Why Traffic Lights Are an EPIC Mistake
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- Traffic Lights: PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at PDSDebt.com/twobitdavinci
As an engineer I love digging into unintended consequences, or things in our lives that we always thought were there to make us safer, but sometimes have the opposite effect. The classic example is the age old traffic light, which was a brilliant idea to minimize traffic and bring safety to intersections. But there's a huge problem and this one was really interesting, and I think there's probably a better way to do this. Let's talk about road safety, and intersections, one of the most dangerous parts of our modern lives.
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Chapters
0:00 - Introduction
1:00 - Findings
4:50 - Real World Data
5:40 - Why Are they Dangerous?
7:50 - New Designs
9:00 - The Roundabout
10:40 - Why Don't we Use them?
13:25 - Negatives
15:20 - Public Perception
what we'll cover
two bit da vinci,traffic light,traffic safety,driving safety,roundabouts vs.,roundabouts vs traffic lights,roundabouts vs intersections,americans vs roundabouts,How Traffic Lights Actually Kill More People,green light traffic safety,road safety traffic light,are roundabouts better,are roundabouts safer,are traffic intersections safe,why is speeding dangerous,how to make a better intersection, How Traffic Lights Are Killing People - Is There a Better Way?, The TRUTH About Traffic Lights - This Will Surprise You, Why Traffic Lights Are an EPIC Mistake - Наука та технологія
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Many Cities build the "round a bouts" WAY too small.. then a 18 wheeler comes along and has to literally DRIVE Over the middle of it just to go Straight.. This causes Problems......Snow plowing the Tiny ones ( Raised center section) IS a Problem.
What I should have said to you when you were asking me about a type of technology. - "Your house is already a solar chimney." Although 2 story houses work better.
Round-abouts are great but your base premise was extremely flawed. Replacing traffic lights with round-abouts and seeing accident death go down just proves around-abouts are safer than + intersections, not that traffic lights are causing more accidents than without traffic lights with everything else being the same.
You even indirectly mention correlation isn't causation with saying that traffic lights are put in already dangerous intersections. And on the flip side a quiet intersection in a residential area with no throughway will experience low accidents despite the lack of lights. But then completely go off on a tangent about round-abouts. You have not proven traffic lights are more dangerous than not traffic lights with everything else being the same under any circumstance at all.
Also there are different types of traffic lights, like some that have separate turn lights and others don't. A traffic light near me both sides are waiting for the light to turn green so they can get in each others way and take turns since the people turning get in the way of the people going straight and due to the nature of the intersection alot of people do a particular turn.
The first half of your video doesn't match the second. I already knew of the benefits of round-abouts, if you wanted to talk about round-abouts you should have started with that premise about traffic lights that you in the end never proved or even really provided evidence for.
Traffic lights don't kill people. Bad drivers, including DUI drivers, that politicians allow to continue to drive or are the ones who kill people. If Two Bit da Vinci would care to find out the percentage of traffic deaths caused by at fault drivers with DUI record or at fault accident record, I'm sure the blame should shift towards the bad drivers that should not be allowed to drive.
Even though roundabouts have lower fatality rates, they require a lot of space for a large center island at each intersession. The crowded cities in the USA simply do not have such extra space for roundabouts at most intersections. That's why roundabouts are used mostly in less crowded cities in Europe and the USA and in the suburbs and they can only exist in small numbers in big cities.
To normalize the data wouldn't you need to compare traffic flow to fatalities rather than number of signal vs non signal intersections? If 100 drivers go through every signal intersection for every 1 driver through a non signal intersection then that tells a totally different story than if it's 1:1
Exactly 👍🏻
Agreed. The data here should be normalized using the overall flux through each intersection. Traffic lights get implemented when stop signs don't keep up with the amount of traffic.
That's what he did when he highlighted Carmel, Indiana. They had traffic lights, gathered the statistics, switched to roundabouts, and compared the results.
@@mileselam641 he initially compared the ratio of traffic light intersections to non traffic light intersections and then adjusted the results by 10x to adjust, instead of using the actual # of vehicles passing through the intersections. Obviously traffic light intersections will have significantly higher amounts of traffic passing through them, hence the need for them. It's not a debate between which is safer, lights or roundabouts, it's simply a misuse of data.
Yeah I'm shocked that they didn't realize this. There are a bunch of flaws in the way they analyzed the data on this video.
I live in Australia, and yes, roundabouts work really well in low/medium volume areas.But If you have peak traffic in one direction, you are stuck waiting for a car in the opposite direction to stop the peak flow. Hence, some roundabouts do have lights to break the flow.
That is the biggest problem with roundabouts. My route to work took me through one and the traffic flow was so imbalanced during peak period that my road always suffered tailbacks of about a kilometre, but sometimes worse. The absolute worst was around 2.5km! Then they replaced it with traffic lights and now I can get through that intersection in a fraction of the time. And the only near-accident I've had in that intersection was when it was still a roundabout and someone failed to yield to me and nearly T-boned me.
@@BernardDoove Also an Aussie... a congested roundabout did seem to work much better, when keeping the roundabout but adding traffic lights at a couple of the entries.
People are able to merge onto freeways on demand, regardless of the amount of approaching traffic, because following distances are usually big enough to safely merge into. Larger roundabouts are basically mini freeways - if while waiting you leave enough room in front to accelerate, you can take smaller gaps.
If you need the capacity, the Dutch have invented turbo roundabouts for these. They are more of a spiral than round, pretty cool stuff.
Yes. In a round-about, there is no traffic isolation between congested direction and non-congested direction.
With traffic lights, if one direction is congested (say going north), all other directions (going south, ease, west) are unaffected.
With a round-about, you have congestion in one direction, the entire intersection is now paralyzed. Roundabouts are horrible during rush hours.
Living in Europe, I've seen some roundabouts getting traffic lights added to them. It's like a mix of the old roundabout way but with lights at the entrances to help manage the flow and keep things safe. From what I understand, adding lights makes it easier for drivers to know when to go, especially when it's busy or the layout's complicated. It helps avoid jams and keeps cars, bikes, and people on foot from getting into it with each other because everyone's on the same signal.
I've read that roundabouts are already safer since they cut down on really bad crashes. Instead of those direct hit crashes at intersections, you get more of those glancing blows if anything. The whole slowing down and easing into traffic thing they have going on helps a lot with that.
Mixing traffic lights into roundabouts seems like a smart move for places that are really busy or have tricky roads. It's like getting the best of both worlds, making driving smoother and less of a guessing game.
I saw that a lot in Spain… it’s an interesting point and one that would have required a lot more research. Cheers!
Yeah I am to post about this. There was a roundabout that had horrible traffic problems in peak hour and my bus to university used to go through there. They added just one traffic light and it significantly improved traffic through it.
Have you ever tried to walk across a crosswalk at a rotary during rush hour? Not me, I wouldn’t even think of it.
No doubt those lights are for American drivers. They're still freaking out over here whenever a new roundabout gets built.
Roundabouts(without traficlights) work up to a specific number of cars per hour, a Rotary(Basicly a T intersection for every street) can work with lower speeds but there are more crashes on them. There is a minimum theshold of cars peer Hour where Trafficlights are the best for Trafficflow and Safety, when you have a trafficflow that exeeds that what a light can handle you need to find other ways. The Problems you have so that you need to add Lights to a Roundabout is only the indecator that you need to redesign the Trafficflow with other options to stear traffic away from that Roundaboit
Greetings! We have many new roundabouts in Arizona and they do work once you get over the fear of having to use your own judgement!
But do Drivers ED teachers Teach how they work? ( 2 lane ones)?
why would they teach things that people wont ever see (for the most part)? They don't teach folks how to merge properly onto highways - and that's a much bigger and more prevalent issue than roundabouts.
