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The greatest thing about roundabouts is that they protect against the idiot that goes through an intersection at full speed. He does that either because he is p

The greatest thing about roundabouts is that they protect against the idiot that goes through an intersection at full speed. He does that either because he is passed out behind the wheel or because he did not notice a stop sign and thought he had the right of way, or maybe because he just does not care. Well with a roundabout if you just go straight ahead you hit the center circle. Good roundabouts always have a slight hill and some kind of barrier (a tree or some kind of statue) in the center so that the guy that just goes straight through will hit something in the center and wont come out the other side and will thus be less likely to kill an innocent person. Single lane roundabouts are usually a good idea if the cost justifies it. Double and more lane roundabouts probably should be avoided in the US; they include rather obscure rules as to which lane you are allowed to drive in at any moment and americans do not like to learn new rules.

Jtsummers 3y ago
As long as that center circle is high enough. I had a woman in a Toyota (Camry?) fly over one at about 45+mph and slam into me as I looped around it. Totaled her car, broke parts off my Explorer (repairable). Her son then tried to attack me with my bumper. She kept insisting I turned in front of her (technically true, I was in a roundabout). She was arrested for drunk driving, and, later on, fined for all the flowers she damaged in the circle and the median she also ran over on her way into the intersection.
- hristov 3y ago
  Sorry to hear about that. But the roundabout probably soaked up some of her speed at least.
- lukas099 3y ago
  Was there any kind of barrier within the circle besides flowers?
  - Jtsummers 3y ago
    The curb she flew over and some brick paving stones used as the perimeter of the little garden, which was enough to stop non-drunk drivers, but no wall or anything.
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  I came up to a roundabout near Henley in the UK and saw a little lady in a big BMW driving around it the wrong way. It was particularly terrifying as I was on a motorbike. I dread to think what would have happened if I had got there a few seconds earlier.
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  Reminds me of this fine example of an idiot in a van using a roundabout to attempt orbital insertion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyufxcEQPGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyufxcEQPGc
- olyjohn 3y ago
  Most accidents in a roundabout don't happen this way. The severity of most accidents in roundabouts are reduced significantly vs a traffic light. Drunk drivers have launched cars into all kinds of random shit and places where you would not expect an accident.
dfxm12 3y ago
Good roundabouts always have a slight hill and some kind of barrier (a tree or some kind of statue) in the center Interestingly enough, a new roundabout was installed in my neighborhood. We considered something pretty to look at in the middle, but the city said no way. "Emergency vehicles need to be able to go through the middle at full speed". Meanwhile, busses have zero issues negotiating the circle at normal driving speeds...
- Dah00n 3y ago
  That.... sounds insane.
- Moru 3y ago
  That's more like a trafic circle or whatever to call it. Used where there isn't enough space for a full roundabout. We had them close to school but they took them away again 20 years later. Since this was close to the fire station, emergency vehicles need to be able to go over them. Also busses because no space for them to drive around.
123pie123 3y ago
there's a few videos if you look, this one was popular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c
- kridsdale3 3y ago
  That is the worst audio waveform I have ever been subjected to.
KaiserPro 3y ago
It certainly has some protection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c (turn the sound off, its just road noise) This is what happens when you go full bore into a big roundabout. This kind of roundabout is used to join one large road to one or more small road (think two lanes going from 6-12 on the clock, with single lane road at 3 & 9) In the UK, we don't normally have stop signs, as most junctions have clear rights of way (https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/uk-road-markings-what-they-mean-and-what-the-highway-code-says/ https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/uk-road-marki... see "Give way to traffic on major road") In suburban roads, roundabouts are often used instead of stop signs. It allows much freer flowing of traffic in both heavy and light traffic. Just don't look up the magic roundabout, thats just fucking batshit, we only have one. The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place.
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  >The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place. Rude. ;0P
- dcminter 3y ago
