I did the Griswold last night just for fun: .86Gs according to the car’s performance monitoring app.

I use a traffic circle like the Dukes of Hazzard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez8Xn3XW1Z8

I grew up in and lived in NJ, I know traffic circles! I now live in the growing area of St George, UT and circles are the new thing. It's interesting to see how the folks handle them, there are law enforcement PSAs almost every week.

quote:

Originally posted by sreding:
traffic circles out in the country (or a new development) where they can be properly sized/built work fine. However the current 'trend' by municipalities in MN to replace a 2 way stop or 4 way stop with a traffic circle in the same fucking footprint need to have their engineering certificate revoked. These 'circles' are nothing more than a 4 way yield at best and that just doesn't work on very busy secondary roads. I'm talking circles that are so small that the center isn't raised because a normal truck/trailer can't drive around it without driving over the center, never mind a semi. They also like to add 'protected' bike lanes - further reducing space/room in the intersection. I've yet to see a bike on one, but hey - the green/bike mafia got what they wanted.

This is the key IMO. Kept simple and made large enough and they work great. Otherwise they are far worse that a 4-way stop. But, they look so European, so I guess they’ve got that going for them.

I noticed the bay area of Sarasota FL has quite a few of them when we vacation there. I like them and they seem to help w/ the flow of traffic.

OK I try to keep an open mind... so perhaps the few I have encountered were badly designed, but for me, those damn things need to all be sent to hell... straight to hell!

The only one, along with its inhabitants, that I didn't cuss was in the middle of nowhere, with not a car in sight, and luckily my GPS guided me through it flawlessly.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
People who stop at empty traffic circles are the same ones who go 10-15 mph under the speed limit on county roads and won't t ake the right-of-way when they're clearly first at a 4-way-stop. They are useless and unfit to be on the road.

Au contraire, mon ami, I don't go 10-15 mph under the speed limit on county roads (LMAO), and other people who motion me to go first even though they were first and have the right of way, fuck up my OODA loop.

I've made a couple or four mistakes on new-to-me roundabouts. In retrospect, I remember being glad the other drivers knew what they were doing and didn't kill me (I'm often on two wheels). I should have stopped, as I have done in other roundabout confusions.

Yup. I'm one of those assholes, still alive and still driving/riding on public thoroughfares.

^ the operative word was "empty". As in no other vehicles in the circle. There are definitely times where it's wise, or even necessary to stop! If I'm not 100% sure it's going to be clear when I enter, I'll stop too. The couple of seconds I might save ain't worth getting in a wreck!

But we have quite a few around here who will come to a complete stop before entering the circle when there's not another vehicle in sight. Those are the ones that get under my skin.

Not everybody who's confused by a traffic circle or roundabout is an idiot. Sometimes idiots design them.

I lived in Germany in the 80s for seven years and learned to navigate them them.....a little tricky in big cities!!! So when they started putting them in here, it wasn't a new driving maneuver I had to learn how to do.

What I would like to see is the following. In Germany (and probably in many other countries), there are few stop signs except on main roads. The law is referred to as "RECHTS VOR LINKS" or "RIGHT BEFORE LEFT" Simply put, you SLOW DOWN when approaching an intersection no matter where you approach it from. If nobody is coming from the right, just keep driving through the intersection. Everybody from all directions approaching the intersection follows suit and it works well IMO, especially in small neighborhoods where there's a stop sign at every corner. Saves gas, brakes and time.

Do any US states use the "RIGHT BEFORE LEFT" law?

Do the traffic circles there go clockwise or something?

Here, they go counter clockwise so all traffic is coming from the left and you enter the circle by making a right. My understanding is you yield to traffic in the circle coming from the left before entering. That would be left before right.

The traffic circles there are the same as here and follow the same rules as here.

The "Right Before Left" I spoke about has NOTHING to do with traffic circles. It's a completely different scenario at INTERSECTIONS. Re-read the second paragraph of my post for that info.

I like the right before left practice and in reality that’s how most people do it while blowing through the many unnecessary stop signs littering the world. Now let’s also eliminate a lot of left hand turns on busy major arteries. Maybe try actually letting traffic flow.

Here is insanity. 1950’s through 1970’s this was a normal traffic circle. Then some “genius” decided to make the main road go through the circle, put stop lights on every entrance plus through the new middle road plus turn arrows to cross the traffic. What once flowed smoothly turned into a giant cluster f..k.

And then you have the people putting their right turn signal on when entering a traffic circle. Hey Einstein you can ONLY EVER GO RIGHT, you don’t need to do that.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
The most insane traffic circle in the world.

You'd have to circle the other way if it was in southern hemisphere

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Not everybody who's confused by a traffic circle or roundabout is an idiot. Sometimes idiots design them.

This^^.
The only thing they do is hinder the flow of traffic. Not too bad on 4 way intersections, but some of them are 3 way or 5 way. If you're driving East on 23rd street, you're not thinking "I'm driving East on 23rd" as you enter the circle. Since they mound the middle of the circle and plant bushes on them, you have lost the visual connection with your route. So you go around the circle and you see a sign and you have to think a couple seconds to remember which direction you were heading, then you either stop, take the exit unsure, or keep going around while you try to remember.
If I was in charge of the traffic department of a large city, I would check personnel records to see who has a degree in civil engineering, then fire all those who do. I would take a giant wheel loader and peel up the traffic circles.
I would make a list of all the 4 way stop signs and go see how many of them I could change to 2 way stop signs.

Just watched someone come to a full stop in a traffic circle near me and start waving people in SMDH

It’s almost like people need to go to school to learn to how to use these things around here.