Please explain, it really perplexes me

12/22/2009 6:08:35 PM

Americans are lazy

/thread

12/22/2009 6:09:29 PM

i think people are just bad drivers and don't understand that you are supposed to yield

like...not everyone going round the circle is going to turn off right in front of you, maybe they need to go around farther soooo you gotta wait and see and not pop out in front

and if you are turning off the circle it helps to use a signal!

12/22/2009 6:10:20 PM

try driving on these things in Europe

i was like holy god i'm gonna die

12/22/2009 6:11:14 PM

because they are not common on american roads and often seen as a novelty. this shouldn't that hard to understand.

12/22/2009 6:11:35 PM

unfamiliar things are confusing


/thread

12/22/2009 6:12:43 PM

surprised no one said something like "literally half the population is female"

12/22/2009 6:13:37 PM

because you don't know if you go right, left, stop, yield, shit, drive, or what to do. The shit is confusing.

12/22/2009 6:13:50 PM

this is why I hate that they put those new traffic circles in... I personally don't mind them but it really pisses me off when jackasses don't know how to use it

12/22/2009 6:14:19 PM

i don't know why you'd ever go left

that just doesn't seem right to me

12/22/2009 6:14:35 PM

well of course left isn't right

12/22/2009 6:15:02 PM

A lot of people have never run into them before. A highway interchange would be confusing as shit if you'd never seen it before, but to most Americans it's pretty self-explanatory.

That said, it's easy to find someone who has lived here for decades and is still flabbergasted by the concept of a 4-way stop.

12/22/2009 6:16:50 PM

i come across roundabouts daily... and i am talking huge ones here, like 20-50 meters in diameter, and with lots of traffic, and no one follows the "yield to cars in the roundabout rule" (not practical to follow that rule when you have a hundred cars in and around the roundabout with tons more cars coming into it and going out of it).

try driving across one of those!

here are pics of some... MUST SEE!!!
http://images.google.com/images?q=jeddah%20roundabout

12/22/2009 6:17:53 PM

ibteveryonesucksatdrivingbutmesofuckoff

12/22/2009 6:18:10 PM

Driving is pretty complex, we just do it a lot. I still see plenty of adults who don't know what a turn signal is, or know better than to change lanes so they're a foot in front you on a snowy road.

12/22/2009 6:20:06 PM

^^^ that's like modern art?

wat

[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:22 PM. Reason : qw]

[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:22 PM. Reason : ]

12/22/2009 6:22:17 PM

yeah that's all i'm seeing there, too

12/22/2009 6:24:13 PM

hey i'm about to go to bojangles

12/22/2009 6:25:26 PM

you taking about NC drivers? NC drivers have been the worst i have seen anywhere in this nation. id rather get stuck behind tourists who dont know where they're going in florida than drive anywhere in NC. Its like if you were born in NC, you IQ drops 50 points once you start your vehicle.

yeah, a traffic circle is too complex for nc drivers.

12/22/2009 6:25:50 PM

Quote :

"^^^ that's like modern art? wat"

yeah they have huge modern/abstract art and sculptures on the roundabouts. and planes and boats too

they are removing all the roundabout from the city though, because they lead to many accidents. installing traffic lights in place. heck, some roundabouts already have traffic lights on them.


[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:26 PM. Reason : ]

12/22/2009 6:26:08 PM

Observing modern art while in control of a motor vehicle in motion seems like an asinine idea.

12/22/2009 6:28:51 PM

Traffic circles = Incoming cars have right of way. These can still be found in old-fashioned towns throughout North Carolina, usually going around city hall or the old slave market in the center of town.

Roundabouts = Cars already in the circle have the right of way. These are much more common and a better design in my opinion.

Older drivers will approach with caution due to this discrepancy. Your use of the term "traffic circle" indicates you are the one likely confused.

PIECE OF CAKE!


[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:33 PM. Reason : .]

12/22/2009 6:29:44 PM

Quote :

"Observing modern art while in control of a motor vehicle in motion seems like an asinine idea."

lol, that's a very reasonable point you make

12/22/2009 6:34:18 PM

In CE 503, roundabouts and traffic circles were synonymous.

12/22/2009 6:38:51 PM

Call them what you will, different types of circular intersections exist.

12/22/2009 6:40:40 PM

I'm not saying that different types don't exist. I'm saying that if traffic drove around in a circle, it was called a traffic circle and the right-of-way was given to those in the circle.

12/22/2009 6:45:03 PM

I WANT TO DRIVE ON THAT MAGIC ROUNDABOUT IN ENGLAND!!!

I would never leave it... it would be so much fun to figure out all the different combinations, permutations, and patterns of driving!!!