As an Australian I used to love roundabouts everywhere we could have them. Then I got chronic migraine and going 3/4 of a circle around a roundabout just hurts.
They're still good, though. The problem is my head, not the roundabout. But I appreciate when there's an alternate route that doesn't use them.
Edmonton, Alberta in Canada was using traffic circles long before they were a thing in other cities. They were okay at first, but as traffic volumes increased, they had to start controlling access into the circles with traffic lights. Many circles have been removed and replaced with conventional, light controlled intersections.
@@Formulabruce 2 lane roundabouts are being phased out in favor of the more intuitive multi lane turbo-roundabouts. I haven't seen good explanations of how to exit 2 lane roundabouts. The trick is to imagine you are trying to exit the highway from the passing lane - you have to keep your speed up to stay in front of the car on the right lane, and then you will be able to make your exit.
Spokane Washington has been putting in round-abouts for the last 15 years (maybe more) but has about 20 or less. I love them for the fact that, while you will have to slow down for them, most likely you won't have to stop for them. It can get annoying when people panic and do not enter the round-about, even though they had plenty of time to do so safely. Over all, once you are used to them, they are a great traffic control design.
In Australia it's the Asian and Indian that wait until there is 3 kilometres clear in all directions, the rest of us you slow down then merge
That's the problem with roundabouts. The big issue with the US is driving licenses are handed out like happy meal toys because in most places you can't live without a car, therefore there is a ton of people on the road who just can't be trusted with a 2 ton vehicle moving at speed. They just about manage normal intersections most of the time (the big crashes are reckless or distracted drivers), but you give them roundabouts and they can't handle them. Fatalities are bad, but property damage is not nothing in a country where most people are an unexpected $400 expense away from financial catastrophe.
Running costs of roundabout is 1/3 that of traffic lights. Keeps my property taxes low. If you’re wondering why your property taxes are going up it’s cause something has to power and maintain those lights. I live next to a roundabout and you can’t go fast on them unless you damage your car making them safer. @@paulie-g
To be honest, if you want people to reduce speeding in your neighborhood and have less taxes. You want more roundabouts. @@paulie-g
@@kevinmanan1304 All of those savings are going to be wiped out when you have to pay the deductible on a fender bender/side scrape, especially the case with modern unibody cars
A couple of years ago a nearby small town, population under 500, replaced a 4-way stop intersection with a traffic circle. That intersection gets a lot of traffic heading to a casino located about 15 miles farther on, so much of that traffic is not local. After installing a traffic circle, after having removed the stop signs, cars would go straight, slamming into the hill/landscaping in the circle. You'd see a skid marks heading straight, up the curb, and onto the landscaping. Eventually, that stopped. Now it is working fine, and the thing I like most about it is that instead of people taking turns, at a 4-way stop, they cooperate, they work together, getting through the intersection. It's also nice not having to stop.
Yeah, I'm sure all the people who ended up mangling their cars are thrilled with your traffic management innovation
@@paulie-g roundabouts work by transforming all turns into right turns. right turns are the easiest turns. People who failed to slow for the roundabout probably also would not have seen a crossing moose, or a disabled vehicle, or any other obstacle that motorists should look ahead and pay attention to.
@@FullLengthInterstates ~ Well said!
Yesterday, I was about to rush to make a yellow light, but I slowed down instead after watching this video :)
The trick is to honk before going through the intersection!
@@grandfrosty does it work better if you have train horn?
@@fulconandroadcone9488 it sure works better when you drive a train :D
I did too, I slowed down... and the car behind banged into me 🤷
@grandfrosty
Red light camera tickets. In a lot of states, if you keep running yellow lights, you'll feed a whole village.
There is another down-side to roundabouts, that if the flow of traffic is not roughly equal on each of the enterances, the one with the heaviest flow tends to block the others. Often roundabouts also have traffic lights to relieve this problem - but then you get the same hold-ups you would get from just lights.
For small intersections, we (in the UK & Europe) have 'mini roundabouts' where the island in the middle is as small as a couple of feet in diameter - so they could be retrofitted to most intersections.
I dont see it as a downside much it does happen around rush hour roundabout near me uses the pedestrian crossings that are not far from the roundabout to help flow but it does not make it like a normal traffic light road it just helps flow as if not for the lights you would be sat longer on the roundabout waiting and it only comes on round rush hour time so it still way better then having a traffic light junctions as nothing more annoying sitting there at a red light early or at night with nothing coming only you and you have to wait for nothing as for some reason UK does not have sensored traffic lights much i have no idea why must be the cheap councils not wanting to put money into it.
Agreed. VERY efficient and safe with the movement of 2 lane (and some 4 lane) streets. Additionally, the mini’s take up only a marginally larger area than a standard 4-way stop intersection.
Signalized roundabouts are a curse. It's about the worst form of this particular type of intersection. Simply put, it's a bad idea.
I don't think I've waited longer getting in a roundabout from a lowflow entry compared to waiting a full cycle of light control. If there is a complete stop due to rush-hour/jam or pedestrian crossing causing a temporary halt/severe slowdown, the "rule of the road" is to mix every other to allow some flow. Only requires a bit of eye contact if you're the one supposed to yield.
Two problems I have with them are:
1) They can be too small - often as a result of nearby buildings restricting their size - causing problems for larger/longer vehicles like semi-trucks.
2) "Unconventional" dual lane entries that are not signed from above the road. The common rule (here) is that right lane is for turning right and going straight whereas the left lane is for turning left. If packed (like during rush hour) it's okay to go straight from the left lane. An "unconventional" here means the right lane is supposed to *ONLY* be for a right hand turn and going straight and left is supposed to use the left lane. This is signed on the road, and only on the road. At winter when those signs are unreadable, this causes problems for those not used to this style.
Those two negatives don't outweigh the benefits though. I absolutely despise having to wait for a light, I'd rather drive slow with progress than completely halt progress even for a little bit.
@@callmeswivelhips8229 I have seen some of those lets fix this problem such as lights in a roundabout, for the life of me I can't figure out why noone actually bother to learn how to drive to begin with. I could never understand how do you end up with 5 cars in a chain crash until I have seen some genius drive parking lot distance on a motor way. Problems are not intersections, round abouts, and what nots, it's drivers 99 out of 100 times, and that 1 will be handled well by a skilled driver anyways.
In western Canada our municipalities are removing traffic lights and installing roundabouts and finding that traffic flows smoother and with far less injuries and fatalities. Traffic actually flows faster even though individual cars have to slow down. Remember the old saying from a movie "slower is smoother, smoother is faster." There is a strange idiosyncrasy among the citizens of the U.S. in that they're particularly reluctant to change even when that change will reap untold benefits. Changing to roundabouts is one example. changing to the metric system is another.
How about the one in Edmonton where they added lights to the old roundabout near Westmount Mall. That is such a shytshow.
Smoother flowing traffic is a problem for pedestrians and vehicles at small intersections. Because there are no big breaks in heavy traffic, it’s almost impossible for them to find a break big enough to fit into, so now you will have more vehicle-pedestrian accidents and more vehicle accidents at small intersections between roundabouts. And why do you Canadians always want to talk about the metric system? Are you trying to console yourselves for having forcibly adopted it and lost your freedom in the process? You use it, you like it, you can keep it. We’ll use what we like and keep that, because we prefer being free rather than walking in lock-step the way Big Brother government wants us to.
@@ethanlamoureux5306in smooth Flows you don't need big breaks, you flow in smoothly. That goes for vehicles and pedestrians. If everything is smooth it's easy to predict.
I think you have never seen a roundabout. And how is it freedom if you are too scared to change something for the better?
