Roundabouts Are Safer. So Why Does The U.S. Have So Few Of Them?
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- Опубліковано 28 кві 2024
- Roundabouts - the circular intersections seen all over Europe and elsewhere in the world - are said to be far safer than traffic lights. Research shows they reduce crashes, clear up congestion and save cities quite a bit of money. They have a heritage in the U.S., but America has a fraction of the roundabouts that far smaller countries like France, Spain and the United Kingdom have. But there are some states that are adopting them, and one small town in particular: Carmel, Indiana. The people of Carmel love their roundabouts and the mayor credits them with helping revitalize his city. So are they all they’re cracked up to be? And if so, why hasn’t the U.S. adopted them?
Chapters:
1:33 - Why hasn’t the US adopted roundabouts?
1:41 - Chapter 1: Why Roundabouts
6:28 - Chapter 2: History
9:50 - Chapter 3: Europe vs. United States
12:14 - Chapter 4: Roundabout Renaissance
13:59 - Chapter 5: Drawbacks
Producer: Robert Ferris
Editor: Darren Geeter
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Graphics: Christina Locopo, Mallory Brangan
Additional footage: Getty Images, Google Earth, City of Carmel
Additional sources: Streetsblog, ETH Zurich
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Roundabouts Are Safer. So Why Does The U.S. Have So Few Of Them?
Civil engineers saying "I don't know why we do things that way, that's just the way we were taught" is like 90% what's wrong with the American transportation system, as Strong Towns often points out.
Roundabout eliminate 14 points of conflict in what you would see in an intersection, doesnt eliminate other problems like what happens when people over take them and it gets congested or semi-trucks entering two lanes blah blah blah
same with scientists and biologists and doctors and chemists and teachers. “we were taught that it’s this way” and it’s received as gospel
Too true. It is just madness how little 'professionals' think for themselves.
The American transportation system, especially as regards train travel, could now rival anything in Europe if only Henry Ford hadn't started selling cars to all and sundry.
Civil engineering students need a mandatory course in urban design. It's sad that you can learn transportation without learning the history of urban form. As one of 12 civil engineers who appreciates urban design, I had to read books on my own time.
I worked for a UK company that had a large office in Texas. When the office was refurbed they decided to add a low speed 20mph roundabout that all vehicles would have to negotiate as they entered the site to filter vehicles to either the visitor car park, visitor drop off/reception, staff parking or goods inwards. To say there was an uproar from local staff would be an understatement. However, management stuck to their guns and it was duly installed for when the office reopened, and within a week not a single complaint was heard again apart from visiting delivery drivers who were using it for the first time. 😉 A year later a request for a roundabout to be added to the other office in Chicago came from the staff representative committee as they had heard how good it was !
The euro in me wants to go hurr duur 'murica, but let's be fair, people dread what they don't know.
Nice to know they were happy with it in the end.
Same here in northern Virginia, they put in a roundabout in Fairfax county and some complained but I see that it works.
@@raylopez99they have a roundabout in my neighborhood in Preston Village at Raleigh Durham
@@Yautah That dread is understandable, and comes from the same culture shock, that a student that just graduated from grade school, probably experiences going to collage, or out in the real world for the first time. Roundabouts have been more prevalent in the UK longer then the US. So they are a new thing to get the just of to a lot of us American drivers. Like for an example, if you get me to tackle one of the big multi lane roundabouts in England without learning how it works first, I would be as lost of it like Chevy Chase [Clark Griswold], driving it in circles all day, if you know what movie i am referring to. LOL
Welcome to the US, where anything, regardless how good it is, if it goes against the status quo, there will be an upheaval and of course gets politicized. The norm is for a politician to say they are getting weaker because they are looking more European… so yeah, not surprised
I often see comments from truck drivers criticizing roundabouts - I'm a truck driver in the UK and they're great for us. Every trucker knows how much of a pain stopping and starting is, particularly at night when there's no other traffic. Also, they make every turn a wide swing, you don't have to jacknife the trailer on a tight crossroads - and they give you the chance to turn around rather than doing a series of turns around the block.
They only become an issue when the town puts a load of trees in the centre, so you can't easily see if something is approaching from the other side, trucks take off very slowly, so often you can be 6 feet into a roundabout and a car comes along, especially if they're driving quickly.
United States Semi trucks are bigger compared to UK trucks, therefore making U.S. trucks harder to maneuver. In the United States, a Semi truck needs almost half of the intersection space to make right-hand turn. Having a roundabout in the middle would prohibit the Semi from making that turn. They would either have to remove the sidewalks to create more space or make the island in the middle extremely small.
You have to take into consideration that there are a lot of Semi trucks that drive through small towns with narrow roads, having a roundabout would just not fit.
They don’t make them big enough for the trucks in the USA just like poster stated. They’re entirely a waste of money here in the us as they serve no purpose other than to lower costs for heap ass cities and increase accidents because people are too rude to allow others to join the flow, and hence make them less than ideal here
@@redxslayer6922That is what the textured curb in the island is for: for truck use, while discouraging light vehicles to drive over it.
Another technique is to make the entrances and exits more tangent to the circle. This will reduce the turning angle required for long vehicles.
And if space is indeed an issue (roundabouts works opitmally with large circumference), make use of yield and priority rules instead.
@@NiowiBut those accidents are less severe, partly due to reduced angle, but mostly due to reduced speed. Cheaper fender bumpers instead of expensive body repair or hospital bills. Also, less red-light and stop sign tickets.
@@dbclass4075 ok, /I get all that, but the main reason they’re useless, is because four wheelers are to aggressively driving in them causing the issues. I have seen some newer ones that actually have a lane for trucks going directly to the first 90 degree turn that gives longer vehicles with trailer a way in but that only mitigates the right turn of each lane, but does help. The problem with going straight or to the left turn, if the circle has a painted line bordering it, then every time we drove into that circle and trailer tires crossed it, we’d be subject to a fine/ticket, because as a big truck with company name on it is easy prey for police and for scammers trying to use insurance scans.
I’m not totally saying it dumb, but as they’re made now, they are more trouble than the old plain Jane 4 way intersections
Can you imagine living in a time before stop signs were invented?! And then one day some guy was like "what if we stopped?" And then everyone was like "yeah, that's a great idea."
Go to the UK. In the vast majority of places where the US would have a stop sign, it is a 'give way' (what the Brits use instead of yield) sign. It is far superior for everyone except maybe the braindead Americans.
Yes, it means that basically all roads are all way stops as you need to figure out who gets to go first. Also, horses aren't likely to be too keen on t-boning the other vehicle.
I live in a country like that for a few years. We joked the right of way was trucks, cars, motor bikes, pedestrians. Crossed at your own risk. When lights were install in town where I lived (about 100,000) not everyone got the memo. Some drivers thought red light meant go. Some thought green meant go. Everyone eventually figured it out. Stop lights were a great idea.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade they went with courtesy I guess
Edit: and a policeman with traffic "signs and whistle"
Yes I can imagine living in a time before stop signs were invented. Because only America is obsessed with stop signs. 99% of junctions are 'give way' or 'yield' in the rest of the world...
I live in Idaho and the city I'm in started to build roundabouts back in 2018 and people were angry the city was doing away with 4 way stops. The last 4 miles of my commute from work to home use to take about 30-40 minutes depending on the day of the week but has been reduced to about 6 minutes thanks to the roundabouts. I feel people resisted them because the weren't sure how to use them but now everyone praises them.
Holy crap 30 minutes to 6 minutes? That's absurd
Sounds like a great way to start... But we still have a long way to adapt. There's a town near by from where I live have a couple of roundabouts but they feel a bit too large and should have better traffic control
I live in Sweden and I actually only know of one single 4 way stop intersection and its small low traffic intersection and the only reason they even added the stop signs is due to bad visibility and there is not room for a roundabout. And I do live in the suburbs of the capital city of Stockholm.
4 way stops just does not seem to exist at all.
