I'd spend a little more time in my car on an empty road than less time in a typical downtown, and this is hardly radical. Obviously there are situations where I

I'd spend a little more time in my car on an empty road than less time in a typical downtown, and this is hardly radical. Obviously there are situations where I'd rather spend more time in my car. My issue is not with any particular intersection design. Maybe the roundabout was better in that Dutch city than a traffic light, and probably all things considered, some intersections will be better if drivers are forced to pay more attention. What bothers me is the assumption that there is no cost to forcing people to solve puzzles when they otherwise wouldn't have to. You can't have something so important as an afterthought.