively new and still unusual here so people aren't broadly used to them. The electricity and upkeep savings aren't the motivation, it's that you actually get better traffic throughput, and increased safety. And when there is a crash, they tend to be lower speed than with traffic lights where you can easily get high speed T-bone collisions that are quite likely to kill.
The irony is that roundabouts are objectively better in every way, and in places with proper implementations and over a decade of using them, they are so effective.
I have used proper roundabouts and improper ones. When made properly they are a dream, improper ones on the other hand can be just as dangerous as a four way if not more so. I had a roundabout where on of the exits had a concrete barrier that prevented you from merging back into the roundabout if you accidentally took it.
@@tomokolovecraft3792 Those concrete barriers are frustrating, but they are a lot better than getting into a car wreck trying to make a u-turn into a busy roundabout. Yes, they are not busy all the time, but the city probably can't afford the concrete barriers that raise and lower depending on traffic.
They work great. Until people actually try to use them.
@@brianhanson9367 People in most of the world do not have any trouble using roundabouts. It is mostly Americans that have trouble with them.
But they're putting them in the middle of fucking highways!
Love these rants so much, I am in tears laughing so hard. You are the only person I want to hear read other peoples rants, Lewis! 😂 😆 🤣👏🏻
40 odd years ago I took a trip to Florida to visit my retired Mum and my old Boss retired there too. I left the USA after 9 years Army to be a teacher in Australia... just like Lewis said it was insane on the road the day I got there in my rental car... my poor Australian wife was scared to death. When I got to my Mum's house , she said; it's social security day so all the retired, too old to drive folks are DRIVING. The next day I went to my old Boss's house and mentioned my traffic experience. He told me NEVER drive on that day of the month. He told me that Florida doesn't want to upset all that retired people income so they don't restrict them from driving???? That was the last time I went to Florida!
Screw all the morons who seem to have so much trouble with traffic circles or roundabouts if you prefer. Grew up with them in New England and they were a much simpler, faster alternative to four-way stops. Except maybe in very busy roads! It's a no-brainer for Christ sakes - you approach the roundabout, if nobody is in it or entering into it, fly right in, go around as far you need to and take the appropriate exit.....where the hell is the problem with this? Have we been dumbed down so much as a society that we can't handle something as simple as a traffic circle? 70 years old and have been driving for 54 years and don't have any problems with them whatsoever! Anyone who thinks they should be banned should have their drivers license permanently revoked immediately - they aren't safe on the roads!
People do not obey stop signs at intersections...a roundabout forces cooperation. I see it working in places with considerate drivers. Enough with the road rage a-holes.
As a highway engineer, one of the biggest things to keep from having traffic jams is to keep them damn cars moving! While these rants are a riot 😂, notice that most of them are ranting about the mindless mouth breathing drivers that can't figure out how to use them!😤
You grew up with them.... a lot of Americans haven't, that's why.
People don't like what they don't know or understand.
Some states... people don't know how to parallel park either.
Yes, that is so much more simple than just going through a green light or stopping at a red one. You have to slow down, yield to people that might be in that may or may not use a blinker on when they're leaving it. They're annoying and in no way speed things up.
When the roundabouts are only 25 feet in diameter, roundabouts are a pain. And when they are put in an area with 30,000 new homes going in down one of the legs off of a narrow roundabout, what could go wrong?
Stuart, Florida has a roundabout with FIVE roads intersecting at a RAILROAD CROSSING! 🥳 (Mr. Black performs less than a block away at the Lyric Theatre.)
OMG LEWIS LOVE 😮YOUR RANT ABOUT Roundabouts I Thought I was the ONLY one who felt those driving situations thank you thank you thank you for ranting about these horrifying and disturbing traffic situations‼️🤯
Lewis is great at making quips about local things. He appeared recently near me, and brought along a weekly paper, which headlined an errant car crashing into a gasoline convenience store.