We do of cause have traffic lights but roundabouts is so common that on the way from home to the closest big shopping area I pass 8 roundabouts and 3 traffic lights, and then another 3-5 roundabouts depending on what part of the shopping area I am going to, there are no traffic lights except for pedestrian crossings within the shopping area.
Did they bother to teach drivers about them or just build them and expect drivers to figure them out? That's the problem I've seen. Cites just put them in and don't do a damn thing to educate the masses how to use them.
If they have the signs, they're pretty explanatory. I used to take one, though, in which people just ignored the stop signs and it became sort of a hot wheels circuit.
Born and raised Carmel resident we are very proud of our roundabouts. We have the most and most innovative roundabouts, believe it or not the are people who stop and take photos of them.
you guys are extremely forward thinking
yes!!!
I live near Carmel and always go there to shop bc it’s just a better experience. It’s spoiled me. Now when I come across waiting at traffic lights & stop signs, I’m just thinking this should be a round about lol
Maybe it’d help cut down the road rage that some people have too.
15:01 BIG TRUCKS that go to Carmel /Salinas /Monterey are going to struggle with this TURBO ROUNDABOUT bypassing Hollister, California at 25 and 156 (it eventually needs a freeway interchange but that's too expensive for now).
Large 18-wheelers travel through here than normal cars. One look at this and you can tell these FAR-INSIDE lanes (to turn Left) may not be WIDE enough to maintain the 18 wheelers without CROSSING OVER into the outer lanes.
Howdy neighbor. Fishers resident here. I love it when I see new roundabouts show up in Fishers. I love them.
I used to be anti-roundabout, but over time more of them have popped up where I live. Once you get used to driving through them and learn the rules of the road, they are actually quite good, as traffic isn't hindered by waiting at long traffic lights.
The problem here in Australia is that people are not educated to know how to use a roundabout so instead of telling them how to use them they are going back to lighted intersections.
> and learn the rules of the road...
This is Merika! You think anyone seriously wants to, bothers to, or feels obligated to "learn the Rules"?? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...
They are good if they’re used on the right places.
Here in the Netherlands we have roads with 9 roundabouts in 6 km from which 3-4 have side roads leading to nowhere. Or maybe a very tiny industrial lot.
That becomes an utter menace for trucks.
However the big one near the highway is doing an fantastic job.
As are the ones connecting major urban area’s to the main road.
Basically traffic engineers need to come with a under limit of traffic for roundabouts. Not replace every crossing with one.
@@elliottyeomans654 The same is happening here in the UK. With more roundabouts being put on decent roads, with a huge change of direction, so estates can be build. Now traffic lights being installed on roundabouts, when you are waiting and there is no other vehicles around and even removing big roundabouts to make multilane intersection. We have got this because of the attitude of drivers that think they own it and race onto it, instead of using it as a filter by balancing the flow. Best Dave
People drive WAY too fast in them. More dangerous for pedestrians and ICE is a big problem. Trucks struggle too
The only thing I don't like about roundabouts is the more complex ones never give you enough advacanced warning on the lane layouts.
Then communicate with your highway department or town council. Give specifics.
No one does anything about a problem unless someone brings it up. If no one complains, it must be OK.
Well designed round abouts are nobrainers except mini ones.
well, then you go around it until you figure out your exit
My city put in 3 roundabouts a few years back and people LOST. THEIR. MINDS. You'd think they were trying to switch to driving in the left lane with all the panic that ensued. Fast-forward to the present and people are used to it, and they definitely help with the flow of traffic. I even bike through them almost daily, though if traffic is a little worrisome I can always use the sidewalk.
That is frightening to hear 👂
It's fake news. Wait until there's massive traffic and you will get the same result
Those people were likely already mindless.
We had really big ones 40 years ago, maybe 200 feet across the center. The law was going 1/2 or 3/4 round meant using the inside lane (which had the right of way) and then turning right over the outside lane. That was scary on a motorcycle, we all stuck to the right lane.
@@CM-xr9oq It's too easy to get a license here, you don't even have to parallel park. The last "accident" I had was someone backed up and OVER my car in a parking lot, no dashcam.
German towns also love putting roundabouts on the first intersection inside city limits on major roads. This forces drivers to slow down, and as such hugely reduces the amount of people barreling through a town at 50mph.
And it also makes traffic much faster (average speed), so everyone is happy.
@@svr5423 I think it doesn’t actually in that specific case, because it’s usually a minor intersection that wouldn’t have traffic lights otherwise. It’s just to slow them down.
@@simonro9168 Maybe not in every case, but in most cases. German cities love traffic lights, it increases traffic jam and thereby fuel consumption and tax revenue.
@@svr5423 the cities are not seeing a single cent of fuel tax revenue, it all goes to the national budget
German towns generally IMHO also are too stupid to understand that it makes no sense to put roundabouts in any place. This leads to problems for lorry drivers when they set up these nice plants in the middle of the roundabout.
What I don´t get (please feel free to educate me on this) is, why they put up the 'yield' sign on the entrances to the roundabouts. Is it because the traffic within the roundabout has by default not the right of way ? (which would be a flaw in the general rules, it makes no sense otherwise) - or is it because most people are incapable of understanding that the traffic within the roundabout has the way of right - even though they (by definition) come from the left side!?
Last year I vacationed in The UK and had a rental car. The roads were narrow, cramped, and not many multi lane roads. Driving through Salisbury, there was a lot of traffic, and I feared it would take forever. To my surprise, the traffic moved a constant 30 mph and flowed smoothly through the roundabouts. It took less time to get through a similar sized city than in the US, and the constant movement alleviated feelings of impatience. It was a completely different experience. That being said, the lack of available parking near destinations was much worse than in the US, and was annoying. The few traffic lights that existed were also different. In the US, the traffic turns from green to yellow to red. It also does that in the UK, but it also has a yellow phase between red and green, so you know when to anticipate a change. This resulted in much fewer red light runners, and it also made people take off on green in a much quicker and more orderly fashion. It was fascinating.
I'm right there with you, traffic that is slow but moving is not ideal but honestly not too bad. Whereas stop-go-stop-go traffic is infuriating, not to mention significantly worse for fuel consumption
Very true. The only thing tricky about a British roundabout is the driving on the wrong side of the road thing. That gave me fits. Bahahahaha. Cheers!
@@sherlock1895The correct side of the road 😊...I've lived in Ca a number of years, but I'm English. I'm convinced there's a cartel between trsffic light manufacturers and oil companies in the US, because the road engineering is so inefficiant.
@@steveb6386 Sir, you have no argument from me. I quite agree. Cheers!
No parking? Should have taken public transport or a bicycle. 👍
At Stanford University, we have an unmanned heavily used bike intersection, where students have to guess who can cross. Decades ago, someone (maybe graduate students doing research!) placed a temporary circle in the middle of the intersection. It worked.
I love that the mayor of Carmel, Indiana did his own thing based on his experience and research.
I feel you mean just like Hitler did?
Yes, he experienced a better way and used his power to implement something to improve the environment for all citizens. Well done sir!
I guess the grass is always greener. Here in Christchurch 20 years ago they were the default for intersections but now they are being removed and becoming rare because they are a menace to public safety. In particular, large numbers of collisions occur in the two lane ones when the person in the inside lane is exiting and the person in the outside lane is not paying attention and all involved are focusing on other vehicles rather than pedestrians or bicyclists around such busy roundabouts. Bar none the highest death tolls are at such multilane roundabouts and they were rightly removed.
The thing is, when people are used to roundabouts, agressive drivers such as tradies late for a job create exceptionally dangerous situations requiring that all drivers have excellent situational awareness and reactions. With distracted or with drivers whose reaction time is sluggish, it gets messy. 20 years ago, people drove far less aggressively so they can work so long as people do not engage in risky driving practices.
Perhaps the US tests are skewed due to the unfamiliarity of the subjects with roundabouts thereby instilling caution. Any planners taking this youtube presentation seriously needs to ask why countries with long experience with roundabouts are eliminating them.
