A quick reminder for people on how to use roundabouts (traffic circles):
1. When the way is clear, you enter the traffic circle.
2. Once you enter a circle you proceed and you do not suddenly slam on your brakes for no damn reason (allegedly because you see a car coming from the other side of the roundabout that isn’t an actual factor), causing the car behind you that was following and had also entered the circle to slam on their brakes.
On the upside, speed in the traffic circle is low, and my brakes work really, really good, even with the surprise factor of the elderly lady deciding to lock up her brakes right in front of me in the circle as she apparently got confused as to roundabout operation.
Not even a scratch on either car, nor any injuries, which is nice.
Startle response and blood pressure increase to start the morning off, not so much.
7 comments:
I look both ways in a roundabout, and when crossing a one way street.
In a conversation with a veteran traffic officer, the opinion was roundabouts have just as many accidents as intersections. The only good part is the collisions occur at slower speeds.
WSF: Yep, best part is there was absolutely no one in front of the lady when she slammed on the brakes. There was someone behind me who barely missed me by jumping into the other lane, which was nice.
Roundabouts here seem to be very prone to accidents due to drivers like the elderly lady in front of me who don;t know how to use them, and are regularly listed as the most accident-prone in the area, but damage while more frequent is generally lesser as its typically not a head-on collision in the roundabout.
That's the excuse for roundabouts being built...accident are lesser, angles, not head on strikes or t-bones.
But I sincerely doubt they do more than save the municipality money as there are no lights to maintain.
Too many people are given licenses and never tested for the ability to drive.
Way too many drivers have the response time of carrots and the cognitive ability of lettuce.
As an efficiency expert, I love roundabouts. They are cheaper than stoplights and better than stop signs. Unfortunately, most American drivers are dumber than sack of potatoes and shouldn't be allowed to operate a motor vehicle. For crying out loud, treat it like a four way stop.......
It’s even more exciting when someone is coming the wrong way at you in the roundabout. Ask me how I know
Or try driving one from the 'other' side of the road. Talk about brain lock for a microsecond... shudder...
My opinion related to sixty years experience with them in US and Europe is they are an excellent means of siphoning money from the tax payer to the construction companies. Wait till you get on one with multiple lanes during heavy traffic then tell me how great they are.
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