Even though she is retired now, Cherie Berry will be part of North Carolina folklore for a long time to come. For those outside this state: She was the North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, for 20 years until 2021. As such, her portrait and her memorable name was on every elevator certificate in the state.
I'm in North Carolina. Some roundabouts in Raleigh do solve traffic problems in microcosm by making people want to take a different route. Of course this just creates traffic problems elsewhere.
Yep! Fellow NCian here, but I don't think it was her picture as much as it was here name... 😂 Sounds like she should be playing the part of 'best friend' in the Betty Boop cartoons
Thanks for the info about Cherie Berry. I'm from Erie Pa, and never heard of her. When Lewis said her name I thought it sounded like a name a comedian or a porn star would have. A portrait of Cherie Berry and elevator music combined....sorry about your luck!
🙌🏻 I didn’t know that. Great share, thank you❣️
Thank you so much!
From Europe, it's great fun seeing americans, so advanced in so many things , coming so late and going mad to the roundabouts explossion. 🙂
Oh , that and the retrograde passing laws
(and get ready for more fun coming: roundabouts are really nice but the best are the absurd ones, unnecessary, or impossibly small... placed only and exclusively for cunning speculators to fill their pockets)
I agree! It's hilarious!! Roundabouts are proving to the world how Americans are really NOT as advanced or civilized as we think we are! 😂😂😂 Any wonder I'm saving up to retire overseas?
We actually have had "traffic circles" for a long time. They were usually in high traffic areas. I was raised in a small "hick town" and even we have a few. They've been there all my sixty years.
It's lately that they want to shove them everywhere, at every intersection. I can think of better things for our tax money to be spent on.
Thanks Lewis! You the man!
Somehow, in some countries roundabouts prevent traffic jams.
One of the things we actually protest for in my hometown are less traffic lights and more roundabouts...
But I can understand the sudden cultural shift.
The real problem with roundabouts in the US is that we tend to get them horrifically wrong. They'll design them wrong, they'll put up incorrect signage, and then to top it all off they'll paint lines wrong in a way that is nowhere close to the design OR signage. They put in a couple roundabouts near me a few years ago. Nasty nasty intersections. Traffic backed up into the travel lanes on the highway, tons of accidents, gridlock at rush hour. Well, they screwed up the roundabouts so badly things ended up WORSE. 3 years later and someone with half a brain tweaked the design, corrected signage, and corrected the line markings. Traffic flows beautifully, and everyone quit bitching about the damn roundabouts. Other roundabouts in the state haven't been so lucky and are still utterly useless. It's not so much that we just hate roundabouts because they're different, we hate them because they get them so wrong, and most rarely ever get fixed!
@@jblyon2 Yeah this is reason I hate roundabouts and for some reason the parks dept of every city or town that has roundabouts love to stuff bushes and other crap right up at the enterance/exits of them. Then everyone has to stop before entering them which defeats the purpose of them.
Maybe it doesn't work for some places but in my neighborhood they replaced this wacky intersection that had 2 lights with a roundabout and it saves so much time. It gets a little backed up from time to time but you don't ever wait there nearly as long as you did with the lights.
I remember the first time I drove in the Boston area and my friend warned me that the first rule of driving in the Boston area is "The other guy's got brakes"
A driver in Dartmouth. Nova Scotia completely stopped all traffic on a " Round about " by driving the Wrong Way. How the Hell does that happen ??
American driver?
🤣
You must have missed the heyday of the Mic Mac Rotary. Instead of being a simple circle with multiple entrances and exits with traffic flowing smoothly, some genius had the thought "What if we made it a double circle? What if a driver going more than the next exit would move into the inner circle so more entrances were open to let traffic in easier and more traffic could go around at once?"