  > we only have one Actually there's another in Hemel.
  - KaiserPro 3y ago
    Heavens to betsy, what have we done!?
- walthamstow 3y ago
  > Just don't look up the magic roundabout, thats just fucking batshit, we only have one. The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place. Hemel, Swindon or England itself?
  - KaiserPro 3y ago
    I was under the mistaken impression that Swindon was the only place mad enough to have magic roundabout, now I learn that H. Hempstead of Hertfordshire has one as well. bloody new town with their fancy town planners.
SoftTalker 3y ago
I knew a guy who didn't stop at all-way stop signs. His thinking was: if everyone else is going to stop, why should I?
- m463 3y ago
  two of those guys would cancel out.
DavidVoid 3y ago
> they include rather obscure rules as to which lane you are allowed to drive in at any moment and americans do not like to learn new rules. Do they? I guess it probably depends on the country. Here in Sweden I'm pretty sure you can drive in whatever lane you like (unless they're explicitly labeled). But normal lane-swithching rules apply ofc and, importantly, when you enter a roundabout you have to yield to traffic in all lanes of the roundabout, not just the outermost one.
- josephg 3y ago
  Yeah here in Australia, 2 lane roundabouts usually require that people taking the 1st exit use the outermost lane and people using the 3rd+ exits use the inner lane of the roundabout. (And if you’re going straight you can use either). If you’re in the inner lane of the roundabout and want to leave, you usually don’t change lane while in the roundabout, but signal and exit by cutting across the outer lane on your way out.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > but signal and exit by cutting across the outer lane on your way out. That's how most of the multilane ones are are in my part of the US, and that's what makes them terrifying to me. It requires too much trust that the other drivers are going to do the right thing.
tpmx 3y ago
[flagged]
boricj 3y ago
Not necessarily. Some roundabouts have the center circle partially paved so that oversize loads can drive right through if needed. There are curbs, speed bumps and road pillars that make it obvious for normal traffic not to take the shortcut. It also doesn't fully protect vehicles already inside the roundabout. My father got rear-ended once while inside a roundabout by a possibly distracted driver and the car was a near write-off. The main advantage of roundabouts is traffic fluidity. When compared to intersections with stop signs or traffic lights, unless it is full you can often enter a roundabout without coming to a complete stop first.
- beej71 3y ago
  > Some roundabouts have the center circle partially paved This is the "truck apron". Virtually every roundabout in our town has one, and it's up a little curb to get onto it. A little too much for cars to sensible abuse, but a dirt motorbike gets over them easily. :) Also when it snows in people can't tell where the apron starts, so traffic tends to cut over it.
pandaman 3y ago
The protection is just by hiding half of the traffic beyond an obstacle, you can still get t-boned on the roundabout, but only by the cars from your right and not from both directions like on an intersection. I guess it's a plus but with the added danger of a head-on collision from people traversing the roundabout in the wrong way I won't say if it's net-positive safety-wise with any degree of confidence.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  I have never seen anyone go the wrong way around a roundabout, and I've never heard anyone tell me they've seen it. It's so rare you can ignore it.
  - kubanczyk 3y ago
    It can happen to foreigners in a left-side-traffic country when they are used to right-side traffic. Or vice versa.
  - pandaman 3y ago
    I, on the other hand, have seen much fewer people running red (and that only when the red just switched on, without any cross traffic yet) than people taking left on a roundabout. So by your own method you can ignore people running red light on an intersection?
  - macintux 3y ago
    I’ve seen it, once. Fortunately the motorcycle rider coming the correct way spotted her in time.
  - Moru 3y ago
    I have seen two cars but we have an extraordinarily amount of roundabouts so plenty of samples. Those two was in a roundabout that is a bit straighter than normal roundabout so it is possible to turn the wrong way without too much hassle but you still have to be pretty unused to roundabouts to manage it.
- crote 3y ago
axiolite 3y ago
> The greatest thing about roundabouts is that they protect against the idiot that goes through an intersection at full speed. Who is protected exactly? https://c.tenor.com/GLRaFTDEqngAAAAd/roundabout-poland.gif https://c.tenor.com/GLRaFTDEqngAAAAd/roundabout-poland.gif https://c.tenor.com/0YMymTe85q8AAAAd/roundabout-car.gif https://c.tenor.com/0YMymTe85q8AAAAd/roundabout-car.gif
- hawski 3y ago
  For the first one here's a video about it: https://youtu.be/aniguxnz9ik?t=9 https://youtu.be/aniguxnz9ik?t=9 It jumped around 7m high and 64m far.