If Americans don't like something they often claim that they have more freedom. But the opposite is true. Freedom comes from lack of worries, to know you are safe, that help is available. It does not come from lack of rules and shooting at each other. Americans are some of the most scared people in the world, scared of getting sick, being shot, change in general, losing a job.... losing your house, migrants and other outsiders. That's not freedom, it's slavery to fear. Easily controlled by your government and big business.
Go travel outside the US and ask some questions, you might actually learn what freedom means.
@@ethanlamoureux5306
All vehicles move slower than usual, so they might be able to stop and wait for a few peds to cross the road and keep on moving
As for the Metric system, it's nice and easy to use and you don't need a fucking chart and a precision calculator just to convert from one unit into another
Imperial system is a hideous unstandardized inconsistent abomination that was gradually made up by locals in different places at different times
It was a temporary solution that was needed in order to have a way of measuring things at all
All countries had their own incompatible systems at some point, yet have thrown them away for a one that's actually MADE to be a whole thing with consistent and easy way to convert things around
This also made most countries rely on a single standard, which made it cross-compatible
@@bzuidgeest I am very familiar with roundabouts, we have several in my area. You’re talking about the flow of traffic within the roundabout, but I’m talking about the flow of traffic on the open street where there are neither roundabouts nor traffic lights. That is where you have problems with the traffic being difficult because there are no breaks imposed by traffic lights.
I think you have no concept of freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean the ability to change something for the better, it means the ability to choose what you will use. See, I can use the metric system or the American system, and even use them both, without government demanding I use one system over the other. And it’s not like we have no rules, we have fewer rules enforced by Big Brother Government. And when you describe Americans as living in fear, you apparently are taking your knowledge of Americans from American media or other politically Left sources. The American Left is fearful but the American Right is confident. That’s why we carry guns: we’re not afraid of criminals, and we would like to keep it that way.
Believe it or not, I have lived outside the United States, I spent some time in Québec, specifically Gaspésie, where the people are more French speaking than in France and the culture is very different from the US. I got along very well and made great friendships with the people there. And I learned how to use “kee-lo-meh-tra” instead of miles (a little more than half a mile, they go by too fast) and all the rest of that 10-obsessed system. I even used Loonies and other weird money with pictures of the Queen and maple leaves and such.
This is why I always feel safer driving in Ladera Ranch than any other part of OC - the roundabouts do a fantastic job of keeping everyone’s driving in check.
Really? Very interesting, I live in San Diego, not sure I knew!
@@TwoBitDaVinciYeah, there are 5 of them on O’Neill Drive and 6 on Sienna Parkway, plus some others on side streets that branch off of those main ones, and those roundabouts make it much safer to drive out there than it does in Mission Viejo where I live.
Long Beach, CA has some too. My opinion is they make busy intersections safer. Unfortunately I have no data to back that up.
I first got familiar with the roundabouts in the UK and definitely like them. Where I live now in the Pacific Northwest we are getting more and more, and people seem to adjust and learn. Two thumbs up.
While I personally like roundabouts, where I live in Phoenix so many drivers don't understand how to use them that they're extra dangerous.
We have a couple here in my city in Merida Venezuela and they work perfectly. With power going out for 2 to 3 hours every day and no maintenance, approaching a traffic light here is more stressful than being a flight controller in JFK
I'm 63 and live in rural farmland Missouri. 2 years ago out in the rural area, the state put in 2 roundabouts on a highway about 8 miles apart. As expected the farm people didn't want them. But after completion, the stubborn farm people quickly loved them! So much quicker and safer than the old intersections, which did have their share of deaths.
Drove 2,200 miles in the British countryside encountering only one stop sign. The only traffic lights we encountered were used to alternate one lane traffic around road repair construction. Roundabouts were normal at intersecting roads and very efficient. We are see more and more roundabouts now being built in the USA, but find most drivers do not know how to signal into, through, and out of roundabouts making them inefficient and less safe than they are in Europe.
To be fair, most drivers in the U.K. don't know, or are too lazy, to signal properly at roundabouts, but I think that's a universal truth about motorists. *8')
Like most American drivers, I didn’t have much experience with roundabouts - until a road-trip in the UK about 20 years ago. After the first few interactions and observing the proper etiquette, I grew to love them. Once they started popping up in our area (very sparingly), the biggest issue was the US drivers’ unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge of proper roundabout usage. It’s amazing how many people don’t know-or are willing-to yield to the vehicles in the roundabout AND to signal when you exit so other vehicles will know it’s safe to enter
As a matter of fact, roundabouts are better than traffic lights.
In Uganda along major highways in the city, we have both! And trust me, they work very well even in such a low developed country.
And save scarce transportation funds. Aren't affected by the frequent power blackouts, ferer vandals...
Because Idi Amin said they were...
Makes sense. How well roundabouts work in a country is directly proportional to how much people respect and care about each other, and in less wealthy countries people have to care about each other more than in stupidly rich countries.
@@tealkerberus748 yeah that is why many poor countries have civil wars and such
We have a couple round-a-bouts where I live. The problem is that most (stupid) drivers come to a complete stop at the Yield sign even when no others cars are in the round-a-bout and it backs up traffic behind them.
Yah it would require a reeducation which is tricky
As long as there's a moderate number of roundabouts, people get used to them. I'm in Canada and there's way more traffic circles than there were 20 years ago. People do fine now unless there's 2+ lanes; then it depends on how well the lines are drawn. It can be a pain for pedestrians to walk around here, but it is safer because usually the crosswalk is one car-length behind the actual traffic circle so cars don't have to watch for pedestrians & cars at the same time.
I have trouble with the argument that people aren’t used to them. If you can’t drive on a roundabout, you shouldn’t have a drivers license.
@@gregessex1851 I had my license for several years before going around my first roundabout. We didn't have many in my town in Canada back then. However the best way to get used to them is to have more.
@@nathanbanks2354 if 16 year old learner drivers can cope with them ok, you would hope that people who have been driving 2 tonne boxes of metal around for 10 years can pick it up even easier. It’s not a technical challenge, it’s a resistance to change.
Here in Australia we have a lot of roundabouts and some of them still need lights to control the flow because you would have traffic backing up at one entrance point.
This lights only operate in peak hour traffic.
@Two Bit da Vinci come to Houston TX. Every single intersection with a stop light, every single time you're at an given light, there will be several people, cars, truck, semi truck, that run a red light at high speed. Every time.
I hear that! Happens here in CA too
A mother and son from my church were recently killed by a drunk with a rat's tail of DUIs in broad daylight, going through a 30 school zone at 80 to 100mph. (Broomfield, CO Denver area)The US is full of drug addled scum in SUVs. Yet because many people can't live a normal life without a car DUI sentences, while expensive, don't always result in taking away the license.
Do you not have number plate recognition cameras on the junctions for going through reds? In London at least I would say a huge amount of non roundabout junctions have them and send the fine automatically. Roundabouts are massively better than traffic lights Imo especially ones where you cant blaze straight over them and in The US I would think they would be much easier to implement than in a lot of dense European towns and cities. I've only driven on a couple of trips in the US but it was way more chaotic than driving in Europe partly because it seemed like there were no rules about overtaking or indicating.
@@baldytail In the US rich offenders have engaged lawyers to fight automatic speed camera verdicts. In several states, eg Arizona, it has made the system unworkable and they have given up on it. Also, US cops, of whom I have a well supported low opinions, are little better than highway robbers. Untold number of towns in the boonies have traffic fines as their number one source of income. Police waylay people in places where it's perfectly safe to go fast with very little traffic and no-one around for miles and visibility to the horizon.
then there's always that 18 wheeler that barrels through the red light and takes 20 seconds to complete the left hand turn, thus making the opposing traffic miss their green light almost entirely.