There's a reason for the song "Living in Dartmouth, Working in Halifax, Mic Mac Rotary Blues"
Even Metro Transit busses would get stuck in the middle. The driver would sometimes have to announce, "Ok ladies and gentlemen, looks like we're going to have to go around again. 😮💨"
@@StyphonYup…a rotary. NOT a roundabout. No changing lanes in a roundabout. Yield to all traffic IN the roundabout not the other way around. Not lights. Roundabouts work GREAT. Rotaries are a nightmare.
They put a roundabout up here in northern Minnesota, in a tiny town with a little less than 5000 people. Like traffic would be that bad that we couldn't just leave the traffic lights up and change the light bulbs in them once in a while? The roundabouts they're building up here also aren't built right, the snow plows get stuck in them constantly! No, the plow drivers aren't bad, but someone designed them without thinking there would be (at any given time in the winter) about 3 feet of snow packed in around these circles of hell! GAAAH!
YES! The Kingston NY roundabout off exit 19 on I-87! My hometown! It had to be built twice because of the tractor trailers dragging their ass ends up onto the center!!! It was designed too small!!!
Oh, they're roundabouts. I thought they were Demolition Derbies.
Am I the only person in America who loves roundabouts?
I spent 10 days driving in ireland. They are literally everywhere. Once you figure them out, they're fantastic. No more constant stopping. No more waiting behind 5 cars while each of them slowly take their turn getting thru the intersection. Everybody keeps moving. Roundabouts ROCK!
You should take a week in Carmel, IN. It’s awesome.
Love that bit, Wow where did you find it? Concrete and you just lay it down and we don't need cones. Love it!
Here in Indiana we are just getting road closure season-April-November when ALL the roads are closed for construction. So we can have more roundabouts.
I'm not sure what the design of these roundabouts are, but if you hate the simple ones, don't ever bother going to Washington DC. Why, you ask? Because not only is there a roundabout at almost every godd*mn intersection, but they all have TRAFFIC LIGHTS in them!
How do you fuck up something as simple as a roundabout? Traffic lights don't make it safer, it makes it more dangerous!
@@tomokolovecraft3792, exactly! Then again, Washington DC fucks EVERYTHING up, so can we really be that surprised?
Round a bouts are DANGEROUS!!!
No they aren't incompetent drivers are!!!
I live in a small town in Missouri. We have one roundabout in front of the city hall. To beautify it; they put a Howitzer in the middle of it.
Monument to deadly force. Appropriate, maybe.
My friends live in Vermont. These people have a minimum of 70 mph on those country roads. Insane. Nobody passes it turns into a drag race
No, it's 65-75 on state highways. 55 on other routes.were not doing 70 on county roads in VT.
Sorry my bad lol
Single lane roundabouts are fine and improve the flow of traffic. It’s those double and triple lane ones that can get crazy.
Don't get me started with the faux ones that have traffic lights.
Not really - if you’re skipping exit 1, go into lane 2, if you’re skipping exit 2, go into lane 3.
The reason they're replacing everything with roundabouts is because they are the most efficient, effective and safest way to intersect multiple roads, that is just a fact. HAVING SAID THAT, introducing them to a community that has never had them and never had to navigate them, they will cause more problems than solutions for at least two decades.
I was in the Army in the mid-late eighties. I was stationed in Germany. I drive flatbed truck in a support battalion. The roundabouts were already there!! I love them!
Fast forward to present time.
I live in a house that is very close to an intersection. The antiquated traffic light system always turns red, stops and holds the few cars that are there with no opposing cars waiting. Talk about a waste of fuel!!!
The United States is not the most advanced nation in the world by far. 😤
Drivers education ahd commercials ought to teach Americans how to use them properly. Once you quickly understand them age get used to them, you'd be amazed at the time and gas saved. The golden key to use them is to think ahead and look ahead to determination lane you need to be in.
Thank You Lewis ❤
We have had them forever and they’re great!
Love these rants!😂
Roundabouts are suppposed to be safer, but sometimes it seems the make roundabout just for the sake of it!🙃
Greetings from Sweden!🇸🇪
Read a thread online, where people from all around the world boasted about which country had the worst potholes. I can't remember who won, but it was so funny!2
I need a really good laugh ... you have a site for that thread?
