5 ms·
> Thankfully my city is replacing as many stop signs as possible with traffic circles, where you'd have to be a complete idiot to yield to someone who got there
by dubfan 12y ago
> Thankfully my city is replacing as many stop signs as possible with traffic circles, where you'd have to be a complete idiot to yield to someone who got there after you.
In Seattle, we have traffic circles in many of our residential neighborhoods. People still do this here. Another common thing is people taking lefts by just driving on the left side of the circle (I've had people honk at me for taking lefts the correct way)
- ericcumbee 12y agowe have a couple around here near campus. The problem is shockingly few people know how to behave in a traffic circle.
- chrisseaton 12y ago"few people know how to behave in a traffic circle" Tell them this: imagine a big circular road. Then imagine other roads joining it with T junctions. Then imagine the road is one-way. Finally just shrink the road in your head. That's all it is!
- nhaehnle 12y agoThere's one more rule: traffic on the circular road has priority.
- sjwright 12y agoThat rule already applies. It's no different on a circular road or roundabout; traffic already on a road has priority over traffic turning onto it.
- nhaehnle 12y ago"Traffic already on a road" is a concept that does not apply in this scenario, as all traffic is already on a road in all cases. There is no a priori way to distinguish between the circular road and the roads leading towards it. In countries where you drive on the right, I believe the typical default rule is that traffic coming from the right has priority. In roundabouts, this would mean that traffic on the roundabout must wait for those joining it. However, the rule is reversed for roundabouts. (This definitely applies to Germany, and I suspect that it applies in most other countries as well.)
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- watwut 12y agoI guess that depends where you live. That thing is intersection like any other and the one on the right has a priority. So, unless there is a sign, the car about to enter the circular road should go first. And yes, all roundabouts have signs in here.
- sjwright 12y agoI live in Australia, but I've also driven in the UK and parts of Europe. Any roundabout I've used has worked in the same way -- as you approach the roundabout, you must give way to vehicles already on the roundabout. Relevant to the circular road with T-intersection analogy, I'm reading the Wikipedia page[0] on T-intersections and I must admit the concept that "vehicles on the right always have the right-of-way" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But I suppose that weird rule would screw up the circular road metaphor. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-way_junction#Right-of-way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-way_junction#Right-of-wa...
- CWuestefeld 12y agoThere's one more rule: traffic on the circular road has priority. This is how it would work in a sane system, but they don't always work this way. I can think of several examples in New Jersey, particularly around Flemington, where the circle manages the intersection of two roads having different importance. In these cases, the important road is given the right-of-way all the way through the circle, and those coming around the circle from the lesser road are required to yield.
- ericcumbee 12y agoThey have signs that say "Yield to Traffic in Circle" at each entry point. I agree it is a simple concept yet people seem to struggle with it around here.
- underwater 12y agoThey're trivial to learn. I don't see how people can use that as an excuse. Imagine someone saying "I don't understand traffic lights, they're so confusing."
- zo1 12y agoWe have the same problem. Unfortunately, it's compounded by the fact that the local municipality here likes creating very small traffic circles with a small bump in the middle. The end result is that people end up treating them like 4-way stops and yield as such.
- a_e_k 12y agoI've sometimes waited at those circles. Many of those neighborhoods you mention also have streets just wide enough for one vehicle at a time to get through. I'd rather wait at the circle for an oncoming vehicle than have to worry about who will yield to whom and whether there's a sufficient gap in the parked cars to do so.
- DrewRWx 12y agoThis can be seen in miniature on my university campus. Thankfully some new surface markings make it slightly more obvious that they are going the wrong way. Out of curiosity, is your traffic circle configured in a way where taking that left requires no turning while the proper right actually takes effort?
- a_e_k 12y agoPretty much. Most of the ones that I've seen here in Seattle are basically small landscaped areas with a curb in the middle of the intersection. Probably not much more than six feet in diameter or so. (At the one nearest my house the sidewalk corners aren't even rounded any to accomodate them.) These really aren't true roundabouts. But yes, turning left instead of going around them should take no more effort than a typical left turn between small streets, while doing it the proper way requires a fairly tight turn. They seem mainly designed to force cars to slow down.