small traffic circle driving rules: right of way

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Originally Posted By: crw
Yes, the traffic circle pictured is way too small. In this case, it's hardly a traffic circle and is dangerous IMHO.

I don't know why people don't like them. I'd rather be able to proceed without stopping (90% of the time) than have to stop for a stop sign 100% of the time. Learn to drive and get over it.


You don't know why people may not like them?

I WANT to like them. In theory...and in practice (with proper drivers) they work great.

That's the issue...not me or other that know perfectly well the rules of a traffic circle....it's the idiots that are incapable of driving. They will freak you out in those circles. Scary as all get-out when you see that they just stiffen up as they approach the circle....look straight ahead...then drive RIGHT INTO them!

We've got a lot of immigrants here who seem to have problems with regular intersections....throw in a traffic circle and then watch what unfolds.

They can be a disaster.
 
I like those little 'smooth' ones, more like a chicane!

The term LHD, in the UK applies to a left hand drive vehicle. They carry a LHD plate so that everyone else knows that their visibility is limited. Trying to overtake for instance can be a problem. What you need is a reliable but brave passenger!
 
We have a small round-a-bout here, and despite the yield signs, people just blow through it at 40+ mph, honking at people that are already in the circle. They would be great if people actually understood what right of way meant.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
"All hope abandon". The rule in Massachusetts is the bigger the "firster".


Sounds similar to New Jersey driving rules: The car with more rust and dents has right-of-way.
 
I give up, I can't correctly describe driving on the LHS of the road.

I could claim my fingers slipped, LHD could just be a typo for LHS. But no, I bolo'ed again.

Good thing I'm not a traffic engineer or instructor in the UK or any other nation with similar traffic patterns.
 
Originally Posted By: Whitewolf

The term LHD, in the UK applies to a left hand drive vehicle. They carry a LHD plate so that everyone else knows that their visibility is limited. Trying to overtake for instance can be a problem...

In the early '80s I drove a LHD car in the UK for three years, did not have to have any plate so that must be new.
 
The English are big on these things and the rest of Europe is catching on, more and more of them are on German roads. They work well, much better than a PITA fuel/time wasting traffic light.
The problem is American drivers seem to treat them like a curve in the road and not a traffic flow device, they just blow right though them sometimes without even slowing down, ignoring cars entering.

In Germany the cars in the roundabout have the right away, the cars waiting to merge have to give way to cars coming into it from the right.
When used correctly its smooth as silk with almost no loss of time.
 
Our traffic circle works like this...

Slow down to make sure car already in circle is exiting... get honked at for slowing down by car behind you... wave nicely.

Enter circle ... as you approach first exit, TRIPLE check that car approaching circle at still above the speed limit wiil actually yield to you... about 50/50 on this, be prepared to have texting driver simply drive into circle directly in your path without looking , slowing , or having the slightest idea that he should...

As you proceed around the circle, be prepared to come to a complete stop as vehicle in front suddenly realizes they don't know what to do, so they slam on brakes and stop. Completely. In the middle of circle...

Wait patiently, and understand the guy behind you is not honking at you, this time...

As you approach your exit, brake hard for the pedestrian who is as confused about this traffic circle as everyone else... no walk / don't walk signal to guide him.

Understand the guy behind you is not honking at you again. Oh, actually he is because you're slowing down again... and he's yelling something about learning to drive...

Exit traffic circle.... BREATH... then watch in amusement as the guy behind you blows by, waving just one finger... you "wave..." back.

Yeah, traffic circles do work, sort of...MAYBE?

Or maybe not. As I said before, the one circle I drive regularily is always at, or near the top intersection for accidents in a city of almost 1 million ...
 
Originally Posted By: Kiwi_ME
Originally Posted By: Whitewolf

The term LHD, in the UK applies to a left hand drive vehicle. They carry a LHD plate so that everyone else knows that their visibility is limited. Trying to overtake for instance can be a problem...

In the early '80s I drove a LHD car in the UK for three years, did not have to have any plate so that must be new.


No, it's really old. Almost as long as I can remember, and that's going some. It's not a compulsory thing but many people do it.
 
Originally Posted By: geeman789
Our traffic circle works like this...

Slow down to make sure car already in circle is exiting... get honked at for slowing down by car behind you... wave nicely.

Enter circle ... as you approach first exit, TRIPLE check that car approaching circle at still above the speed limit wiil actually yield to you... about 50/50 on this, be prepared to have texting driver simply drive into circle directly in your path without looking , slowing , or having the slightest idea that he should...

As you proceed around the circle, be prepared to come to a complete stop as vehicle in front suddenly realizes they don't know what to do, so they slam on brakes and stop. Completely. In the middle of circle...

Wait patiently, and understand the guy behind you is not honking at you, this time...

As you approach your exit, brake hard for the pedestrian who is as confused about this traffic circle as everyone else... no walk / don't walk signal to guide him.

Understand the guy behind you is not honking at you again. Oh, actually he is because you're slowing down again... and he's yelling something about learning to drive...

Exit traffic circle.... BREATH... then watch in amusement as the guy behind you blows by, waving just one finger... you "wave..." back.

Yeah, traffic circles do work, sort of...MAYBE?

Or maybe not. As I said before, the one circle I drive regularily is always at, or near the top intersection for accidents in a city of almost 1 million ...







I love that description
 
Here's a variation in the UK that should be implemented in the US
190_zpsm06m8wht.png
 
I love roundabouts, it's a real shame there are way too many aggressive, self-absorbed drivers out there that make them less efficient.
 
Roundabouts are starting to be built here.

They are allegedly safer than regular intersections....except they forgot to account for one thing:

The stupidity of drivers.

There doesn't seem to be many people that can negotiate it.

You have the ultra timid who are waiting for an impossible gap. Like there has to be a solid 60 seconds with no one in the circle before they will enter. Then they will get stuck in it at 5mph in an endless loop because they can't figure out where they are supposed to get off anymore.

Contrast that with the ultra aggressive driver. "To [heck] with the yield signs. I'm entering way too fast, tires howling and catching the corner curb with my back tire on the way out."
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I read that some European cities did away with all traffic signs. The result was less accidents and better traffic flow.

With no guidance people tend to be more cautious.


The few roundabouts I deal with do seem to support that. When you have no clue how anyone else is going to go around, you get real cautious.
 
Never seen a stop sign at the entrance of one. Must be your region.

But a stop sign would help reinforce the notion that traffic in the circle has the right of way. Well, it should; what bad drivers do is something else.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
If roundabouts are meant to keep traffic moving why in the US do they sometimes put stop signs at the entrance?


We have a number of traffic circles in our area, and all have yield signs at the entrance stems, not stop signs. Stop signs seem to be counter productive, and it may be a local thing to help combat the lack of driver education.
 
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