People talk shit too much about Americans not knowing how to maneuver roundabouts.
Um im sorry there is 1 roundabout for every 45,000,000,000 miles of road here and they all have different signage and faded lines and driving school doesnt usually mention them because they are so rare.
Oh the joy of driving in Nebraska; road work is announced by signs...immediately before the road is ripped up. No warning, just driving driving oh sh*t the road is gone on the other side of the sign that is the first warning I got that the road is gone, every damn time.
Roundabouts are a safer alternative to traffic signals and stop signs. The tight circle of a roundabout forces drivers to slow down, and the most severe types of intersection crashes - right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions - are unlikely. Roundabouts improve traffic flow and are better for the environment.
plus: traffic is more fluid because you do not have to wait for a light to change. But that's what most of the commenters here don't seem to understand.
48th hour of stomach flu frim hell. (ER room. Bucket hugger.) Laughter is still best medicine. Thanks Mr. Black. Wisconsin says hi!!
I'm aware of a roundabout in metro Detroit that's in a high traffic area...like cheating death going thru there. Lol
First roundabouts here I decided I’d learn it at night when traffic was null because I didn’t want to be the big dumbo at lunch hour.
That's a good idea.
Kalamazoo Mi: more roundabouts every ******g day 😮
Along with the Michigan left
I grew up in a town that had no traffic lights. 21 stop signs were enough to regulate traffic. I have never seen a roundabout. However, I do know about potholes. My dad would put us through the windshield before he would hit one.
I don't get the hate for roundabouts. It's purely irrational. There are places I had to run a gauntlet of stop lights even when there was no traffic. Now I just flow right through the roundabouts. What is aggravating is people who think the yield sign is a stop sign and feel they have to come to a complete stop even when nobody else is there - but I'll take that trade.
Yes!
If you you're going straight though a round about that may be so. and if traffic is light. but where I live they have built so many of them. there are numbers of them that are less than a block apart no lie. it's beyond ridiculous.
@@MusicAuthority-b9r What's ridiculous about that? If they built a roundabout then there would otherwise either be a stop-light or a stop sign, and also intersecting traffic at speed. All of those things are worse.
@@GlennC789 There's nothing worse than a round about every five hundred feet from each other. and then when you get a round about there's a bunch of morons that don't know how to navigate them. you must be a moron?
Because people don’t know what to fucking do at them. They’ll come to a complete stop with NO traffic in the circle. And I have people pull right in front of me in the circle. I hate these fucking, God awful things! And if one street has more traffic than the others, it’s a never ending line in the circle that no other cars from other streets can even get into!
The main reason for roundabouts is to replace electric and electronic traffic signals because of how expensive they are to maintain and/or replace if damaged. I agree with many commenters about the majority of them being too small for many of the vehicles that are forced to use them. 🙄
I live in Vermont, and in my state they are putting in a diverging diamond interchange. I don't remember the exact location. Think how many people will screw that up!
I love you, Lewis Black!
The funny part is we've been eliminating these things for years in New England! The thing is...we never used to call them roundabouts...we always called them rotaries until recently! I think we got this roundabout term from Europe. They're essentially the same thing...1. Have yield signs that nobody knows what they are
2. People that ride around that circle forever because they don't know which road to take.
3. Those who stop forever at the yield signs in perpetual fear of pulling into the rotary.
4. Lines of traffic backed up during rush hour waiting to go around the stupid circle!
Yeah we called them rotaries in Nova Scotia when I lived there. We only had two in the Halifax area and they were despised by most. The local radio station even created a song about one of them called "The Mic Mac Rotary Blues". It was pretty popular on the local station.
Now I live in BC and they are popping up everywhere here also. I still hate them.
ua-cam.com/video/cTe4lfITphE/v-deo.html
I don't know what you've been eliminating, but perhaps rotaries are synonymous to traffic circles, which are different than roundabouts.
