Here in Arizona, they are becoming more common. I understand that they are safer than standard intersections, but many people here still don't know how to use them. They often stop before entering, even when the way is clear. This itself can cause accidents. I'm hopeful that people will learn to better use them.

https://wisconsindot.gov/...undabouts/rab-se.pdf

somebody in the Wisconsin Dept of Transportation fell in love with them about 15 years ago.

attached is a map of SE WI showing their locations. It is like this all over the state.

The town I live in is 4500 people and we have 6 just in the village proper.

I actually like them vs. stop sign intersections. But as I understand it they are hella expensive to construct vs. a signed intersection.

They've been popping up more frequently here in Michigan and other midwest states I've visited, at least when roadways are being overhauled. People clearly aren't used to them as they tend to either treat them as a 4 way stop but then become really confused and one person stops and backs up traffic on their side, or when idiots think they don't have to slow down at all and just blow through & not respect the right of way, nearly causing accidents with those who are taking their right of way. And if you're on a bike....forget about it. You might as well have a "please try to hit me" sign. I complain, but overall they've helped with traffic flow and are a much better solution than the 4 way stops or + intersections with 2 stop signs where people waited a long while. I'd just like to see more people learn how to use roundabouts to maximize the benefit.

The new roundabout up the road a mile....~4 years ago when it was installed they hadn't yet gotten around to putting in street lights. It had a big landscaped area planned in the middle that wasn't yet complete, so it was full of bricks. I pull into a convenience store on one corner, within the 3 minutes it took me to grab my stuff and pay, a drunk guy blew through it like there was nothing, tried to brake at the last minute, tailspun his truck, got completely hung up on the pile of bricks, probably totaled the truck, and almost assuredly spent the night behind bars. Roundabout 1, drunk guy 0.

They just built a big fancy one at the main entrance to the University in our town. Before it was just a T road, and the town planners in their wisdom had allowed a big Quickie Mart/gas station and a coffee shop to be built across the street over the last few years. Not to mention a couple of huge apartment complexes to the left coming out of the University. There wasn't even a light there. So the result was a cluster fuck of epic proportions all afternoon. The roundabout fixed it brilliantly.

They are fairly common in eastern Massachusetts. They’re called rotaries in these parts.

Because too many of us are f$cking stupid drivers. "Slower traffic keep right" isn't merely a suggestion. I would hate to see how bad a clusterf$ck we North Americans would make of a roundabout. I, for one, love them from my time riding and driving in Europe.

Because American traffic designers are clueless. The traffic light companies probably do a good job lobbying local councils too.

Thankfully things are gradually improving.

It's all about flow, and traffic lights are terrible for flow, especially on a road with 2 or 3 in a row at busy times.

On a fast empty road there is possibly nothing better than having to go straight across an empty roundabout.

Brake hard as late as you dare, change down, flick left then right all the while balancing the car on the gas, and floor it out the other side. Basically a double chicane as fast as you can take it.

For advanced users on a road with two lanes into, through and out of the roundabout, with other enthusiastic drivers around, outbrake the car next to you into the roundabout, or try to pass them on the roundabaout, or outdrag them on the exit.

Excellent.

When I was test driving my current car the salesman said “this is a test drive, not a driving test”. When I then lit the traction control light up going through three successive roundabouts he was strangely quiet.

Saw a bunch in upstate NY and I'm starting to see more locally. Friend works for the dept of transportation. Said the first few months there is quite an uptick in accidents then people start to figure out how to use them and accidents and traffic goes down.

There's the big one at of the bridges over the Cape Cod Canal (probably the one you referenced). There are several other well known ones in MA. I've driven a couple in Maine.

Oh BTW, we call them rotaries up here.

For the same reason we haven't adopted the metric system...we just don't trust nor want anything that came out of Europe.

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Popping up like crazy here in Wisconsin. Once people get used to them, they are infinitely better than stop signs or lights. There is a rural street near my house that used to have ridiculous back-ups at rush hour. It was a 4-way stop. They finally replaced it with a roundabout and traffic was instantly improved. I would actually like to see more of them.