Jtsummers 3y ago

As long as that center circle is high enough. I had a woman in a Toyota (Camry?) fly over one at about 45+mph and slam into me as I looped around it. Totaled her car, broke parts off my Explorer (repairable). Her son then tried to attack me with my bumper. She kept insisting I turned in front of her (technically true, I was in a roundabout). She was arrested for drunk driving, and, later on, fined for all the flowers she damaged in the circle and the median she also ran over on her way into the intersection.

hristov 3y ago
Sorry to hear about that. But the roundabout probably soaked up some of her speed at least.
lukas099 3y ago
Was there any kind of barrier within the circle besides flowers?
- Jtsummers 3y ago
  The curb she flew over and some brick paving stones used as the perimeter of the little garden, which was enough to stop non-drunk drivers, but no wall or anything.
hermitcrab 3y ago
I came up to a roundabout near Henley in the UK and saw a little lady in a big BMW driving around it the wrong way. It was particularly terrifying as I was on a motorbike. I dread to think what would have happened if I had got there a few seconds earlier.
hermitcrab 3y ago
Reminds me of this fine example of an idiot in a van using a roundabout to attempt orbital insertion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyufxcEQPGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyufxcEQPGc
olyjohn 3y ago
Most accidents in a roundabout don't happen this way. The severity of most accidents in roundabouts are reduced significantly vs a traffic light. Drunk drivers have launched cars into all kinds of random shit and places where you would not expect an accident.

dfxm12 3y ago

Good roundabouts always have a slight hill and some kind of barrier (a tree or some kind of statue) in the center Interestingly enough, a new roundabout was installed in my neighborhood. We considered something pretty to look at in the middle, but the city said no way. "Emergency vehicles need to be able to go through the middle at full speed". Meanwhile, busses have zero issues negotiating the circle at normal driving speeds...

Dah00n 3y ago
That.... sounds insane.
Moru 3y ago
That's more like a trafic circle or whatever to call it. Used where there isn't enough space for a full roundabout. We had them close to school but they took them away again 20 years later. Since this was close to the fire station, emergency vehicles need to be able to go over them. Also busses because no space for them to drive around.

123pie123 3y ago

there's a few videos if you look, this one was popular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c

kridsdale3 3y ago
That is the worst audio waveform I have ever been subjected to.

KaiserPro 3y ago

It certainly has some protection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTk_kPeA63c (turn the sound off, its just road noise) This is what happens when you go full bore into a big roundabout. This kind of roundabout is used to join one large road to one or more small road (think two lanes going from 6-12 on the clock, with single lane road at 3 & 9) In the UK, we don't normally have stop signs, as most junctions have clear rights of way (https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/uk-road-markings-what-they-mean-and-what-the-highway-code-says/ https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/uk-road-marki... see "Give way to traffic on major road") In suburban roads, roundabouts are often used instead of stop signs. It allows much freer flowing of traffic in both heavy and light traffic. Just don't look up the magic roundabout, thats just fucking batshit, we only have one. The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place.

hermitcrab 3y ago
>The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place. Rude. ;0P
dcminter 3y ago
> we only have one Actually there's another in Hemel.
- KaiserPro 3y ago
  Heavens to betsy, what have we done!?
walthamstow 3y ago
> Just don't look up the magic roundabout, thats just fucking batshit, we only have one. The reason why they keep it is because there is literally nothing else interesting about the place. Hemel, Swindon or England itself?
- KaiserPro 3y ago
  I was under the mistaken impression that Swindon was the only place mad enough to have magic roundabout, now I learn that H. Hempstead of Hertfordshire has one as well. bloody new town with their fancy town planners.