I've seen many US drivers treat stop signs as yield signs so it's funny if they get confused and actually stop at yield signs without a reason.
My husband is number 2, lol.
perhaps if Americans learned to drive and had a test that was worth a damn there wouldn't be so much of a problem.
@@davedixon2068 I guess you’re not an American, since you think you know how to drive. 🙄🤦🏼♀️
I live in Ireland and some people (who never did a driving test) just don't get it with roundabouts
There are people I saw in England, foreigners, who get confused with double roundabouts.
We had one going back before the 1960s that had five streets feeding into it and multiple Lanes on the circle.
People who weren't used to it would get stuck in the middle and have a hard time getting back off and have to circle around two or three times.
So there's nothing new but the design has improved over years increasing the functionality.
I'm in St.Paul MN and the potholes are so bad that they broke my last car. Don't get me started about the roundabouts, they're in places they shouldn't be. No high traffic, no speeding and they're not at 4 way stops, it's the same two stop signs that were always there since I was a kid and I'll be 62 in a minute
I bet you've never seen someone changing a flat tire on the inside lane of a roundabout. I did.
3:29 I laughed my ass off when he said “threatens to destroy every man, woman, and vehicle.”
Roundabouts are a Russian Roulette in rush hour.
not if you are following the rules
@davedixon2068 as a former cop spent 2.5 years in traffic. Directing and investigating accidents Roundabouts for average driver is I beat you too it. Yield? Unfortunately no, not everyone goes by the rules.
Don't ever drive in Ireland if you hate round abouts. But if you do, drive a manual shift from the wrong side to make it more exciting.
The great thing about roundabouts is you can go around as many times as you want to. Get a couple drinks under your belt and put on your favorite tunes. It's best after Dark.
There are 13....THIRTEEN FREAKING Roundabouts within a 10 minute drive of my house. One is at the end of my street. I swear I hate these damn things because of the dumbasses that cant figure out how to hit the freaking gas and just go! Its not a place to stop and wait for the damn thing to be completely clear of cars before going. Drive people!😂
I'll take a roundabout any day over a 4 way stop. People have no clue how to navigate one of those.
Wow Lewis, that transportation death star 😂😂😂😂😂😂👍
Here in American, having several roundabouts in an area means less traffic in those areas as people avoid them if possible. Of course, 4-way stops are still a hazard as many people drive right through them if their peripheral peripheral vision even hints at the cross traffic being light.
Four-ways are getting worse and worse as drivers apparently ignore the stop signs more and more.
... in America*
When I was in the UK, I saw traffic lights on the round abouts. What's up with that.
Used in very high traffic flow situations to ensure that one lane isn't stopped for excessive periods because of continuous traffic from the right.
I love roundabouts
In Spokane WA they've been working on a freeway overpass for 20 YEARS!
didnt realise you had progressed past horse and buggies out there
Carmel Indiana has over 140 roundabouts, someone figure that shit out 😂
It’s Carmel. They’ve got more money than they know what to do with.
They help traffic flow, but idiots in Carmel speed through them.
Look for The Vinyl Cafe, The Roundabout, for a chuckle. It takes place in a small town in Nova Scotia, when they got their first one.
What's even worse .... when they remove the round abouts just to F- with you. That happened in NJ several years ago.
... roundabouts*
@@einundsiebenziger5488 nope... not how you pronounce them in jersey... or the south.
🤣🤣🤣
All that comes to mind is XTC's "English Roundabout" or "Get me out of this English Roundabout..." from 1982. They're in NorCal, too. Almost always find myself singing that song when I encounter one. 😆
Roundabouts would be wonderful, if only people knew what "Yield" means. Everyone comes to a stop, even when there's no one else in the circle. My first time driving through one was in Bahrain, 9 lanes of traffic in and out from 3 roads. It was like clockwork, as long as you know how to push down the accelerator, and just cut people off if you must to get to your exit.