Or maybe Americans are just too dumb. This is what I think because roundabouts are a smart solution. The Video explains it very well. @@SwarmerBees
After all Indianapolis just down the road is "The Circle City". Indiana is famous for the Indy 500. consisting of going around a circle 200 times. Roundabouts are good for the people who live there and know the area and exactly where they are going. For people coming into the city for one afternoon for an appointment they can be a nightmare to figure out where you are going. I refuse to believe that one stoplight costs 400,000 dollars. That is adjusted for government cost over runs like the 300 dollar hammer. Isn't he the same mayor who wanted to import an antique carousel for downtown Carmel? He seems to be totally fixated on going around in circles. His life is a non stopped game of "Pin the tail on the donkey".
I live near Indianapolis and go to Carmel often. The roundabouts explain why Carmel people are so dizzy all the time.
One of the best features of roundabouts is that when there's little traffic, nobody has to stop, unlike a four-way stop or a junction with lights (unless the lights are responsive to traffic).
Even with "responsive" lights, when you approach from the non-prevailing direction you generally have to stop anyway before the light responds to you so you can cross.
Our problem is that one has been placed on an extremely busy intersection, so that traffic flowing from one direction to the opposite side monopolizes the roundabout. If something interrupts the flow that way, the torrent of pent up traffic the other way locks it up again.
Traffic light guarantee everybody passes the junction slowly, while roundabouts cant guarantee everybody can pass the junction quickly. Still, roundabouts havr significantly faster/more efficient traffic
What are you talking about?!
I’m sick of waiting behind other drivers at traffic circles who dutifully stop for the triangular sign, and look repeatedly left and right to confirm if traffic will allow them to enter…
5:09
…without any other car or traffic in sight.
Eventually, a car will come. They inch forward and we wait yet again for the unseen car to magically appear.
Traffic circles don’t solve problems for mentally impaired drivers, they just keep the stupid people that shouldn’t have a license anyway from being filtered out by the Darwin Award program.
@@fishhuntadventure I think this is mostly from people that aren't familiar with them. There are a few roundabouts near me and I almost never see the "nervous stoppers" you are talking about. One interesting thing: there is a road really close to my house with a roundabout and a 4-way stop about 100 yards apart. Both get about the same amount of traffic, but the roundabout during high traffic times is still quicker to go through than the stop during low traffic times.
As an Australian living in the US, I have been wondering why no roundabouts? Roundabouts mean you don’t have to stop as much, traffic flows continuously.
tell them!
Isn't that the point of safety though - slowing down?
@@dramanda7296 slowing down. Not stoping.
Two lane traffic circles are an instant invitation to insurance rate hikes here in the US. Even one lane circles are bad. I consign them to the deepest abyss of Hell.
False. I've been at a standstill in roundabouts dozens of times.
I’m from New England and grew up with many roundabouts (called rotaries in NE). They make good sense to us and I miss them, now that I live elsewhere.
They've been showing up in Minnesota. They were certainly unexpected to me, as I wasn't familiar with them, but I am glad for them now. They absolutely are safer and allow for smoother traffic flow. Why wait for a light at an empty intersection when you can just proceed through a roundabout? Why get stuck waiting for cross traffic to clear before proceeding? Why have people take turns going through a busy four-way intersection one at a time and possibly get confused about who should go when? Roundabouts make infinitely more sense. Even if someone fails to yield the right of way, you're likely to see them and you're already going slow enough to avoid them.
@@oldskolacura9798 Agree. I wasn't sure about them at first since they hadn't been a part of driver's ed for me. Just didn't know what to make of them, but fortunately they are dead simple to understand.
They're all over central Minnesota, it took some time for everyone to get used to
They are Safe for drivers, but not for bicycle riders.
@@petercavojec1548 And pedestrians
We have sensing traffic lights. Even safer.
I work at a civil engineering company in North Texas…this is changing QUICKLY. Roundabouts of all sizes are becoming not only the norm - but necessary in our designs. Cannot beat the efficiency.
I live in a small New Zealand town which has no traffic lights and more than six roundabouts, sometimes annoying but almost no crashes.
glad you figured it out, sad it took some 25 years to get there. So many people would still be alive if done sooner.
I wonder if the US will figure out traffic calming in a big way, this will probably get a lot more opposition.
There are so many things wrong with this shoddy click bate video it’s sad.
@@howardsimpson489 If you don't watch closely what you're doing in a roundabout you'll get hit, and when it's busy people will beep at you to hurry up if you get frustrated like me I have anxiety disorder
@@sharedknowledge6640 Like what
Living in the UK you get pretty used to negotiating roundabouts of all shapes and sizes. The only time I every got a bit confused was when faced with the magic roundabout in Swindon. which is 6 roundabouts around a central roundabout. Scary stuff 😃
Basingstoke can be a pain.
I use to live in Carmel. I miss the roundabout. So efficient and safe. My car insurance was even cheaper because of them. When storms hit, traffic wasn’t affected by power outages. I hope more cities start building them.
I love the way that any article on roundabouts, Europe's narrow roads, parallel parking, manual gears is followed by loads of comments by people across the US essentially boasting about how bad they are at driving and their inability at dealing with normal driving situations.
ha ha ha
My brother in law who from Wisconsin won’t drive in Holland, he finds the roads too narrow and is afraid of driving on them. So he just hires a bicycle and cycles. He just loves the cycling network!
Rethinking not just intersections but more of our infrastructure has really helped the Netherlands so much in terms of liveability over the last 5 decades. 'Not just bikes' has a ton of video's on that here on YT.
People forget transit should have cyclepaths, sidewalks, roundabouts, railways, buses, trams and much more. It's all about a good variety of nicely implemented transportation modes infrastructure. You Dutch are a very good example for the world.
I will always approve of any NJB reference
I ❤ NJB
I'd rather have any/all other part(s) of Dutch infrastructure besides roundabouts.
My small Colorado town has multiple roundabouts, and the only problem we have is that the population is rising and overloading the lanes - but even so, the wait during the heaviest traffic periods is far less than that when we had signals with far less traffic.
I live in Carmel. Its absolutely cool with the roundabouts. The traffic is pretty smooth. Very helpful to drive without stopping while going to work.
Yup, once they're in you get it. They are not only safer but once you get the knack of timing the gaps you just don't stop nearly as much which lowers the wear and tear on your vehicle too, my brake pads go typically for double the mileage they're supposed to. I come from the town that has the UK's actual first roundabout, circa 1907. 🙂
Well. Once done with roundabouts, now switch to metric system!
There have been rounadabouts all over New England, mostly in Massachusetts, for as long as I've been alive. In the past they were primarily used on highway on/off ramps and other busy intersections. But about 5-10 years ago more and more smaller intersections started being converted to roundabouts every year. Roundabouts are definitely a better alternative to lights/stop signs in most scenarios.
Massachusetts is the most European city in America
@@jeffmccloud905 sorry state
I live in New Hampshire and rotaries are everywhere.
@@ThePatriots010304 used to drive up to NH to buy beer on Sundays. also Nashua had a "head shop" 😆
yes, but the old Massachusetts rotaries are high speed intersections that are even more dangerous than traffic lights, actually. the newer roundabouts are much better.
Having lived in most of the countries mentioned here (Spain, UK and the Netherlands) I have to say that the Netherlands has by far the best traffic solutions. France and Spain have arguably too many roundabouts and plonck them down everywhere whereas in the Netherlands, when creating new infrastructure, the situation is always carefully analyzed by the traffic planners to see what intersection solution is most suitable be it traffic lights (almost ALL Dutch traffic lights are "smart" and work with multiple sensors built into the roads which will detect traffic and decide based on that which lights turn green), single lane/double lane or turbo roundabouts. Turning the traditional US traffic light intersections into roundabouts will not always work because it's not planned ahead of time and therefore doesn't fully cooperate with the surrounding infrastructure. If you want to learn more about European (mainly Dutch) city planning I highly recommend the UA-cam channel "not just bikes" which is ran by a Canadian bloke.