In the UK we also have 'Mini-roundabouts'
Can be up to 6ft wide and the same systems apply.
They can be placed on any existing road.
Also if you want to see Roundabouts appear in the US overnight, some of the roundabouts have advertising in them.
Or are sponsored by a local firm or business.
More often than not these roundabouts have flowers and scrubs on them.
Turn them into Solar patches.
Roundabouts are great.
BTW we do see the humour in a Magazine just about Roundabouts. We love them because it's lame.
Love your Channel Sir.
Love from Liverpool UK
The problem with mini roundabouts which have been sprouting up all over the UK over the last twenty years is that many drivers feel they have the right to approach them at speed and then 'straightline' across them (the roundabout may be no more than a painted circle on the road surface) while expecting other road users to give way. Their introduction has led to many more traffic collisions, and in my view contributed to a reduction in road safety and a deterioration in driver behaviour
@@brendanpowell8184 Do you have any evidence for that? My observation is just the opposite - they make junctions safer.
@@brendanpowell8184 "Mini-roundabouts" have been added at a lot of intersections in Australia as well. Perhaps because the avg road is wider than in the UK (?), this seems to worked quite well. Although occasionally you do see someone speed through obviously faster than is "safe" IMO. I have no numbers re accidents, but they seem reasonably safe here.
We've had that in my part of the US for many decades. We refer to them as traffic circles, and they do function a bit like an extremely small roundabout. They usually have a small tree or similar to block visibility to the road ahead to encourage people to slow down, as if the relatively large size of the traffic circle to the size of the total intersection doesn't already.
@@brendanpowell8184 Do they have trees and bushes planted in them? The ones around here do, and it makes it rather hard for people to try to drive too quickly through.
Another major issue with traffic lights is that they are not always timed properly. In my neighboring city there's a light for going from the main state road to turn left to get on the interstate that crosses over it.
Well, the light to turn left is "literally"
Seem purposefully timed to interrupt flow.
@@GLHerzbergTo be technical, Traffic Lights are by design to Interrupt Flow. that is their sole purpose.
having a light less than 5 seconds for a cycling is absurd (and I've counted it as short as 2 seconds). I don't care the reason.
By setting that light to such a short cycling, they are causing an increase risk of accidents on the main road as the turn lane has to back up onto it.
And ppl who get irritated for having missed multiple signals rush out on to the main road, floor it to the next left turn lane that doesn't have a light (about 1000ft away) and do a u-turn and dart across the oncoming traffic.
@@GLHerzberg I don't think interrupt flow means causing jams.
I've noticed a few yellow lights lately that are so short that if you don't immediately slam on your brakes in moderate traffic you can't clear the intersection before the light turns red. IMHO, all yellow lights should be at least a specific time based on the expected traffic speed just so that that doesn't happen.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Around here, most Yellow lights are set to about the same time limit, I think about 3-5 seconds, depending on speeds of the intersection.
But being so short that you need to slam on brakes is insane
I'm from Bahrain and we have lots of roundabouts. We are changing many of them to traffic lights. Main problem with roundabouts is that they are horrible if there is lots of traffic. That lane with traffic will basically hog up the roundabout and the other lanes can have longer and longer queues.
It's true that roundabouts are problematic once traffic volume increases too much. Seen this happen where I live in Australia. Using lights at some roundabouts certainly seems to work well.
In London UK. There are roundabouts that also utilises traffic lights to manage traffic flow during rush hour.
Another plus point for round about is if you take a wrong turn. A round about will safely let you go back where you came from.
Seattle has numerous roundabouts plopped right in the middle of narrow residential intersections. As a result I've gotten quite used to them. But after decades of them being here, drivers are still pretty clueless about entering / yielding, etc. For instance, a newspaper poll once found that for left hand turns, nearly half of drivers were cutting directly to the left instead of driving counterclockwise around the island.
Not sure how they would work in the middle of narrow busy city streets that are already hard to drive through. You can't move the buildings and the amount of people crossing the street constantly would either stop the cars or the cars would stop the people.
Those are traffic circles, they do function like tiny one lane roundabouts, but they're usually a bit different in terms of having plantings and you usually being able to proceed straight through.
I love roundabouts and traffic circles. I first experienced them early in my driving time in Germany and the benefits were obvious if a little intimidating initially. Now we have them in Michigan Ohio and Indiana and the biggest issue is getting people used to them here in the US. The flow is so much better.
Another variable I didn't hear at the beginning was the frequency of use for unsignalled compared to signalled. Now their might be WAY less signalled intersections but they're also used at a MUCH higher frequency. That's a big reason they get installed in the first place. So not only compare ratio of signalled to unsignalled to amount of use for each as well and you'll likely find they're more consistent to each other than you think.
Exactly. My guess is that there's no easily accessible data for this, hence people don't normalise this way even though they should, and we get this sort of drivel. Showing the Arc de Triomphe roundabout in Paris in a video about how roundabouts are good and safe is just.. indefensible.
My question is, out of those how many are driver fault and how many had conditions where driver could not reasonably determent who has the right of way.
Thank you, Ricky for tackling the issue of roundabouts and all their many benefits compared to traffic signals. We have many roundabouts here in British Columbia where I live, and across Canada. Roundabouts are a no brainer if you do the math of traffic fatalities, crashes, and maintenance costs. They have a learning curve, but most drivers get educated pretty quickly. I also love the point you made about how they can be a beautiful focal point. I used to live in Vancouver and the city added them at every intersection on my street to slow down the traffic. They worked brilliantly, and the city even had a program of letting residents adopt a traffic circle. I adopted the one next to my home and I was given a budget of $500 to plant it. After planting it, I also watered and maintained it. It was like having a beautiful garden in the middle of the intersection.
I hope the U.S. gets onboard to stop the slaughter at the intersections.
Thanks for sharing such an important topic. 👍
Usually your videos show a lot of depth of thought, but this one seems on the light side. I'd like to see another video on this topic address oversized vehicles, bicycles, pedestrian traffic, busses, emergency vehicles, and other things that don't fit the average car/truck size.
Right, how do pedestrians negotiate roundabouts? Are we so vehicle, automobile, centric?
Eh? Don’t you think such types of traffic do exist in Europe as well and it clearly works there. Even stronger, they have way more bicycle and pedestrian traffic than the US.
Europe caters to non car/truck traffic better. How much effect on fatalities/injuries does the near complete lack of thought toward anything but engine powered vehicles when designing roads/intersections in the USA, add to issues. The bigger cars/pick-ups in the USA - add what to the numbers? The bigger discrepancy in size between smallest and largest cars - affects numbers? The fact bigger suvs and pick-ups are considered trucks for crash tests and have different standards - how does that affect numbers.
@@usuallyscott7907 Here in Australia we tend to have pedestrian crossings near larger round-abouts.
We have dozens of new round-abouts in the Dallas Fort Worth Area. Saves about $1Million in just not having signal lights per intersection. I love Round-Abouts.
Roudabouts SUCK.
I was in Carmel last November so that was the first thing I thought about seeing this video. Holy shit it was like fighting for my life every moment of driving in that place. Never a moments rest! In the other hand it definitely made driving a more engaging experience and I felt like I got from A to B more quickly. Now that could just be because I didn't spend any time just sitting still but it still felt that way. I'd love to see more roundabouts used throughout the US.
Before many intersection change,s we had a much worse problem with people being on their cell phones at lights. That change alone was wild for traffic flow.
How are we 500 comments in, and no-one has mentioned the 'Magic Roundabout' in Swindon, UK? It's amazing! Five roundabouts centred around another roundabout. Great fun!
