Roundabouts are a superior alternative to traffic lights, amirite?

Is this really unpopular?

by Anonymous 2 years ago

It's not an unpopular opinion. It's been proven roundabouts are very good at controlling flow of traffic as long as people understand how to enter with oncoming traffic.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Oof, so they're entirely useless then eh?

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Like everything else, it just takes some practice for people to get comfortable with them. The more traffic circles there are around the more people will get used to them.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Well, a lot of people don't do. And they can be quite dangerous if you look at the UK (at least sometimes). Also it really isn't so great for the car's health. I do see the point for roundabouts.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

The UK isn't the best example because they sometimes have roundabouts so tiny, you can go straight without even noticing. The secret is to make them big enough that they force you to slow down and yield to traffic. Another bad practice I've seen is they have 3 lane road ending in a roundabout while that should only be done inside high density cities. Imagine going 100km/h and suddenly you meet a roundabout without reducing them to 2 lanes for that extra anticipation. You distract yourself a little bit on the pole signals and you find yourself flooring brakes.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Tiny or just insane like The Magic Roundabout in Swindon which seems to be a roundabout consisting of a constellation of smaller roundabouts.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

My grandma said once that the crazy roundabout must be one of the safest in Britain... Because it's so complicated nobody goes over 7mph on it

by Anonymous 2 years ago

That and you're hyper vigilant when driving around it.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

For an American maybe? But its pretty common everywhereelse in the world, this is like saying soccer is an unpopular sport.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I would say so considering the fact that traffic lights outnumber roundabouts 10 to 1.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

As a semi truck driver I am not a fan. Cuz they usually dont make them wide enough. The back wheel of the trailer usually goes up on the median.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

They are designed to allow this. This is why the median height is high enough for a semi to go over but not for a car

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Not a valid argument, here in Ireland we have some of the tightest roundabouts and yet the huge articulated trucks manage there way around.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I agree but people are completely unable to follow the rule of circles (as they're called where I live). Those in the circle have the right of way, not sure why that's so hard.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Roundabouts are great,but not all roundabouts. For instance I live in a farming community where they need to move combines to different fields using public roads. I'm not sure if they reached a middle ground, but it was a concern that combines and tractors wouldn't be able to use the round about

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Make them flat so that one can theoretically drive over them  Works fine

by Anonymous 2 years ago

When I went through them last I noticed they were reasonably flat. That might have been the compromise they reached.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

An alternative, not always the best alternative. Unidirectional heavy traffic is best handled by traffic lights.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

They are proven way better than traffic lights

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Not unpopular.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I will die on this hill

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Wow OP, next you'll be telling me sneakers are more comfortable than high heels!

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I live somewhere that only has roundabouts. I'd somewhat agree.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

In the UK, we have roundabouts with traffc lights on them.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I say this to all who I know, and the majority disagree with me so yes, unpopular. He is correct in saying they are better, proven many times to be more efficient. However, it is the untrained morons in the US who make them bad.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Yeah in theory they are great, but when we built one where I live, there was immediately a handful of car accidents that occurred at it. I even almost got nailed at it by another driver who had no idea how to enter

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Oddly here, in the nicer and more expensive areas, the roundabouts are more common. I wonder if there's a correlation there lol

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Roundabouts are great! Fantastic for up to 2 lanes. Any more than that they cause high stress and anxiety and require a higher level of trust in your other drivers to be competent. Also they exude chaos. But I love them for smaller roads

by Anonymous 2 years ago

They are not a panacea. In some cases they greatly improve the situation, in some cases they make it worse. A careful analysis of the intersection and it's traffic loads and flows should be made, prior to converting to a roundabout.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

they are, unfortunately we don't have superior drivers that know how to use then

by Anonymous 2 years ago

unpopular because some people are way too dumb to use them.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Roundabouts suck. The US is way too litigious of a society and there are way too many small fender benders in roundabouts. Smaller ones are terrible for tractor trailers as well.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

So the roundabout doesn't suck, lawyers do

by Anonymous 2 years ago

As much as I am not a fan of lawyers, they do what the law allows. So blame the legislature you elected.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

Roundabouts piss off semi truck trivers

by Anonymous 2 years ago

This isn't an opinion this is fact

by Anonymous 2 years ago

All the studies show you're right, but i really hate them. Like... Irrationally.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

But what do u hate?

by Anonymous 2 years ago

They suck for foot traffic though in high traffic areas.

by Anonymous 2 years ago

I hate roundabouts, people never use them correctly. I'd rather wait for a light

by Anonymous 2 years ago