Roundabouts require us to reinstate mandatory high school driver's education. People have a hard enough time driving straight. I had a great teacher with a sense of humor who loved his job. We were told the horrors of accidents and the consequences of those horrors. We had a semester of in-class training and a semester of driving with an instructor. On my 16th birthday, I had my license. If cars start to fly we are all in trouble.
I live in the Seattle area. Not too many roundabouts here -- yet. But they're coming, they're coming . . .
I think roundabouts are wonderful where they are needed. I have seen intersections where roundabouts were installed and it has been a major blessing. With that being said, if traffic has no reason to slow down prior to the circle, and can enter the roundabout at high speeds (all ages), then the damn thing wasn't needed. Also drivers who do enter the circle at high speeds aren't watching for or yielding to other drivers already in the circle, therefore causing an increase in accidents at that intersection. There have been very few times that I've been on the roundabout, in our city, that I haven't had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting someone entering the circle at a high speed. Others haven't been as lucky as me and I'm sure my time will come.
Roundabouts are absolutely genius and keep traffic flowing
I live in a suburb of Sacramento CA. A while back I visited a relative in the hospital downtown. Going off the freeway down a main street for about 12 blocks, every intersection was random. Some had traffic signals. Some 4 way stop, some 2 way stop,some were no stop, and some were roundabouts....Talk about mental. Who built this town?
We have one in Peru, Illinois. Not sure whose bright idea it was, but its become the bane of my trips to town.
Put a cop in a guard shack in the center. This would make dealing with accidents more efficient.
Roundabouts are way better than traffic lights. Learning to be awake while driving helps.
Roundabouts are the reason I moved to Alabama, but if these people ever figure out roundabouts are like oval racetracks they will be everywhere!
I was born and raised and lived in Philly until 11 years ago. Oxford Circle along Rt. 1 -The Roosevelt Blvd., has always been an outstanding challenge. I avoided it like the plague. Well, I moved near Quakertown, Pa., and discovered the Roundabout! It seemed it was old, like Oxford Circle. I figured they learned some things and weren't building them anymore. But NO! They're doing more all of the time as they build neighborhoods! 🤣🤣🤣
We’ve done that Kingston Roundabout, on every ski trip to Belleayre. That rant was 💯 percent accurate.
Roundabouts are awesome. Now, the magic roundabouts that they have in the UK, they’re a challenge worth moaning about!
I’m dizzy just listening
The main problem with roundabouts is that when the traffic is backed up, it's almost impossible to go straight, because you have to merge left and then immediately right again with very little room, at least, the way that most roundabouts are designed. An overpass is a much simpler way. If you're going straight through, you don't have to change lanes or even slow down, and if you're making a turn, you have plenty of time to get into the correct lane, even with heavy traffic. Also, there's much more room for tractor trailers.
Of course, if we REALLY want to fix the traffic problem in this country, we'd get some decent fucking public transportation systems!
A roundabout with 2 lanes approaching it and going around is easy, for left turn_left lane then exit left, straight ahead_left lane then exit straight ahead, (notice you havent had to change lanes so far!) right turn_right lane, indicate right to exit before yours then indicate left, change lane and leave at your exit. If you are in the states for left read right and vice versa.
Hope that helps but probably not
As someone who went to UNI. Those Cedar Falls comments were FELT.
There are 4 roundabouts in a residential neighborhood here every 2 feet. I'm serious.
My dad who was 75 freaked out about a two lane round about every day about one being built before his death at least 3 years before his death
Well, come to Hamilton County Indiana, the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. We are the roundabout capital of the country. They're going up everywhere, but we have the most of any other county in the country.
Driven in the US and a four way stop to any sane driver is crazy… roundabouts are simple 😂 America is still stuck with inches and lbs so I’m not surprised…
Big Ben, Parliament 😁
In my Michigan, one of the biggest traffic accident spots is roundabouts. They are deadly! They have even put speedbumps in some of them!
then you need to learn HOW TO USE THEM.