SoftTalker 3y ago

I knew a guy who didn't stop at all-way stop signs. His thinking was: if everyone else is going to stop, why should I?

m463 3y ago
two of those guys would cancel out.

DavidVoid 3y ago

> they include rather obscure rules as to which lane you are allowed to drive in at any moment and americans do not like to learn new rules. Do they? I guess it probably depends on the country. Here in Sweden I'm pretty sure you can drive in whatever lane you like (unless they're explicitly labeled). But normal lane-swithching rules apply ofc and, importantly, when you enter a roundabout you have to yield to traffic in all lanes of the roundabout, not just the outermost one.

josephg 3y ago
Yeah here in Australia, 2 lane roundabouts usually require that people taking the 1st exit use the outermost lane and people using the 3rd+ exits use the inner lane of the roundabout. (And if you’re going straight you can use either). If you’re in the inner lane of the roundabout and want to leave, you usually don’t change lane while in the roundabout, but signal and exit by cutting across the outer lane on your way out.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > but signal and exit by cutting across the outer lane on your way out. That's how most of the multilane ones are are in my part of the US, and that's what makes them terrifying to me. It requires too much trust that the other drivers are going to do the right thing.

tpmx 3y ago

[flagged]

boricj 3y ago

Not necessarily. Some roundabouts have the center circle partially paved so that oversize loads can drive right through if needed. There are curbs, speed bumps and road pillars that make it obvious for normal traffic not to take the shortcut. It also doesn't fully protect vehicles already inside the roundabout. My father got rear-ended once while inside a roundabout by a possibly distracted driver and the car was a near write-off. The main advantage of roundabouts is traffic fluidity. When compared to intersections with stop signs or traffic lights, unless it is full you can often enter a roundabout without coming to a complete stop first.

beej71 3y ago
> Some roundabouts have the center circle partially paved This is the "truck apron". Virtually every roundabout in our town has one, and it's up a little curb to get onto it. A little too much for cars to sensible abuse, but a dirt motorbike gets over them easily. :) Also when it snows in people can't tell where the apron starts, so traffic tends to cut over it.

pandaman 3y ago

The protection is just by hiding half of the traffic beyond an obstacle, you can still get t-boned on the roundabout, but only by the cars from your right and not from both directions like on an intersection. I guess it's a plus but with the added danger of a head-on collision from people traversing the roundabout in the wrong way I won't say if it's net-positive safety-wise with any degree of confidence.

Symbiote 3y ago
I have never seen anyone go the wrong way around a roundabout, and I've never heard anyone tell me they've seen it. It's so rare you can ignore it.
- kubanczyk 3y ago
  It can happen to foreigners in a left-side-traffic country when they are used to right-side traffic. Or vice versa.
- pandaman 3y ago
  I, on the other hand, have seen much fewer people running red (and that only when the red just switched on, without any cross traffic yet) than people taking left on a roundabout. So by your own method you can ignore people running red light on an intersection?
- macintux 3y ago
  I’ve seen it, once. Fortunately the motorcycle rider coming the correct way spotted her in time.
- Moru 3y ago
  I have seen two cars but we have an extraordinarily amount of roundabouts so plenty of samples. Those two was in a roundabout that is a bit straighter than normal roundabout so it is possible to turn the wrong way without too much hassle but you still have to be pretty unused to roundabouts to manage it.
crote 3y ago

axiolite 3y ago

> The greatest thing about roundabouts is that they protect against the idiot that goes through an intersection at full speed. Who is protected exactly? https://c.tenor.com/GLRaFTDEqngAAAAd/roundabout-poland.gif https://c.tenor.com/GLRaFTDEqngAAAAd/roundabout-poland.gif https://c.tenor.com/0YMymTe85q8AAAAd/roundabout-car.gif https://c.tenor.com/0YMymTe85q8AAAAd/roundabout-car.gif

hawski 3y ago
For the first one here's a video about it: https://youtu.be/aniguxnz9ik?t=9 https://youtu.be/aniguxnz9ik?t=9 It jumped around 7m high and 64m far.