There's a crazy one on US23 south of Brighton Michigan. You can see 5 roundabouts on the map. Going through it you have to pick your lane carefully to get where you want to go. I don;'t know how you do it if the pavement markings are covered by snow.
I am in favor of roundabouts. Our town installed 2, not to replace signals, but to allow a road to be reopened that was deemed dangerous. People were freaking out a bit, but they were simple.
On a vacation to Turks and Caicos, we drove from the airport to the resort and hit ZERO signals. All roundabouts.
I do have ideas to make signalized intersections safer. Extend the yellow light time, and extend the "offset" from red to green, so that all directions are red for a longer period of time.
That's roughly how we started getting them. They were mostly being installed in rural areas because people would think they didn't need to stop when there's rarely any cross traffic. There was the space, so eventually they started installing roundabouts so that there was a much lessened chance of people killing each other in a t-bone collision at 50mph.
I’m lucky to have four rotaries in my immediate area. If drivers don’t use the opportunity to check their phones before entering there’s rarely any holdups at them. Love them.
A very interesting video. I live in the UK, and it is a natural experience to encounter roundabouts when driving. It is fascinating to see other countries road networks. I once holidayed on a small island in Spain, they had just installed their first and only roundabout, it became a weekend attraction, with families travelling to see the roundabout. Your research is spot on, and well researched, however we have encountered a problem in the UK, some roundabout's, at peak times have traffic lights operational to even the flow of traffic. The rule here, because we drive on the left, with the controls on the right, is always give way to the right. Some major roads are so busy at peak times that without traffic lights, a driver would be sat giving way for a very long time.
I love round-abouts. There is a learning curve if you are not use to it. I learned on a very large one that helped me understand them. My city has been replacing traffic lights over the past 2 decades. Great video. Thanks
In 2022 I did a road trip vacation in France and Spain and became very familiar with roundabouts. My city, in Arizona, just last year installed a new roundabout near the downtown area, replacing the traffic lights that were at that intersection before. The biggest downside is so many people come to a stop and wait needlessly as they're so unfamiliar and unsure about roundabouts. But, it's a great thing once people figure out how to drive.
I think, roundabouts work well for 2 to 3 lane roads. Anything more is at least challenging. Here in Germany there aren't that many roads with more than 2 lanes, however I saw many examples of 4 or 5 lane roads in this Video alone.
I think, that roundabouts are a good thing, IF the conditions are right.
Many roundabouts in the UK also have traffic lights to enter
Some. As a percentage is very few, BUT I'd agree it's the major roundabouts that do.
My city has one of those too. I don't consider it a roundabout at that point: just 4 signaled intersections spaced very closely together.
I knew you were going to bring up roundabouts!
My current town just installed its first roundabout at a dangerous intersection. It took a while to build, takes more space. But I haven't heard of any accidents in the years since it's been built.
I live in Massachusetts where we have loads of roundabouts, and there are multiple other cons of roundabouts not mentioned in this video which materialize when one takes everyone other than motorists into account:
1. Their larger footprint means that pedestrians have further to walk in order to cross the roundabout (and this can be SIGNIFICANT for disabled pedestrians
2. Because there are no traffic signals, pedestrians rely on motorists to choose to yield at crosswalks, and the constant motion of cars in the roundabout results in motorists not wanting to stop for pedestrians, lest they gum up the works and get honked at and/or rear-ended. Also, roundabouts double the number of crossings pedestrians need to make.
3. When accounting for pedestrian and bicycle crossings, there are actually 24 conflict points in roundabouts, rather than 8
4. The most common way motorists strike pedestrians and cyclists is when turning right (this is so common that it is given its own term: the right-hook). Every conflict point on a roundabout is a right-hook or similar waiting to happen
5. Because traffic enters and leaves roundabouts at shallow angles rather than right angles or head-on, the visibility of cyclists and pedestrians is significantly lower than at every conflict point in an intersection except for the right-hook (in which case, the visibility is about the same)
6. The same stuff I brought up in point 2 also applies to cars crossing the bike lane. We rely on motorists to stop for us multiple times if we're going anywhere past the first exit, and there is nothing aside from a motorist's conscience to stop the cars and let us cross
The scariest intersections I've had to navigate as a cyclist in Boston are roundabouts and intersections with slip lanes (come to think of it, a roundabout is just a bunch of slip lanes that bleed into one another). Roundabouts could work if we were a lot stricter on who we license to drive, but because the US is so car-dependent, driving is seen as more of a right than a privilege, which results in many people who shouldn't drive being given licenses, lest they be deprived of independent mobility. Dutch-style roundabouts with separated cycle paths that are situated further out from the hub help increase visibility, but they don't help at all if motorists don't choose to stop for cyclists and pedestrians.
There is one problem with round abouts, tractor trailers are not made for round abouts, they are to long for them as the trailer always follows inside lane as the tractor is in the outside lane, cars don't know the angle of a truck in a turn. I have put many of vehicles up in the center of the round abouts they think they can pass but learn the hard way that you can't pass a truck in a round about!!!
This is an issue in my area.
No big surprise. Passing a tractor trailer truck is hazardous in a roundabout, in a signaled intersection, or just driving on a straight road. Stay well away if at all possible, and don't try anything fancy in their close proximity. Their driver visibility is even worse than SUVs.
Roundabouts are great.
Where I live in Europe, I’ve seen problem intersections solved literally by the city simply setting up a single traffic cone in the middle of an intersection, some paint, and plaster roundabout and yield signs.
That's effectively what Seattle did decades ago for many residential streets. The traffic circles are more or less that, except with a 6' circle in the middle that's planted with a tree and some bushes. It effectively turns it into an all way stop, except without the need to actually stop if there's nobody coming from your right.
New construction projects in Northern Nevada are seeing more roundabouts continuously. Many older and smaller intersections are being updated as well. Love them.
Hi, I'm from NE Indiana. They recently replaced a four-way stop at the intersection of two 2-lane state roads near me. I LOVE IT!!! It took a little time to get used to, but, no stopping! IT'S GREAT! I'm sure that's much better for large trucks, too.
I once read about another reason that roundabouts might be opposed in the US. At one time, traffic circles were trialled in the US. Unlike roundabouts, where traffic entering the roundabout are required to give way to traffic already on the roundabout, in the case of traffic circles, traffic already in the circle has to give way to traffic entering the circle. This led to poor traffic flow. Memory of this experience could result in a misguided opinion on roundabouts.
THIS! Traffic circles are an abomination. Every single one I ever encountered handled the traffic differently, and it wasn't even consistent at the same one. You can't just say "yield to traffic already inside", because the circles are usually grafted onto an existing major thoroughfare; unless you add traffic lights into the mix, drivers on the "main road" will just assume that they have the right of way.
A roundabout always gives right of way to the vehicle already in the round about. If that's not the case, it's not a round about, it's an accident inducing abomination. Sounds like the problem was with traffic engineers trying to be too clever in the situations you describe and not doing an actual roundabout (possibly the scenario was just a tough intersection to solve, and just because roundabouts are usually a good solution, doesn't mean they always are). Sad that it gave somes people a negative view.
@@darrenmx I think you need to read the posts above a little more closely. What is called a "traffic circle" in the US is emphatically NOT a "roundabout".
@@kayl456jenna yeah, wow, I did conflate them (to be fair, so does Google!). Just read about traffic circles, that's just a nightmare. We have occasional signalled roundabouts in Oz, but they still work (surprisingly) well. Traffic circles look like they take only the bad parts of roundabouts with none of the benefits!