I found the Netherlands' streets (particularly in/around neighborhoods) to be far too narrow. The incorporated sidewalks and bike paths were nice, but the streets themselves were only about 1.5 lanes wide for a 2-lane road, truncated even further by street parking.
I'm from the UK, I wished we could just outsource our infra building to the dutch especially provision for cycling.
@@redslatethat's specifically done so that you don't drive fast through neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods are mostly used by pedestrians and cyclists, therefore to protect them you make sure that cars are unable to drive fast.
@@redslateyou can navigate them fine. The reason why they’re narrow is to slow people down which decreases the change of getting into an accident. It’s all been thought through.
@@redslateThat is precisely the point to reduce traffic speed and noise pollution in residential areas. Each ‘type’ of road/street/lane…ect are graded and different appropriate solutions used for road user management.
My town built a few back in the late 2000’s but they were built awfully bad. But accidents have still declined on those intersections
There are roundabouts in Porterville and Visalia, California. And there are roundabouts in Yakima Washington. It took a bit to get use to but after using them it is a lot faster than going through stop lights.
I live in Australia and we have had them for as long as I can remember. The fear of the unknown is probably the biggest issue and it doesn't matter how long they have been around, there are still drivers who haven't got a clue how to use them. Especially when multiple lane roundabouts are encountered.
.
German here. Roundabouts are environmentally friendly by their flow design. I still find multiple lane roundabouts not easy to navigate in peak traffic, especially the 4-6 lane monster roundabout in Berlin (Großer Stern), which connects 5 major roads and is frequented by 180,000 vehicles daily 😬
Australian here, we have them everywhere, not hard, even learner drivers have no issue 😂
Another Aussie here. G’day mate. Roundabouts are awesome. Except when planners decide to put traffic lights on them, and nullifying the benefit of a roundabout. Those people deserve to be on scab duty for life.
@@matthewlewis5631 Dutchie here. I know some relatively small diameter, multi lane, high traffick roundabouts that you do NOT want to negotiate without traffick lights 😂
I can't think of any examples where we have pedestrian crossings next to them though, can anyone else? Pretty sure we move the pedestrian crossing some distance from the intersection, or build a bridge if installing a roundabout, rather than putting them together. I can't actually see how pedestrians could be crossing right next to it without totally disrupting the flow of traffic in the roundabout if cars had to stop inside it to wait for pedestrians to cross
As a European was really surprised by the number of 4 way stop intersections in the US. Something I have never seen anywhere else. Those might be safe (if people actually stop) but very inefficient - both concerning time and fuel. Traffic has to come to a complete stop and accelerate all the time even if there is no one coming from the other directions. To me it seems like a no brainer to replace these with roundabouts.
australians also have trouble with roundabouts and put traffic lights everywhere ugh
Four way stops basically don't exist here in Norway. From my perspective, it's just a puzzling concept.
Can't be a no brainer else American motorists would have welcomed them. You need a brain to see their advantages.
Not so much a factor on low traffic rural roads.
4 way stops are the result of differing traffic laws.
In Europe, you give way to cars from the right, unless otherwise stated, whereas in America you give way to cars on the biggest road.
In suburban situation there usually is no "bigger" road, so they place 4-way stop signs. In Europe that isn't necessary because traffic law already accounts for those situations.
My hometown keeps adding roundabouts! They are the perfect solution for a lot of traffic problems. I love them, but a lot of people complain about them. It’s takes mental flexibility at first, so they are harder for aging drivers. They slow down traffic so they aren’t popular with people who’s like to ignore speed limits. But we used to have multiple serious accidents at the first sites where they were installed. Now accidents at those sites are almost non-existent and none have involved serious injury!
I live in Upstate NY. Due to NY policy when an intersection is redone it is usually replaced with a roundabout. In general this works well and traffic seems to flow well. The one exception that I found is an area where the road was redone for a section of about a mile and there were 5 roundabouts installed in a row. If you are traveling in the right direction you will hit all 5 of them. These are spaces very close together so as you exit one roundabout you immediately enter the next. By the time you are through all 5 you are dizzy from all the turns.
You must be referring to Ballston Spa
@@pbear216 yes exactly.
This was mind boggling to me when I visited the US. As a European I thought roundabouts were common everywhere in the world. I was also amazed on how wide the roads were. 😄
The United States is larger than any one country in Europe so wide roads are understandable. Nonetheless American drivers routinely wind up drifting into someone else's lane. As to roundabouts, I can only attribute their scarcity to American stubbornness to change. We still have no good high speed rail network, we don't use metric, etc.
Everything is big in the US (cars, food, stadiums and people).
@@angelachouinard4581 Americans like to think they have the most advanced "everything" in the world, but compared to Europe it is still stuck in the 19th century in a lot of ways.
@@sandyanarayanswami5708 Agree completely
Where I live they are removing it. Traffic is terrible with roundabouts
Here in the UK our local council LOVES traffic lights . It has even put traffic lights on the main , central roundabout thereby ruining some of the benefits . Some time ago the traffic lights stopped working for several months . The traffic flowed better . The residents asked the council not to re-instate the lights , but of course they were ignored . One wonders if a percentage of the eye-watering cost of traffic lights , finds its way into pockets , maybe not fully expected by the taxpayer .
Same with my local council, we have some huge roundabouts and they all have traffic lights, they cause more traffic congestion than free flowing traffic during busy rush hour, "NORTH SOMERSET" council 🤔
I used to think Brits had most things figured out, until the first time I saw a traffic light at a roundabout. It was then that I realized that our British cousins are just as stupid as we are in many ways. And 2016 sealed that for me.
When has council listened to any taxpayer?
@@martybhoy72 I can't give you an example .
@@j.heilig7239 Don't forget we Brits booted the kiddie fiddlers in the EU out of our country , and encouraged our American cousins to Vote for SIR DONALD of TRUMP , who in turn , destroyed the kiddie fiddling Democrats , forcing them to resort to fraud to win the next one . Don't forget that . Roll on 2024 . Woot!!
Great job with this! Very informative.
I lived in England for 2 years & I am 1000% sold on the efficiency & safety of the roundabout. The US needs to implement them
One of the most infuriating and frustrating aspects of life in California was waiting at endless inefficient stop lights, or worse, 4-way or 2-way stop intersections. 2-way stop intersections were especially dangerous since the drivers with priority had no sign and had to rely on the drivers with the stop sign to read and observe that it was a 2-way and not a 4-way stop. Since the data are so clear regarding roundabouts, it was doubly frustrating when new roads were built only to include the inevitable stop signs and traffic lights.
It's not just California 😂
You serious go to any state. I’ve lived in 16 states all are like this in cities
I bet the resistance to roundabouts has something to do with generating revenue for the city, and for the private companies they contract with to monitor the cameras. Can't ticket someone for disobeying a traffic light if there is no traffic light, after all.
As a Florida man, I really like roundabouts. They are much quicker than traffic lights. I see them being used in lots of new neighborhoods and a few towns and wish they would use them in more places .
We have lights on roundabouts too
Breaking News: Florida Man proclaims his appreciation for roundabouts before battling an alligator with a flamethrower.
@@Hodossand that’s before lunch 😂
@@CookieMonster-hz5ry If you have lights in a roundabout, it's not a roundabout, it's a traffic circle. Two very different things that look similar, but function vastly differently.
I got most of my experience with roundabouts in Florida. During light and medium traffic they are amazing. During heavy traffic, this is still America and Florida will be Florida. So I often watched one heavy traffic direction repeatedly have people rush in and crowd out other directions for long periods. This made it dangerous or impossible to enter the roundabouts. It was quite obnoxious.
But certain segments of the American populace, we know who they are, ruining everything for the rest of us is practically a law of nature at this point.
I love roundabouts. So much more efficient. When they replaced the stop signs and stop lights with these it made traffic flow smooth and reduced the amount of accidents. I can't stress enough how good they are.
3:20 Most roundabouts now will have road markers/lines that show you which lane to enter so that you are not switching lanes inside the roundabout (for 2+ lane roundabouts).