That said, my understanding is, they can be difficult for the snow plows if not designed properly. There are a couple older ones in the Milwaukee area that never seem to be completely snow-free. But, the newer ones seem to be cleared without issue.

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We have plenty of them in MA (except we call them rotaries) and you are absolutely right, they are typically a clusterfuck. Nobody can figure out where they should be and who has the right of way. They suck.

They don’t suck. The drivers suck. They work well when you have people who know how to drive.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

You're absolutely right, but I've given up hope of drivers around here ever improving.

 Roundabouts have been put in regularly for about 20 years here in Washington. The thing that messes them up is pedestrians.I think there was initial skepticism, but most people like them.

 
This.

Nearby town announced a traffic circle would replace a 4-way stop sign that always had traffic backed up for blocks. But the intersection was small and therefore so was the traffic circle. Day1 after completion, a driver literally drove straight over and through the newly installed circle, causing an accident.

I have one close to where I live in Florida. Honestly, it's a complete sh!t show. Most people don't know how to use them. There's probably a "near miss" once every ten minutes during rush hour because people don't know when to merge, how to signal, etc. It's Florida though. We really should be first in line for autonomous cars on a "need" basis.

Yes! I do the same double chicane treatment, aiming for smoothness throughout. And on a two lane setup, if empty, I work the tangents. :-)

* You across the pond? Where I am, traffic flows counter clockwise, so first flick is right, then left, then right...

Popping up like crazy here. State found they cost a ton less than traffic lights and reduce accidents by 80%.

Cuz monster truck turning radius - and texting

You're in Mass. Ain't a damn one of ya who know how to drive on a straight stretch nevermind in a traffic circle.

Matter of fact, that's how we know the difference between a dipshit asshole and someone who could be Ok: whether they call it a rotary or a traffic circle.

40-tude seems like he'd be a pretty Ok dude.

If you can't figure out a traffic circle, you shouldn't even be allowed *in* a vehicle. That'd alleviate a good chunk of your congestion problems down there!
- Jeff

Yup, Wellington Circle in Medford and Belle Circle in Revere are notoriously bad where they both have multiple entry points and traffic lights. Always a shitshow driving through there.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I see your Wellington Circle and raise you the rotary on Morrissey Boulevard on the edge of Southie by the State Police barracks.

Rotary poker, this is fun! ; )

Neponset Circle further down Morrissey Blvd is even worse than that one.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

• Because the USA is exceptional
• Just because something works in those communist countries, doesn't mean it could work in the USA
• The USA is the only truly free country. They are free to be told when to stop and go. Those commie dictatorships want to let people decide based on their own good sense. Americans would never stand for that. MAGA!
• The USA has a Constitution.
• The USA has immigration
• People in the USA are too fat to fit in a roundabout (hello Windywave!)
• The USA has more than 300 million people. How could traffic management principles developed in smaller countries ever work in the US?
• Because terrorism. Because Muslims. Because Obama and because Bill Clinton got a blowjob.
• Because roundabouts are specified in metres. Therefor they can't work in the USA.
• Sounds socialist.

There's more, but that's a start.

I think you're right on that. I live roughly halfway between the two. The year I drove in to work I first tried getting on to 93 at Neponset Circle and eventually switched to Morrissey - partly because traffic moves faster on Morrissey than on the %*&ing interstate at rush hour most of the time, but also because the Morrissey rotary is marginally less of a disaster.

My first initiation to roundabouts in my new city was to unexpectedly encounter one during rush hour on my way to my friend's house in the first 10 minutes in town, got honked at as I just flung myself into traffic and amazingly emerged unscathed. Nearly shit myself. Avoided them for months but then moved to a new apartment where there was one on each of the main roads out of my neighbourhood, so I adapted. Now I love them, and enjoy schooling stupid people who don't know how to use them.

There should be a lot more of them in North America, they are 100% better than 4-way stops in most cases. Sadly, most North Americans get a very scant driver's education and therefore have little idea of how to drive well.

