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Yes! I've driven a lot in France where at least in smaller cities there are way fewer signals and stop signs than on North America. Like a lot of trips you don'
by version_five 3y ago
Yes! I've driven a lot in France where at least in smaller cities there are way fewer signals and stop signs than on North America. Like a lot of trips you don't encounter any. Traffic is managed by roundabouts and priority to the right. The consequence is you have to watch what other cars are doing and actively drive.
When traffic signals mediate everything for you, it's much easier to turn your brain off and when something unexpected, like a pedestrian crossing the road occurs, you don't see them because you're only watching the signals.
The added benefit is much better traffic flow. I wish we could get more roundabouts, unfortunately I think it would be a tough transition.
- aurels 3y agoFrance is roundabout-land ! (And I agree it's a good solution).
- ilyt 3y agoI have mixed feelings about roundabouts. Like, when done well they obviously work and they are even mildly entertaining to drive around when traffic is light but many towns slapped them in places where obviously there barely enough space for intersection, let alone roundabout and it is just awkward to drive around.
- qwytw 3y agoI guess in Europe roundabouts are often just the alternative to stop signs since it's the only way you can have an intersection between equal priority streets without traffic lights.
- graton 3y agoRoundabouts are quite a bit safer than alternatives like stop signs and traffic signals. Hard to have T-bone crashes plus it forces the speed to be reduced.
- dontlaugh 3y agoMini roundabouts are great too. The awkwardness is part of the point, they encourage slowing down.