In the UK, 'spiral roundabouts' are now gaining popularity on busier intersections. Road markings guide every vehicle to the correct exit. They are so logical and easy to use I'm amazed they weren't thought of earlier.
That works so much better, when there is paint that guides you to having a right of way to exit the roundabout.
Also known as Turbo roundabout
They are great up until someone unfamiliar with the area is suddenly expected to know the lane they are meant to be in. It is not always clear. Especially when locals tend to get into the lane sooner rather than later.
@@WillshamYou're mixing things up. The spiral/turbo is the solution to the problem you're describing. The entire point is that the lanes are painted.
They were. About 30 years ago.
The problem in Indiana is that NOBODY uses their turn signals to indicate their intension to exit the roundabout. Apparently other drivers are supposed be able to read the minds of the drivers who are exiting. In Carmel I've had drivers honk at me and angrily give me the finger when I've waited because I wasn't sure if the car bearing down on me in the roundabout was going to exit or not. Same for Bloomington. Drivers Ed needs to address the non-use of turn signals.
I think non-use of traffic signals on cars is about the most ubiquitous problem we have.MN complains about ND and IA, ND complains about MN, IA complains about SD and everyone complains about WI. On the other hand, it really ticks me off when someone has their turn signal on and I start to go, only to realize they had no intention of turning.
that happens here in Italy a lot too... but usually after a while you learn to understand when someone is about to exit a roundabout
In Sweden, signalling intensions in a roundabout is maybe 70%. The police are known to set up "traps" to catch the ones who don't. A driving instructor told me he tells his students to put on the left-turn when planning to go more than the first exit. This is not the the law, but it sure helps. It should be the law.
@@lorenzorota1555 In Italy lines are only suggestions. So much anarchy on road especially in the south. And people on mopeds drive like there is no tomorrow.
@@fredrichenning1367 I wish they had some sort of camera for it on every roundabout. It's a huge issue in Australia too, I'd say only about 30% of people seem to indicate off, it's horrific, especially at very busy roundabouts!
It’s amazing how just one person can make such a difference! I remember the first time hiring a car in San Fransisco and being so confused where to drive on a massive intersection with lots of lanes. I’m used to roundabouts which are so much less confusing and less dangerous.
In Germany, we have lots of "Kreisverkehre" or abbreviated "Kreisel". They make traffic move much faster and makes fuel consumption decrease because we often don't have to shift back into the 1st gear. Only if you have to yield, you have to stop, of course.
As an American I can say with confidence we have TOO MANY TRAFFIC LIGHTS! Often times out of sync and put in place to let like 3 cars through per hour. I would love to see way more roundabouts
Same here. I love them, but on the other hand, treat them like the drivers are not going to yield and drive defensive. It's crazy how many people don't understand how a two lane roundabout works. In the US big trucks use them and they cross lanes to make the corner. They work great if everyone pays attention.
Don't get me started on traffic lights in black neighborhoods. They're notoriously slow and ineffective.
@@utterbullspit You would think with all the concern about the environment and greenhouse gasses, they would at least fix the stoplights so cars aren't just wasting gas away stopping for no reason at all.
@@utterbullspit WTH does traffic lights have to do with whether a neighbourhood is black?
Are you roundabout manufacturers agent? Aren't you?
I remember commuting to school and having to deal with two interesections that had long lines and congestion. They decided to build roundabouts. While I only used them for the last few months of my time in school, it made such a HUGE difference!
with what you're saying, it sounds like you're talking about my school 😂
Roundabouts are slowly getting more and more common in the USA. Here in WA state, it seems like I see a new one about once a week. I used to hate roundabouts--mainly because other drivers didn't know how to deal with them. But over time I have grown to like roundabouts. My three main reasons are:
1) No stopping and sitting at a red light when no one else is there. This just drives me nuts when a light refuses to turn green and there is NO ONE else at the intersection. Roundabout? Just cruise on through the intersection.
2) I feel safer. Ever seen someone BLOW through a red light doing about 60mph? Yep, that's tougher to do with a roundabout. Sure, there are still going to be accidents with roundabouts, but they are far more likely to be low speed fender bender accidents than high speed collisions where people get killed.
3) Power outages. Every time we have a power outage around here, the typical traffic light intersection gets extremely dangerous. People do NOT treat these intersections like 4 way stops as they are supposed to. You get people blowing through the intersection when the power is out. It's a great way to get killed. Roundabouts don't care if the power is out. They still work as they are supposed to.
I understand that many people don't like roundabouts just because it is something new and different. People aren't used to them. But, over time, people will get more and more used to them and accept them--just like everything else.
Hey those are pretty good points, and ya; people just need to get used to them. They're the future!
FYI: Causeway Blvd. in Metairie LA was constructed around 1956 (as a continuation of the Causeway bridge across Lake Pontchartrain). Where it intersects Airline Hwy they built a direct straight overpass with a lower level Roundabout (for entry or exit onto Airline). They also built a depressed underpass used by Airline Hwy. (Causeway went up and over, while Airline went down and under). The Roundabout had two up-ramps from Airline as well as two down-ramps onto Airline. All four of these fed into the Roundabout. From the Roundabout you could also enter or leave Causeway OR use it as an alternate route bypassing the straight overpass. Also the Roundabout was often used as an alternate route from Airline to Airline either direction when the Airline underpass flooded. Thus, when I encountered my first FLAT Roundabout it was a no-brainer to use it.
I went to Charlotte, NC and I keep seeing roundabouts at the intersections where you get onto the interstate. This is genius because no yielding or running lights and speed is reduced tremendously. More places should really look into them.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69 lol every red state is at bottom in avg level of education. Good parenting lol.
We need these everywhere. You not supposed to stop in a vehicle. Your supposed to yield and roll on ..
I disagree
'no yielding' ?? You obviously have no idea about roundabouts ! Before entering a roundabout you have to yield to traffic on the roundabout !!
@@Goat1229exactly
The only people I know who hate roundabouts are those who don't know how to navigate them.
And pedestrians
essentially people who shouldn't be driving in the first place.
Or... people who know how to navigate them personally, but still have to deal with all of the other confused idiots on the road! Driving up to the roundabouts in my city inevitably means waiting behind a long line of cars who treat the roundabout like a stop sign. In fact, some of the roundabouts in my city actually HAVE stop signs at them. SMH
@@schenksteven1 Here in Georgia (the state, not the country), 99% of drivers when making a left turn will NOT pull into the intersection, when it is perfectly LEGAL. I sit there, left turn signal on, cop goes by me, then I go, yet people behind still refuses to do it.
Or the survivors of roundabout car accidents
Some forget to turn their signal on when signalling or entering the roundabout. If you do just position your car correctly so other drivers know where you are going. Took meawhile to understand it but now I just love it. It makes the traffic a lot more smoother.
Spain has a type of roundabout that I have not seen anywhere else. It is a complex set-up where the main road splits the roundabout and the various entry and exit points are controlled by yield signs, stop signs and traffic lights.
Here in Norway, where possible, most traffic light intersections have been replaced with roundabouts the last few decades. And I absolutely love it. So much better flow in traffic, and so much safer.
Does roundabouts there have protected cycle lanes?
@@rodrigosouto9502 No, they don't. Maybe some newer, but not in my region at least. I've actually never seen/heard any debate here on that topic at all.
Bend Oregon is full of them at first I hated it but then realized I am getting around a lot faster. Other cities need to take notes.
Northwesterners can’t drive to save their life
just out of curiosity, why did you hate them at first?
@@yebii_ he probably wasn't used to them
@@yebii_the civic art inside of them are pretty terrible
I live in a city of about 27,000 + near Akron, Ohio. Our mayor and council over the last several years have installed 11 roundabouts with more to come. They allow to travel more smoothly on our roads as well as eliminating traffic lights.