@@darrenmx The best-functioning traffic circle I can think of is dominated (ie. has right-of-way through) by a major regional highway, and all other connecting roads defer to it (mind you, I've never been there at rush hour so YMMV). All the others require traffic signals to make them less of a mess than they are already. In one, the major highway is an overpass above the circle, but connected. In another, it's a signaled intersection for the highway (US Rt. 1), and the minimal "circle" just facilitates right and left turns off of it, and cross-traffic. That said, there are also perfectly nice and functional little true roundabouts in various neighborhoods.
America is so high on the list because we drive like a bunch of a-holes. There’s no courtesy given to other drivers because of how important we are.
And it seems that almost anything will trigger. It's gotten to where if my nose itches or I need to adjust my glasses in traffic, I don't react. People are NUTS!
I live in Maryland where a lot of counties use roundabouts to reduce congestion and it works very well. The traffic just keep flowing eliminating bottle necks.
In Edmonton, Alberta, round abouts have been used for years. As traffic volumes have increased, however, some round abouts have had to have traffic signals installed to control access. Some round abouts have been removed altogether and replaced with conventional, signal controlled intersections.
As a fifty year old man, screw the “change is bad” mentality. Bring on the roundabouts, EVs, cookie cutter nuke plants, residential solar/wind, bike lanes, etc. screw the entrenched financial interests, change brings innovation, entrepreneurs, small businesses and jobs.
I really like roundabouts for replacing 4-way stops or intersections that have a more or less equal amount of traffic intersecting. When one has far more traffic than the other a roundabout penalizes the one with more volume, assuming it's a smart light that gives that direction more green light time on average.
I've been hit by a car 7 times since 1985. It's a miracle I haven't been crippled or even killed.
Here in New Jersey, we have a few roundabouts. What bothers me are traffic circles. You have to yield to traffic entering it, which is an opposite rule.
I love roundabouts. I was afraid of them at first, but using one just a few times made me comfortable. Factor in the built-in safety factors, and I just love them. Better traffic flow, less waiting, and fewer fatalities make them an almost no-brainer. More, please.
I live right next to an intersection. I'm in the suburbs. Crossing in front of my property is a 4-lane. And it's a two-lane that intersects it. When I moved here, it had a light on it. Crashes happened several times a year. A few years ago, they removed the lights. I think there have been three since then, two of them happening shortly after they made the change.
In the past, being a "one-stoplight town" was an insult. We just need to make it a challenge.
I'm very used to roundabouts and remember their introduction in Sydney Australia as a boy. The massive hidden advantage of a roundabout is that if you miss your exit you can just keep on going around for a second chance. No drama, no fear no panic.
It also means one can avoid difficulties created by those drivers who cut in from behind to save a car space. Just go around again.
Our city of Sarasota has been converting intersections to roundabouts with many residents complaining. I love them as they do speed traffic and slow it down wait time at the same time. We have seen about the same number of accidents but I think this might be that we have a lot of tourists who don’t know where they are going and a fair number of senior drivers who don’t navigate as well. I think a lot of driver just aren’t familiar with them. Because we have a lot of visitors and part time residents we don’t have as many of them comfortable with roundabouts.
I too have visited many other countries and have been amazed at how few traffic lights and accidents there are. I wish we'd get more over here but I have also heard that most people get confused entering them....seems pretty easy to me but i dunno...Great video!
The safety of traffic lights (signaled intersections vs unsignaled) was actually studied with the before/after method somewhere in Northern Europe, and they found that injuries correlated with the traffic flow and not the intersection type. More traffic volume meant more injuries less meant less. In signaled intersections there were somewhat less but more serious crashes (resulting in deaths and serious injuries) while in unsignaled there were more crashes but less serious injuries.
The source of the study was verifiable and traceable, I have read it in a book called Target Risk that was made available free of charge on a website promoting the new book Target Risk 2. This was around 2006-2008 when I have read it. I am unable to find traces of it now but the study remains stuck in my head alongside other landmark studies like the Munich taxicab experiment where cabs equipped with ABS were not found safer, etc.
We have several here in Fresno and they're great. Once you know the rules circles are very easy to navigate, and I've seen plenty of people that don't know the rules merge on and off just fine (a little slower than others, but perfectly safe).
Traffic circles are used almost exclusively in Ireland on the highway system for merging and interchanges, they seemed to work for that as well (it was more unnerving being on the other side of the road than using a circle on the highway).
The locals used a saying "go straight through the roundabout" when giving directions. First time I heard it my response was "not possible, I'm going to need some help with this one."
Southern New Jersey (U.S.) had this figured out in the 1960s. They completely eliminated left turns on multi-lane roads. At intersections of two multi-lane roads, they used roundabouts. At intersections where a mutli-lane road intersected a single lane road, the used "jug handles" so that in order to make a left turn from the multi-lane road, you moved to the right and just past the intersection, exited onto a clover leaf like exit except that all roads are at the same elevation. At the end of the jug handle you merge into the right lane of the intersecting road and then cross over the road you were on (via a traffic signal) to accomplish a left turn. It was wonderful. Traffic flowed smoothly; all turns were made by turning right (and merging into the right lane) so slower traffic always kept right and there weren't vehicles slowing or stopping in the left lane. Virtually all of the roundabouts and jug handles have since been removed in favor of standard traffic signals. I thought it had to do with the volume of traffic and that, as the number of vehicles increased, traffic signals were either more efficient or safer but I don't know the real reason.
A key safety attribute of Roundabouts is that ALL vehicles have to slow significantly, irrespective of whether they wish to turn left, right or simply go straight on. When you see signs for an upcoming roundabout you know without any doubt that you need to slow and quite possibly stop. A major risk factor for traffic light interchanges is that the green-lit direction may be running at high speed while others vehicles are seeking to cross their path at very low speed.
Slowing is part of it, but I'd argue that reducing the angle between the cars from 90 degrees to something closer to 30-40 degrees has a massive impact.
Here in Washington State we have been getting a lot of new Round a Bouts. When talking about them to some friends, they get very upset because you have to slow down. I love them, even though it is a new thing here. I grew up with one 70 years ago in Signal Hill, in the LA area of SoCal. Here is the right saying: The only constant in this old world is Change! And we must change along with it or get left behind.
I know exactly where that one in Signal Hill is right on PCH. It was 3 lanes wide with additional slip lanes. They had lots of accidents, but almost all are minor. They restriped it a few years ago and it's much safer now and less confusing. But still confusing.
@@stevensmith4099Very cool!
Quite a few roundabouts in California. There's a famous one in Berkeley at the base of Marin that was built in 1911. Truckee famously installed a couple of round-abouts a decade or two ago that took quite a bit of work to push through, but people love them now. And neighborhood cross-streets have begun installing tiny little mini-round-abouts... really just barriers preventing straight-through driving so you have to do a bit of a wiggle, and that has been quite successful as well. I've driven through a bunch on the East Coast as well. I'm a big fan of roundabouts.... I think they are a great improvement.
In addition to the space issue (this troubles any location where you have narrow sidewalks near corners), it also makes things difficult for big vehicles (busses, trucks). It also means that a minor traffic issue will blick more traffic. And in one place I used to cross at, due to infrastructure near a junction which became a roundabout, it became nearly impossible for pedestrians to see right-turning traffic on one exit from the roundabout. And it destroys any option for bus lanes (an important thing to reduce the amount of traffic, which also reduces accidents) and light rail lines.
I feel like a slept on aspect of roundabouts is that they don't need to be a single intersection. You can get a lot of the benefits from them while zooming them out to being the size of a whole block. Lots of places do this to some degree with having 1 way grids.
Yes and I know of one "intersection" near me that's effectively 2 intersections that are dangerously close to each other. A round about would make the whole thing a lot less confusing s theres' 2 streets crossing, another street intersecting a car length from that intersection and a private driveway that also intersects the intersection.