12/22/2009 6:45:07 PM

Counter-rotating traffic patterns seems like it would slow everything down... but maybe that's just me.

12/22/2009 6:46:49 PM

Yeah, that's not the best designed roundabout. The better ones have dedicated lanes around the outside that go directly to the next clockwise(USA) spoke. No stopping or yielding, just keep on trucking. These would improve most intersections with traffic lights as well, but they take up lots of land that no one wants to sell.

Quote :

"In the absence of signs or signal control, traffic entering a traffic circle has the right-of-way, although many circles give right-of-way to the primary roads or to circulating traffic."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_circle

[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:56 PM. Reason : .]

12/22/2009 6:53:49 PM

Quote :

"The better ones have dedicated lanes around the outside that go directly to the next clockwise(USA) spoke. No stopping or yielding, just keep on trucking. These would improve most intersections with traffic lights as well, but they take up lots of land that no one wants to sell."

I totally agree. I like that Cary has intersections with free-flow right turn lanes. It's great.

Good call on the land, also it's difficult on cyclists going straight and cars turning right and also pedestrians have to cross extra lanes.

^There's the answer to Jen's question. It comes down to signage, knowledge, and familiarity.

[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 6:59 PM. Reason : -]

12/22/2009 6:57:39 PM

These are the people trying to figure them out

12/22/2009 7:03:44 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabouts

Quote :

"Turbo roundabouts In the Netherlands, a relatively new type of roundabout is built increasingly often. It provides a forced spiralling flow of traffic, thus requiring motorists to choose their direction before entering the roundabout. By eliminating many conflicting paths and choices on the roundabout itself, traffic safety is increased, as well as speed, and as a result, capacity. A turbo roundabout does not allow traveling a full circle. Several variations of the turbo roundabout exist. The basic turbo roundabout shape is designed for where a major road crosses a road with less traffic. Turbo roundabouts are typically built with raised lane separators. Cheaper implementations with only road markings exist, but hurt the efficiency (regarding safety, speed and capacity) of the design by enabling users to cheat the system. According to micro-simulation, a two-lane roundabout with free right turns should offer 12-20% greater traffic flow than a conventional, three-lane roundabout of the same size. The reason offered by authors Ir. Isaak Yperman and Prof. Ir. Ben Immers is that there is less weaving in a turbo, making entering and exiting more predictable. Because there are only ten points of conflict (compared with 16 for a conventional roundabout, or 64 with a traffic signal), it is expected that these new designs will be safer, as well. At least 15 have been built in the Netherlands, while many turbos (or similar, lane splitting designs) can be found in southeast Asia.[23]"

12/22/2009 7:29:45 PM

^that's pretty cool. i think people would still not know that they want to turn right and be in the left lane and try and merge too late and fuck everything up though

[Edited on December 22, 2009 at 7:34 PM. Reason : s]

12/22/2009 7:33:54 PM

im so mean

12/22/2009 7:39:46 PM

Using video game simulations to test these things with a large quantity of drivers would be neat.

12/22/2009 7:55:11 PM

Look kids, Big Ben.

12/22/2009 8:14:51 PM

12/22/2009 8:15:10 PM

that turbo roundabout is a hot shit idea.

I kinda like that.

12/23/2009 5:42:34 AM

Quote :

"you taking about NC drivers? NC drivers have been the worst i have seen anywhere in this nation. id rather get stuck behind tourists who dont know where they're going in florida than drive anywhere in NC. Its like if you were born in NC, you IQ drops 50 points once you start your vehicle. yeah, a traffic circle is too complex for nc drivers. "

noone bit on this troll attempt. nice

12/23/2009 7:43:38 AM

Quote :

"try driving on these things in Europe i was like holy god i'm gonna die"

Meeee tooooo!!! most of the ones we saw were multiple lanes and people just zip in and out - but it worked for them... It was still scary though

12/23/2009 8:12:45 AM

^^ lol, true... this site numbs people

12/23/2009 8:19:32 AM

Quote :

"try driving on these things in Europe i was like holy god i'm gonna die"

When I was in Europe, our group had 2 tour buses. When we were going around the circle around the Arc de Triomphe, some dumbass on a scooter tried to go between the buses and the buses closed in together and almost crushed him (he had to SLAM on his brakes)

12/23/2009 11:10:44 AM

Quote :

"because they are not common on american roads and often seen as a novelty. this shouldn't that hard to understand."

i, too, love magic roundabouts

12/23/2009 11:13:18 AM

the first time i came to the big city of raleigh i was confused by the one on campus as i had never seen one before. but my friend just screamed at me STAY RIGHT! STAY RIGHT! and i figured it out.

[Edited on December 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM. Reason : ]

12/23/2009 11:13:44 AM