I encountered in Poland a lot of bad drivers that would purposely sit in the outside lane of the roundabout and never exit, blocking traffic from leaving from the middle/second lane which was legal to do. When entering a multiple lane roundabout, if you enter on the outside lane, you are required to be exiting on the NEXT exit. You cannot sit there and continue to go 2+ exits more or else you will be hit by other cars or force them to have to stop in their lane to wait for you to pass in front of them. It becomes super dangerous when people don't follow the law.
Here in Switzerland we don't have many roundabouts with two lanes and it's exactly like you describe. Actually I'm guilty of this myself, because I hate using the inner lane because you have to be so super careful when you want to exit.
@@ASAMB12 you always have to be careful and alert when driving. So what's the problem?
What you’re talking about is not written anywhere in Polish law. There is no requirement to use the right lane only to use the closest exit. (Unless it’s a turbine roundabout and signs enforce such a rule.)
So please stop spreading misinformation.
I am from Canada, and went to Ireland this summer. I knew that roundabouts are great before the trip, but driving through them on a daily basis was a great experience. I am fully converted now, and hate n-way stops wholeheartedly.
the stops were made to waste gasoline...thank the oil companies for ruining our traffic for over a century
Me too. When driving on the left I did have to think left over and over but the round about were easy
However, America has a lot bigger populations trying to get from one place to another.
@@elizabethhoeppner8881 It's just a case of what one is used to. I live in Monaco and drive on the right, but when I drive to the UK, the second I get off the ferry, I switch into 'left mode' without even thinking about it.
It's the same with roundabouts, here in Europe we don't really give them a second thought, and as you say, they are easy...We wouldn't like traffic lights or stop signs at every intersection here.
Traffic lights are the worst thing, especially when they put them on roundabouts. All I want if anyone turning right, that a small slip road is used for waiting to turn off the road.
In my old local town they redeveloped the main road through the town. They put in the slip road (locals demanded it) to enter the town and they put a traffic light on it. Well one weekend the traffic lights malfunctioned and was turned off. That weekend traffic moved smoothly through the town. The following weekend a summer August bank holiday traffic chaos with very long queues on both sides of the town, causing back up into the town center (not on main road). Well the local sergeant was fed up (as it was also dangerous) went to the traffic light and turned it off. Long waits of traffic disappeared within the hour and did not build up. Usually they direct traffic when they turn off the traffic light, but he was distracted with dealing with a local thug and after 15 minutes, noticed that traffic was moving smoothly.
Traffic lights always build up traffic and creates cortina type effects, which is a dangerous situation for drivers on main roads, which frustrate drivers. Well that weekend after the local traffic lights was turned off, there was far less accidents on the main road that weekend. So when ever there is heavy traffic they turn off the traffic light, and do not have to post an officer on road duties. The council eventually removed the traffic light, as the sergeant threaten to permanently turn it off for public safety, or there will be delays to deal with council safety situations because they cannot get across town due to the traffic light chaos. He suggested a different area for it.
What part of Canada? There are roundabouts in areas of Canada as well and municipalities are building more again.
I live in Indianapolis and Carmel is famous for them. After an adjustment period people ended up loving them. Carmel Indiana is one of the best developed suburbs in all of America. All of the other Suburbs in Indianapolis are putting them in.
That mayor must become POTUS.
@@yengsabio5315 He would be a right turn for America.
Shame he would have to yield to candidates already in the circle though.
Absolutely agree as a lifelong Indy resident.
As a motorcyclist I love roundabouts so much. I’ve been stuck at red lights all the time from the sensors not picking up the bike
I think it is helpful when they can put in an alternate lane that keeps traffic out. For example, a free flowing right turn. A good one is astraight through lane at a T or three way intersection.
I visited Carmel, IN once and it is a beautiful town. So clean - so friendly. Where I was staying, there were sidewalks for me to walk and jog. Beautiful town.
Only if you’re white
Seriously the best place to live in indiana
I am a Canadian and everytime I travel to Europe, I am amazed how efficient roads are efficient outside big cities, almost no traffic lights and no stop signs. Where I live, a city of 30K people, it is amazing the time I waste waiting for the signal and the number of stop I have to go through.
sorry i have no sympathy for you. Canadian had lots of roundabouts mate. you lot ripped them all out in the 50s so you could be more American.
fun fact for you. the A24 out by Dorking in Surrey was up graded by the Canadian army in ww2. but they had to stop at Ashtead as Canadians had been band from entering Epsom. they restarted the works at North Cheam. the restriction on Canadian army personnel entering Epsom implemented in 1919 is still technically enforce today. its the only town in the UK with a no Canadian troops bylaw on entering the town.
@@tommyfred6180 Sorry, but I was not looking for your sympathy. I only meant to give my feelings about European roads. Thanks anyway for being an a...
@@tommyfred6180lmao
europoor confirmed@@tommyfred6180
What you and others fail to account for is that in euorpe they have 30 percent of the traffic in the US so they can have these nonsense all over the place and had they done the study based on traffic congestion they would have quickly realized that the round about is not and could not be practical in most places in the US... most people walk in europe and those with cars are considered fortunate. In the US, in the major cities, only the dirt poor dont have a car. Imagine having 100,000 cars daily using a round about at the intersection and imagine the head ache and accidents that would happen ...
They are comparing apples or oranges to pigs and goats.
The way I look at a roundabout is that it's essentially a one-way main road and if I want enter it, I must yield to anyone already on it. If I want to leave it, I signal and turn away. That's it.
I some countries (Sweden for instance), they signal into the center whenever they are in it, so they might think of it differently, but here in Finland we only signal whenever we want to leave the roundabout so as to tell the driver about to enter it that I'm leaving the merry-go-around.
Roundabouts work best when the drivers understand and anticipate what's about to happen. For instance, one roundabout near me connects a much busier street with a less busy one. That means that whenever I'm coming from the less busy one, I need to look at what's happening in the roundabout. I'm looking for a gap in the traffic on the main street, so whenever the next car coming from the main street (on my left) has to stop to yield to pedestrians or other traffic, that's my cue to go.
Makes for a much more efficient intersection.
I love the traffic circles! Where I live in Tulsa, OK, there's a traffic circle or a turn-around or a round-about (whatever it's called in your world) that I use a lot! Its to bad that other drivers just don't understand how they work & how truly beneficial they are.
if people indicate when exiting a roundabout, trust me you’ll see a huge difference with traffic flowing. Just simple thing as that
Two-lane traffic roundabouts are fine. As a Canadian driving in the U.K., my experience with their four-lane roundabouts was absolutely terrifying. Some had five interchanges, which meant 5 entrances and 5 exits. Unlike the 4 lanes shown in this video, their traffic circles were completely packed with cars, making it very difficult to change to the correct lane. I had no idea which lane I was supposed to be in. I was forced to exit incorrectly, only to experience another 4 lane roundabout resulting in a similar experience. And then another. I felt like l was in a pinball machine and became hopelessly lost. Thankfully, with the aid of a GPS and perseverance, I made it to my destination but it was not a pleasant experience.
Traffic circles?
@@UltraCasualPenguin I stand corrected. I thought traffic circles were synonymous with roundabouts. Apparently, they are not; thanks for the heads up. I edited the original comment to fix it.
I have difficulty in understanding what you mean by traffic circles which isn't a description of anything on the UK network. You seem to be referring to an interchange which may involve several roads including motorways. The roads are marked with arrows indicating the direction of travel and the destination of each lane is shown on both entering signs and overhead gantries where applicable. Traffic control lights may be required if the junctions are complex and traffic heavy. Sat nav is usually effective in directing which lane you should be in and follow at each step. Maybe you were finding the difficulty of driving on the opposite side of the road to your normal an additional problem. Driving in Paris was much the same for me.
@celeritasc9207 I completely understand traffic controlled roundabouts with many exits are challenging at the beginning even for me, I was super scared to go on big roundabouts. The best thing to do is understand which exit you have to use ( 2 or 5th Exit) What you do is position yourself on the left lane if you plan to get off the 2nd exit and use the road markings to follow the circle and stay in your lane make sure you signal to the right until you pass the 1st exit. You then have to signal left to get off your 2nd exit. if you plan to take the 5th exit you position yourself on the right lane and signal right then follow the road markings that will take you around the roundabout.