It's a massive mess and just putting in a simple roundabout would make the whole thing a lot less confusing. Even making it a traffic circle would make it a lot better.
In the Netherlands we have many roundabouts and because you have to pay attention on a roundabout instead of relying on the lights they are safer. Because many people think when a traffic light just turns red that they can still cross quickly and then hit someone who's light turned green.
I live in Indianapolis and something that wasn’t really discussed was how more efficiently traffic flows with roundabouts. There used to be terrible jams on Franklin road after church on Sunday because the 4-way couldn’t handle the volume of traffic. Not anymore since they installed roundabouts on Edgewood drive.
Roundabouts use geometry to physically slow down traffic, where cars are required to slow down to turn around the roundabout. However, traffic lights use electricity to signal drivers to slow down, but doesn't require them physically to slow down, hence, if the driver did not see the light, or the light is not working, or if their reaction time is slow due to variety of reasons, they could just go through the light.
Seen this argument many times and no matter what people HERE find them too daunting, intimidating, confusing, . Keep bangin the drum though. Roundabouts are wonderful, easy, and so much more harmonious to flow. My $0.02 worth of experience.
TBH, I've started driving through roundabouts more regularly as there have been more of them moving closer and closer to the city, and most people seem to understand how to use them now. The biggest issue I have is with assholes that speed to get in there as quickly as possible and still expect for traffic to yield to them, even though they were nowhere near the roundabout when I entered. As in I could see them in the distance, and they were driving so fast that within the couple seconds it took me to pull out they were now in the roundabout and expecting to be yielded to.
There's a traffic circle in Easton, PA that completely misses the purpose of a roundabout by having a traffic light installed. It used to have a flashing red light forcing you to stop before entering the roundabout, but they recently replaced it with a three-color light, so now, you get a green light to enter the roundabout, then you have to stop _in_ the roundabout to wait for the traffic lights _in to roundabout_ to turn green.
I love roundabouts. I hate sitting (uselessly) at a red light when no one is coming. I’d rather move slowly than be in a stop and go situation.
If I can clearly see that there are no pedestrians around, no other cars around, no cops around, and no cameras around, I treat red lights like stop signs. I stopped... Nobody is around. I'm going again regardless of what color the light is. A traffic light that doesn't react to traffic, see that I'm the only one here, and change for me is a defective traffic light. And defective traffic lights are supposed to be treated as stop signs by drivers. So that's what I do.
Roundabouts have improved my driving experience here in Utah, USA. One factor that still needs to be improved is encouraging drivers to use their turn signals. That potentially could reduce car waiting times and potential collision points to about 4.
Why would you use a turn signal to enter a roundabout? There is either room for you to enter or you have to wait for an opening.
@@larryheim917 Less waiting, and, just plain courtesy. Especially when a new roundabout is installed in a neighborhood.
Imagine that you are entering a roundabout. People entering from the left have two options. They can turn right or go around. If the person who is on your left signals that they are turning right, it speeds up the decision whether to move or not.
Country Aussie here. My local big town has so many round abouts. And they are small, they fit in the space trafic lights do (except for a big one on the major highway). Occassionally there is digestion from a big super market and out of town people at dinner time, but apart from that they work so smoothly. The town has a row of roundabouts and it's nice.
I didn't know the USA wasn't as round abouty as everyone else. I can tell you a good round about... Chefs kiss! 😘
I also have traveled abroad and LOVE roundabouts. In England a roundabout can vary between a post in the middle of the intersection to Piccadilly Circus.
American living in NZ for the last three years. Roundabouts were very difficult to get use to and even native kiwis have issues in some of them. There are plenty of traffic lights, but they tend to be in cites at intersections for the same reasons you can't retrofit a roundabout in the USA. However, the speed limit for most areas of a city is 50km/h, so they don't pose much of an issue. There are plenty of high traffic areas on roads that use roundabouts, but need traffic lights due to the heavy flow of traffic in certain directions. If you are trying to turn into an area with a heavy and constant flow of traffic, you'll be sitting there for a very long time and this causes driver mistakes. There is one such place not far from my home that I avoid during morning and evening rush for this reason. Most of the accidents I've seen are caused by foreigners driving on or turning into the wrong side of the road which also causes them confusion in roundabouts as they struggle to understand where to turn and they fail to indicate to other drivers while coming into or leaving a roundabout. NZ really needs to force an online road rules test for travelers from countries that drive on the right before they are given the keys to a rental car. I took their online test while I was in the mandatory two week quarantine, but it wasn't required.
There may be relatively few roundabouts in the US today, but there are a lot of new ones being built in many states.
Roundabouts are croping up everywhere here in WA. In my 1ish hour commute to work every day, I have to negotiate 7 or 8 of them there and then back. There are probability double that number in traffic lights too.
Single lane roundabouts are wonderful. There are a few that I sometimes drive through, and they are so easy to drive through, regardless what direction you want to go in.
OTOH, two-lane roundabouts are a nightmare. I generally drive in the "slow" lane. So when approaching the roundabout I'm often in the wrong lane for the direction I want to go. There's also a two-lane roundabout that I avoid, but when I go through it, it forces me to take a right turn and then I have to turn down a side street and then make a U turn to go back into the roundabout to continue to go where I originally wanted to go. And if I'm in the left lane, then I have to cut across a lane of traffic to exit the roundabout, which is no different than someone on the highway in the left lane cutting across lanes of traffic to get to the exit. That's so dangerous! I absolutely hate this roundabout!
I was fortunate to live in Spain a few years as a young person, whole-hearted agreement about the topic. They made the cities I experienced live.
I live in Denmark and as a European I'm just used to roundabouts in many styles and forms. Issues with roundabouts could be the space needed for them, but then it also depends of the traffic that cross roads at the place. if there are no large commercial vehicles crossing the diameter of a round about can be very small. Depending on situation, on small roundabouts with small island, you can construct the island so large vehicles can pass over it if needed. Being on Holiday in Great Britain and Ireland driving my own car I also drove roundabouts for left hand driving in a right hand driving vehicle. You get pretty quick used to it.
Also for the cost of roundabouts the UK is a good example. The cheapest way to change any ordinary crossing into a round about is a bucket of paint for a large white dot in the middle and maybe some arrows and some roundabout signs. It could be as simple as that.
And the remark on self driving cars is a bit double. Yes maybe a roundabout will add to the complexity of the cars programming, but in fact it is only negotiating a road with left hand inflow and exits. As self driving cars will communicate with each other this should be no different than any other left hand road situation.
If I have experienced one thing of all my years of driving in Europe, the solution for safety and better flow of traffic is NOT to just add another lane of asphalt, as this is only one more lane to create problems with.
Yep, been there. Nearly 15 years ago, I was an elected official in my small rural city. The state had to replace a large intersection when installing a new roadway bypass. I advocated for a roundabout for all the reasons you mentioned and more. One other benefit to a roundabout is not having overhead wires or infrastructure for large semi trucks carrying oversized loads. We had windmills being installed around that time back in the day. There was more than enough room to build a very large roundabout in this location.
However, the state DOT guy for our area was not a roundabout fan. We ended up with a worse configured signaled intersection in place to this day. I know of other communities in my state with 2 or 3 roundabouts in successive intersections built 20+ years ago that work well, but the area where I live is still living in the provincial past.
I'm in Florida and we have quite a few roundabouts as well as some, new, diverging diamond intersections. I like the roundabouts... they keep traffic flowing, but there are intersections where they just wouldn't work. The intersections where they wouldn't work are where small roads intersect major roads and short of an over/under pass and on/off ramps, stop lights are a good intermediary step. But, where the intersecting roads are of a similar size nothing beats a roundabout.