@@davedixon2068 I have used them for 10 years! It's the other cars and drivers that can wipe you out on them.
@@johncipolletti5611 But at least if it is designed properly, they will be moving slower, so you might be injured but are much less likely to be killed. All you have to do now is improve driver training, probably impossible in the States I know but you could at least try it
@Dave Dixon Do you have a science or engineer background? Have you seen the circles in Europe? First, 90% of the cars going around a traffic circle aren't much bigger than a Ford Focus there. Next, their circles are 30 to 80% bigger. Most drivers outside the USA don't move at more than half of the speed our stupid drivers when entering a circle (see speed bump comment). So, this makes our circle two to three times more dangerous than in other countries (Europe).
@@johncipolletti5611 But you don't stop at red lights or stop signs either, so it isn't the roundabouts it's the exceptionally bad drivers in the states who according to the posts on this site can't understand simple rules to use a simple traffic calming measure. I have driven in the states and in Europe and I know which I prefer. The size of the circle is mostly irrelevant, many in the UK are called Mini Roundabouts and consist of a circle of white paint in the centre of the junction you just treat it as a roundabout with all the rules that pertain and its great. I am not saying everyone in the UK always does the right thing but most of the time its fine and accidents don't normally result in deaths as opposed to people blowing through redlights at a million mph. It would upset your police though; they wouldn't be able to ticket people for not stopping at stop signs cos they would all be yields.
I've lived with "rotary's" NOT "roundabouts" for my entire 67 years - and, yes I am from New England!
... rotaries*
@@einundsiebenziger5488 if i was talking about multiple rotaries, yes, but I was talking about individual ones not the congregation of them all
A way for local governments to spend taxpayers money and accomplish nothing with it. My city added 13 of them on one stretch of road. At a cost est of $1-2 million each that is $13-26 million for 1 road. Heaven forbid they don't f'up a perfectly good intersection with light by changing it to a roundabout.
Could we just take the money and invest it in something useful. Like local schools. Or added police to enforce existing traffic laws.
police must be upset not being able to ticket you for not stopping at the junctions now
Could turn signals be used in a traffic roundabout?
I live in New England and round abouts drives me nuts! What is wrong with traffic lights or stop signs!
... roundabouts* drive* me nuts. They make traffic more fluid because you don't have to wait for a light to change (and they improve your spelling😜).
The nation that (allegedly) went to the moon can't handle driving in a circle
It is not the roundabouts that are the problem. It is the American drivers that do not know how to use them. Not that I know how to use them. I am American.
I play City Skylines. I love roundabouts.
i play euro truck simulator 2 ... i hate roundabouts
@@cjc5478 so we are both correct. nice!
Around Massachusetts it's called a ROTARY!
How did they come up with that? Do you drive on it and that thing rotates like a conveyor belt to drop you off at your chosen exit? A rotary is normally something that rotates by itself.
@@einundsiebenziger5488 Beats me, but there are conspicuously large signs on the "circle" to remind you that you're on a ROTARY. Maybe it's because the cars rotate around it
You should do a visual about what to do and what not to do when approaching the roundabouts. It would be hilarious!!!
A very different take than Yes, for one thing. 😂😊
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley
@@poohbeartube Lewis makes it sound far less appealing. Dangerous, even. 😊😂🤣🤣😉👍
They're is a double roundabout close to where I live.
For the life of me that's the most confusing combination.
My 83 year old mother can navigate that better than me.
Just do what we citizens of Cotati, California did....get a ballot measure to ban roundabouts on your ballot as we did in 2012. It was successful and now roundabouts are banned here in Cotati indefinitely. The roundabout plan is actually not about the physicality of the roundabouts, but about poor planning and insistence on roundabouts throughout the city needlessly that led to the ban.