@@shirhan21 I figured that there was such a strategy, and understood that for a later exit I needed to be in a lane further in. But, when the roundabout is completely full and no one has enough courteousness to allow someone to make a lane change, as a first experience, it was beyond my ability navigate. I am just glad that we don’t have such large ones over here.
I went to Aruba for vacation and almost the entire island only has roundabouts, i was a little confused on my first day of driving. By the second day, i thought to myself why aren't we using these in the US. Seems like common sense to adopt these.
They are in the US depending on the city/state.
Aruba is part of the extended Kindom of the Netherlands (along with Curaçao and Bonaire) - Netherlands known for being multi-modal travel friendly...
Aruba is known as the round about island. Confusing at first but you quickly gets used to it.
Been using them in Washington state for 25 plus years
I think you just answered your own question in the last sentence.
6:39 - New Jersey state highways had a lot of traffic circles built in about 1930. Route 70 had about 10 of them; most are gone now.
They have been adding them quickly here in Central Florida, most drivers seem confused by them and I try to avoid them as much as possible via backroads. I guess with time when we fully understand them and get comfortable they might be good.
I used to live in Athens, Georgia. A dangerous T-intersection was near my apartment. After the local government replaced that intersection with a roundabout, that intersection became much safer.
They are popular in Alaska. When they first started adding them, the state made an add telling everyone why they are great and how to use them. I think it really worked
I live in a city full of roundabouts. Their proper use needs to be included in driving tests.
Well, that sums it up. But as a French, they tend to place them where you don't really need them (was previously a secondary road with almost no traffic) add to that those who don't know how to insert whitout slowing the traffic, you create congestion, where there wasn't.
You can see traffic jams when 2 mains roads are crossing themselves. As mentionned you can have "shorcuts" which is very effective where it's compatible. For local roads, you could have traffic lights with presence detection, which is also effective (in suburbs)
Otherwise, you still have Paris, with it's renowned runabouts with right (or insertion) priority, which is fun to drive.
There used to be rotundas in Manila which were introduced by the Spaniards, but unfortunately they got rid of them.
I have only seen one rotunda in SoCal in a quiet neighborhood in Encinitas in San Diego County.
Come to Central/North Scottsdale here in AZ. Our neighborhoods are filled with them. The centers of the rotundas are filled w native plants and cacti which add to the beauty of our city---everywhere you go is like a park! I like using them when the traffic isn't so busy but it's intimidating for me in areas where there is more traffic, like the shopping areas.
Roundabouts have also limitations. If one road has a lot of traffic, the constant flow into the roundabout can block the way for other cars. People that are not using their signals prior exiting the roundabout are also not helping. The pedestrian crossings are often too close to the circle, making it unsafer to use them because drivers are too focused on driving the roundabout. On a bicycle those can be horror to drive if the lane is too wide and some drivers try to pass you inside the circle at any cost
In the uk, they put traffic lights on the busier section
The best way to to handle pedestrians and bicycles in a roundabout is vertical separation. Build tunnels for them so they and motor vehicles do not need to interact. It do take up more space but is very efficient for roads with more traffic. The same is the case for red-light intersections on roads with more traffic. The drawback in increased cost and it takes up a but more space. It do not take up a lot more space and where I used to live there are multiple examples of newly constructed roundabouts like that with the circle is around 30 meters in diamater.
Most traffic usually backs up at a four way stop or a round about when there are to many cars.
I live in Monaco and drive to the UK fairly frequently, I find that I switch from one side of the road, to the other as soon as I drive off the ferry without even thinking about it. The same with navigating a roundabout.
Interestingly, there are small differences in rules at roundabouts in different countries, but the UK is the easiest as, with very few exceptions, the rules are the same. It's different in France for example, as there can be slight differences in roundabout rules in different locations. One is warned about this with signs before the roundabout.
It's not a big deal though, roundabouts are easy to navigate.
Edited for typos.
Anyone who thinks roundabouts are a panacea should try navigating Place General Meiser in Brussels. Chevy Chase had it easy.
In addition, I used to live in Reno. Locals knew they could cross the city from north to south or vice versa in just a few minutes by taking Sierra Street (one way south), or Center Street going north. Then they changed the southern end of Center Street to all roundabouts (about every 100 feet). It tripled the time it took to move south to north. It made it just as long and frustrating as fighting tourists on Virginia Street through the center of town. I had to move from my cheap apartment in the southern end to a much more expensive apartment near the university to make it to my classes on time.
My husband and I like roundabouts. One place that really needs three more roundabouts here in the US is Sultan, Washington on US Highway 2.
Every holiday weekend and even summer weekends traffic is stop and go for hours. The citizenry of Sultan are opposed for some reason
My experience with roundabouts is that they are great up to a certain traffic density. Beyond that, you could find yourself waiting for a very long time at the entrance before you could safely enter it.
imho Sometimes smart traffic lights make more sense.
you are right, roundabouts do not fit everywhere, anyhow they help a lot keeping traffic going. How senseless is it to waiting at a red light when no other car is in sigth?
@@eberhardh As I said, "they are great up to a certain traffic density"
Also, I said nothing about them being able to fit.
After suggesting to my local community we replace a four way stop intersection with a small roundabout to thwart a local cop who plagues us with tickets, I couldn’t believe the hate I received. Americans need to pull their heads out of their rear ends.
Your local community doesn't want to lose that MUCH NEEDED revenue from the local law enforcement. 'Big money' rules this nation and it's going to take decades more for any heads to be pulled outta anyone's asses. Sad, to say.
A four way intersection with obligatory stops makes no sense when it could be replaced by a much more efficient roundabout...
@@mtee555🤡
Finally encountered one in CA, it’s very clever, and makes sense.
Maybe you should vote in a new police chief.
For me, roundabouts make it harder to remember directions. Go straight, then take a left at the 4th intersection is easy. Take exit 2 at roundabout 1, exit 1 at roundabout 2, exit 2 at roundabout 3, then exit 3 at roundabout 4 is much harder. Plus in larger roundabouts I lose all sense of direction when going in a circle.
Single lane roundabouts aren’t bad, but unfamiliar multi lane roundabouts can be very tricky to navigate.
In Australia we have some roundabouts where a tram runs through the middle of it. Can be unnerving for unfamiliar drivers as you not only give way to other cars on the roundabout but also to the tram that passes through the middle.
I lived in Mexico for 8 years and used "glorietas" a lot. They work great most of the time until one major road saturates the circle, preventing vehicles from entering from the crossroad. When there is no gap in the traffic, traffic cops would step in during rush hour to keep things moving in all directions, but with backups. Eventually, it got so bad that they converted some of the worst glorietas to signaled intersections.
That's what the turbo-roundabout is for, like they explained in the video, it helps regulate a roundabout where the majority of traffic come from one entrance
This is the fact these people will ignore
In the UK, many roundabout also have traffic lights that stop people already on the roundabout to let people on. Some less busy roundabouts actually turn these traffic lights off at quieter times - that seems like the perfect solution, you effectively have a roundabout combined with a traffic light intersection.
I have been living in Mexico for the best part of 20 years now, and while you get congestion at roundabouts, people will usually just push in when there's no gaps, which overall works surprisingly well. Signalled crossings tend to be catastrophic with dense traffic, i.e. workdays from 5AM to 10PM.
people should also know how to drive properly and leave space for traffic to flow through 😅
My hometown is loaded with roundabouts. They work wonderfully, once people learn how to enter and exit - plus much cheaper than traffic lights, everything considered.
Depends how busy the roads are, I been to Berlin many times that's extremely stressful driving in that compared to America
@@m42037 Only when you have an American understanding of driving. Let's face it, your drivers tests are pathetic.
I live in Southwest Ohio and roundabouts are super common. You literally can't exit my neighborhood in any direction without hitting a roundabout.
I absolutely LOVE these. Learned to love them with so much time in Europe.