I don't ever want to encounter one like this, though. A 7-circle beauty in Swindon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kafx_GGHqVg

New Jersey had them for decades and has finally got rid of pretty much all of them. Really don't work in heavy traffic areas.....way too many accidents. And people who have never seen one have no clue what to do upon approach.

One reason I despise them is the city planner of scottsdale chooses to install them not in new developments but in heavily trafficked areas...then screwing the traffic pattern up for 12 months...no sir, you needs get fired.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Yes - England. We are infested with speed cameras but one place you never ever see one is a roundabout. So they are little oases of freedom.

And yes to working tangents on an empty two laner!

Might be a while before they can deal with this

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/3O4i7

We don't need no traffic signals kehd


Kelley Square is going to get an elongated rotary when it's rebuilt to accommodate the paw sox.


There are at least 5 rotaries in this city.

I was in VA this week and encountered some. They have them in South Carolina too. We have some in Texas.

F-ing roundabouts, circles, traffic flow whatever you call 'em's!

They are popping up here in NC. Thing is, whomever has decided to put these in doesn't have enough sense to make them bigger for, I dunno', like a Wolfline bus on Hillsborough Street. That also goes for the genius' who put these out on 42/39 and 98/96. Now that was a real good use of $ there, let me tell you (no need for pink). While the point of a circle/roundabout is to control the flow of traffic, it is not to bring it to a screeching halt. Yeah, I'm talking to the f-ing Prius and Tesla in front of me. Just because you see a YIELD sign in front of you, that does not mean you come to a full STOP, when there is no traffic to your right or left. It is to be treated like a Stop Sign with a white ring around it, which means you treat it as optional with a slight tap of the breaks and proceed.

Roundabouts work well when everyone knows how to drive through one. We have one on my way to work and it works a lot better than the stop lights, and the morning/afternoon commutes are fine through the circle during those times.

The weekends are a different story. People stop going into the roundabout. People stop IN the circle to let others get in front of them as traffic enters the circle. Others don't understand which lane to get into and try to turn from the inside lane causing a number of crashes. And about every other weekend someone goes straight through the roundabout (over the curb, through the signs on both sides and then down the curb on the other side), leaving broken glass, car parts and tire tracks to amuse everyone the next morning.

If that is what you are doing, you are doing it wrong. That is illegal. Stop signs mean stop. If it's optional, it's a YIELD sign.

They are putting them into the neighborhoods in Pasadena now, complete with stop signs. Because safety.

I have one outside my office window here in MI---at least one near miss everyday, but rarely any contact. As compared to the drag-strip/parking lot that exits into a cluster of 8 streets/lanes converging in one area and no stop signs. Accident 2x a week there.

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

I lived in Italy during the mid-80's. At that time motorized traffic consisted of four-way traffic lights. When I returned for a visit in 2005, EVERY intersection had changed to "Rotondi" (Roundabouts). It is possible to go from driveway to destination without stopping the car. It was wonderful driving.

At that time I discussed my new found joy of driving with my host friend. His reply... "It has taken Italians 90 years to find something useful from the French!" :)

Much of what we do in state DOT is driven by 'driver expectation'. The biggest reason we haven't done them for a long time was because we never did them. However, in the last 5 years I have been involved in the construction of over 10 locally.

Uhm, don't all Stop signs have white rings around them? I guess that joke was lost somewhere and I do know what STOP means. Unfortunately, in these here parts, drivers seem to think a YIELD sign also means STOP.

We have several in my quiet corner of south central Ontario. There are two in Cobourg (on D'Arcy Street) and a major one one on Hwy 28 between Peterborough and Port Hope.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

We call these "The Circles of Death"

I had to use the Google because I wasn't sure what you were talking about with the white rings. Apparently, some people believe that. I agree, an unnecessary stop at a YIELD is almost as bad as not stopping at a STOP.

Same in Alberta there are at least 10 in my part of Calgary.

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Traffic circle skills from the pros . . .