I love roundabouts and wish there were more. Thanks for the breakdown, I always thought they were safer and faster than traffic lights now I know that they really are.
Another benefit of the roundabout, they help to get rid of 4 way stops, I've seen many in Canada and just think to myself a small roundabout would have allowed everyone to just carry on with their journey without needless stopping.
In the UK we also have what are referred to as mini rounabouts, these can be painted or in most case are a slightly raised mound of tarmac (think 2-3 inches tall in the middle tapering to road height, perhaps 6-8 feet wide) which are used in smaller junctions and allow larger vehicles such as vans or trucks to drive over them whilst making a turn.
I love roundabouts, but not mainly for the mentioned reason. I love them beacuse of how they reduce congestions. In my town we used to have one singel roundabout now we have about ten. Every one of the new ones have lessend congestions, often despite increased trafic flow. The cons that I can see is they sometimes create annoyance when users don’t understand how to communicate intent. If there are cars waiting to get in and others exiting without signaling the wait can get unnecessary long (not as long as an intersection but the percieved waiting time can be annoying).
The other thing is that in roundabouts with more than one lane inside the roundabout itself, it can be more difficult when going left compared to where you enter it. Most often this means that you need to keep track of two lanes when you drive into it and when you have to exit you need to give way to cars diagonally behind on the right with which it is impossible to make eye contact with. Yes, it is still easier than in the corresponding "regular" intersection, but it is something you need to learn and for people without experience of roundabouts it can feel scary.
Brit here - roundabouts are great. Several near my house and it would take forever if everyone had to wait and go once at a time. Flow is great. Y'all mad over the pond!
Roundabouts don't always need more space than traffic light intersections. In the UK there are many mini-roundabouts which is just a white circle painted on the road.
Hi! Huge fan of roundabouts here. My favorite roundabout in the US is (well was) the Portsmouth Traffic Circle in Portsmouth New Hampshire, which is big enough that back in the 1980s and 90s it actually had a restaurant in the middle. It was huge fun to come into the traffic circle, move to the inner lane and then turn left into the parking lot. Leaving was just as easy by sliding into the inner lane and then moving to the outer lane to exit the roundabout at the desired exit. Once when leaving traffic was pretty heavy and I had to circle the roundabout twice because rude people wouldn't let me move right out of the inner lane so I could exit. But the point I want to make is that roundabouts don't have to have big center islands.
In England we were touring a lovely town in the Cotswolds when we came to a roundabout intersection because there was a 6-inch steel pipe in the center of the intersection painted a bright yellow that told everybody that this was a roundabout and roundabout rules apply.
Now it definitely wasn't very picturesque or even that functional. But it did work. Cars slowed or stop as they came to the intersection and then flowed clockwise around the pole. Traffic would have flowed better if there was something a bit bigger than a pole. But that doesn't mean that the center needs to be a 100 foot diameter landscaped garden with all or at least a considerable portion of the land of property owners on the four corners of the previous intersection purchased to allow a large diameter roundabout to be installed.
In a US intersection which has been widened enough to have dedicated left-turn lanes, a roundabout with an 18 foot diameter island would fit in the existing intersection. Traffic lanes in the US are about 12 feet wide, So an 18 foot diameter island would mean that traffic can't drive straight through the intersection. Instead they will have to at least move to the right by half a lane width to go around the island.
Awesome video! You are always on the cutting edge of societies next step.
Nobody uses signals on traffic circles, big, no BIG, problem, ...yet fixable.
In my town in California, they just decided to put a stop to the red light camera program due to the fact that it wasn't profitable. Many drivers may agree that redlight cameras are a big hurdle to run through ( at least a $500 fine + one point on your driver's license), but as the data's shown, time and again, red light camera enforcement, save lives.
Unfortunately, as long as we value profits more than lives, no round about will be enough to slow them down...
I’m fine with roundabouts in general. However, what I don’t follow is how to deal with pedestrian traffic: Traffic lights not only synchronize cars, but also synchronize car movements with pedestrian movements.
More specifically, a roundabout will backup if a pedestrian is crossing in front of somebody exiting the roundabout. This will not happen if pedestrians are moving parallel with cars because a light synchronizes.
Roundabouts do many great things:
1. Force you to always slow down when entering. Makes crashes less likely and dangerous.
2. Stir traffic in the same direction. Everyone drives in the same direction within the roundabout. Makes crashes less dangerous.
3. Prevents stoping and fast speedups when starting again.
4. Optimizes the throughput. There is one constant stream of traffic and drivers are encouraged to fill gaps.
GREAT video. I work as a Civil Designer for a large engineering company and we incorporate as many mini and standard roundabouts (RABs) as possible. The BIG downside for our private clients is cost. The standard size RABs take up a lot of space (especially when traffic engineers want to over design them) - and we thus lose lots…making the remaining lots more expensive and driving up home costs. Thankfully, many cities in North Texas are actually starting to require RABs AND the costs are coming down as designers, engineers, construction companies and cities are more used to implementation. Myself…I love designing with the RABs - as they allow streets to connect in more ways than the standard 90 degrees, and they increase safety both by the stats you mentioned and by slowing every direction of traffic at the intersection.
My problems with roundabouts are semi trucks navigating them, people not paying attention and switching lanes in them, them being placed in low traffic flow areas with clear line of sight where stop signs would be better used, and the general lack of knowledge with how to navigate them properly in the US.
I do like the consistent traffic flow at higher trafic areas and the use on oddball intersections. Many intersections where it would be really useful are where you have 3+ sets of lights letting vehicles enter the intersection or ones with weird entry angles.
In WI I keep seeing them placed at very low traffic locations or ones where the main road has a fair bit of traffic but the side roads almost never have anything.
We do have roundabouts here in Houston, but they are usually used as a traffic calming measure to slow down traffic and to discourage people from using the road as a thru street. And it works. People prefer using the adjacent roads without the roundabout. We even have one roundabout near me that has only two entrances! It basically is used to slow people down and provide a U turn.
I also love roundabouts. Driving around the UK I just loved how efficient and smart they were. Sitting at an intersection in Los Angeles one day waiting for the multiple layers of left turn lights, etc.. with one direction almost no cars, the direction I was traveling in backed up. I wondered. So I found a roundabout in Scotland I remembered and and copied it in scale. Then I took Google Maps images from several places I'm familiar with in Los Angeles and overlaid the Scottish roundabout. Every one of them could be converted to a roundabout.
They might cost $2 million to convert, the savings from the signals hardware, electricity, maintenance is about $100 per year, so they'd not only pay for themselves in safety but also in reduced costs over several years. They'd also benefit by keeping traffic flowing more smoothly and in safety.
One of the biggest problems is education. There was a beautiful roundabout in Long Beach, but all too often I'd approach it and someone would be stopped not having a clue what to do. Vehicles are honking at each other because they don't understand they're supposed to blend and allow other vehicles to blend. The road department, painted a bunch of lane lines (some of which make absolutely no sense) and put up signs. Roundabout driving should be part of all driver training. Get movie stars to appear in videos on how to use them. How many people would watch a Taylor Swift /Travis Kelce public service announcement about using Roundabouts?
I love roundabouts, or traffic circles, as we call them here in Edmonton Canada. Unfortunately the city has removed a couple of them.
In Massachusetts there are tons of roundabouts-surely that total is missing a few… Great video!
Roundabouts are great at improving safety, and my city (and metro region) have plenty of roundabouts and traffic circles, and they are great at reducing injuries and fatalities, while also improving traffic flow.
However they do have one more con you missed - they become less effective when traffic exceeds about 20,000 vehicles per day. If you have that much traffic, they can become very congested during rush hour, with traffic backing up for many blocks. Still, despite that, I'm a firm believer in roundabouts.