As a German, I am really used to roundabouts but when I was in Ireland once, I was very confused. They had additional traffic lights inside the roundabout in Ireland. And once when I stopped there at a red light in a roundabout, a car behind me honked for me to go. I was more confused than ever before in my life because I learned that I had to stop my car at red lights.
We have a few of those in Romania as well, the design is of a roundabout but is generally just a bigger circle intersection where if you want to turn left using that "roundabout", you'd have a red light (functions the same way as a squared/normal intersection where you'd turn left and will have to wait for the incoming traffic before turning left, but also, if the lights are not working, it functions as a normal roundabout).
In your case, if you were going straight, then you just ignore the red light as it is not addressed to you
Hopefully my explanation isn't as confusing as I think it is, but hey, can't draw on youtube comments :)
UK has a lot of roundabouts with full or part time traffic signals. The lights work exactly as standard signals. They're used on very busy routes particularly on motorway access roads. Roundabouts were named after the funfair roundabouts seen in funfairs from the 1800s onwards.
They're called traffic light controlled roundabouts. I imagine they are needed where traffic coming from one direction would dominate the roundabout preventing traffic from another direction ever getting on.
But don't ignore the lights in Ireland. The driver behind you likely didn't see the red light. Also be careful entering the roundabout on a green light as the guy already on the roundabout with a red light might think he has right of way. It's rare but can happen.
Roundabouts with traffic lights are really stupid. Why are they not replaced by crossroads with traffic lights, which serve almost the same purpose as roundabouts, but are simpler and more time saving for users?
@@eugenec7130not really. A roundabout with traffic lights make it possible to have multiple arms of the crossing flow in the appropriate direction. That saves time, for each of the arms...
Carmel has started a trend in central indiana. Nearly all the Indianapolis suburbs have built at least one now. West Lafayette has them too.
Where I live, SE Wisconsin, there are a lot of roundabouts but we could probably use more. One I use is a little small for the amount of drive-time traffic and you better be on your game if you use it at that time. Still better than lights.
The city I live in is going to put in three roundabouts. My friend that owns an auto body shop is going to advertise in each one. Could be a great boost to his business
Roundabouts are more efficient up until a certain threshold of traffic volume. Once you exceed that threshold, they actually become less efficient than a managed traffic signal. The key to implementing roundabouts in the U.S. is to stay one step ahead in managing traffic volume on any given route (adding lanes, enabling alternate routes, etc.).
You can always add traffic lights before the roundabout if the traffic conditions end up demanding it.
More traffic volume handling roads aren't the answer anywhere (if it would be, then Houston or L.A. would be great cities to drive around, wouldn't they?).
If you have high traffic volume, you need transport with more capacity: Trains, Subways, Busses, Bikes or at best try to make it pedestrian friendly (as it has the highest capacity). Inducing demand for traffic for low capacity (cars), doesn't scale at all, as at that point where managed traffic signal becomes more efficient, every further car doesn't add congestion lineary, but much more worse.
I pretty much was shocked to hear the German professor to make the same mistake, especially as all he would need to do is to look out of the window of his university as it is in the region of Germany where you can exactly see this problem (the have highest density of roads, not many roundabouts, but also highest congestion rates in Germany, while still having a bad public transport system, no bike infrastrusture and not being much pedestrian friendly).
tldr; if you have high traffic volume, the best action is to reduce the (inefficient) traffic, not induce more (inefficient) traffic (and by doing it, make all much more higher capacity, more efficient traffic less attractive).
@@janekschleicher9661 Yuck. I'd rather go where I want when I want and deal with some congestion.
@@morefiction3264 They can take a train from Paris to London in 2hrs. That is freedom to do what you want when you want. How quickly can you travel to another country? Such a ridiculous argument but car companies have certainly brainwashed the lot of you.
@@gemelwalters2942 I can drive to a capital of another state in about 4 hrs, it's a bigger country and can plan to arrive exactly when I want. What's your point?
I can stop at the grocery store on the way home from work if I want and a hundred variations. What's your point?
I work for a Spanish construction company with a strong presence in the US and Canada.
We supposedly built the first roundabouts in the Quebec province back in 2010, or at least that is what we were told. Those roundabouts were value engineering proposals as they were built instead of complex crossings with overpasses that were much more expensive to build and mantain in a relatively low traffic area.
Overpasses are just inhumane!
What company
We've had roundabouts in Halifax since I was a kid, in the 60s. :)
@@jennifermarlow. good for Nova Scotia!
They have been building them here in Dutchess County NY and they are a big improvement over the intersections that used to back up for a mile in every direction. Now, there are no backups.
I live in the LA area in California. There are a lot of back ups on the roads. I think this is a great idea! I have no experience with driving in them.. In fact I have only drove through 1 small one in my whole time driving.
The roundabouts and traffic circles that I’ve driven on have had zero issues and are easy to navigate. It really baffles me that these aren’t more widespread in the US.
We have a tiny roundabout here at USI campus in Evansville. I remember driving and using it for my commute to and from there for my classes. They are pretty neat and efficient. I'm glad that people are starting to see the benefits of them more here in America.
In france too we have a lot of tiny roundabouts.
They are great in low congestion traffic. But when it gets crowded (most of the time here) they are useless.
@@RS-ls7mm You do realize the reason it gets crowded is because of traffic lights.
@@nickdentoom1173 Not even close. There are no lights. Just lots and lots of people trying to squeeze into the same place.
Learned to drive on a traffic circle in Orange, California, USA….the Plaza traffic circle has been there over 100 years!
The city of Sarasota Florida has been added roundabouts in order to “Calm “ the speed of drivers. They absolutely work as long as drivers take a moment to “Chill “ !
In the video it is mentioned that roundabouts are safer because traffic needs to slow down. In addition to that, if an accident still does happen, the angle of impact is usually more favorable compared to a classic intersection, thus generally causing less harm.
They did touch on that topic by showing the common types of collisions in a signaled intersection.
It depends on the size of the roundabout. In large ones, they don't need to slow down so much.
Here in southern Ontario, they are getting more popular out in rural areas. Places where there had been lights are being removed and replaced with circles. I hope this continues into towns and cities.
We have them in Halifax. It's a peninsula. with way too many people/cars commuting from the 'burbs. The roundabouts are great, and help greatly with traffic. I hope you get more. I can't see how they would work in Toronto, though, it's been a very long time since I've visited.
I like this idea because they don't require (as much) electrical maintenance. We have a one between Redmond Washington (USA) and Woodinville, and whenever I go up there and pass that roundabout I joke to myself "I'm in the country now" 😂
@@jennifermarlow.
I live in Toronto and it would likely be difficult to retrofit many old parts of the city with roundabouts because of space issues. Maybe there might be a few intersections here and there that could be converted.
However what makes no sense at all is to NOT build all roundabout infrastructure in brand new subdivisions that are going up all around the GTA in recent years. Everytime I travel outside of the GTA there's new neighborhoods being built that has very little car traffic and will remain that way for many years and yet they STILL build traffic lights that stop you at near empty intersections rather than having a roundabout that would save time and energy and keep traffic flowing.
This doesn't even include making the roads safer for everyone and slowing down the increasing number of drivers who speed through our streets these days. No one likes to talk about it, but there's an increasing amount of brown people from South Asian countries who have moved to the GTA in recent years that have completely embraced North America's car culture and they LOVE to drive around in fast cars and speed through city streets and they're often involved in high speed accidents that cause serious injuries and deaths.
They just installed 2 roundabouts when they expanded the highway in SA, BC
@UzumakiNaruto_ you answered your own question. Space is a premium here in Toronto, the 4 stop sign is just after, and easier to build that takes up the least amount of space.
Traffic circles actually increase accident rates, but at lower speed. The most accident-prone intersection in the USA is a traffic circle in Springfield, MA.
I don't mind a properly designed roundabout, but they do take up a lot of land so it is hard to retrofit them where an intersection has buildings nearby. Tiny roundabouts that let drivers go almost straight through without reducing speed are very dangerous and force those in the roundabout to yield to those entering to reduce their risk.