Nothing confuses the typical American driver quite like a roundabout.

Especially when you call them "roundabouts."

Because the drivers are too busy on their cell phones to read the freaking signs?

Drive now, talk later.

They put a roundabout at an intersection in my neighborhood.
I have seen three cars going the wrong way (sometimes going completely around) and an old lady who was stopped in the middle (presumably because she couldn't decide which way to go).

Because people are idiots who can't handle change.

Ferrari and Jaguar... changing four lanes...

Top down... screaming OUT... "Money... AIN'T a thang."

I grew up in a town with a roundabout, so I'm getting a kick out of all these people who can't negotiate through one to save their lives. Honestly.

I just moved to Annapolis, which has 3 roundabouts, so I am also getting a kick out yada yada... I actually like them. I can't imagine stop signs or stop lights where they are now

Speaking as someone who has driven through this very roundabout many times, I can state very clearly that the idiots that cannot figure it out are almost exclusively from out of town -- mostly with MA, CT, or RI plates.

This roundabout is the best thing that could have been put in that location, and I've been very glad it was there every single time I've driven through it.

Oh, and yeah, it's technically in the middle of a 4-lane highway, but there are traffic lights 3/4mi on either side of the roundabout, so it's not like a 65MPH roundabout.

Having woken up with a head full of nonsense I suggest that, barring evidence of involvement of precipitously rising ramps in the reference roundabout, accidents are not five times higher but have quintupled.

I'll be the round about
The words will make you out n out
You change the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and
In and out the valley

It's called a traffic circle, and we perfected them in New Jersey. If you can't handle a circle (or if you want to ever turn left) please don't drive in NJ.

/Jersey's got jughandles too
//or, as we like to call them: "all-turns"

The problem with roundabouts is that while they may work great in some areas, they are not the saving grace and have more disadvantages that people want to admit.

Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter. Properly plowing them during snowfall would be problematic and the traction problems of having to constantly turn would result in far more accidents than right now where you only have to worry about that when turning. The lights here are timed properly to ensure plenty of yellow time and a moment where all lights are red to allow traffic to clear. (The switching time on a few are another mater.) So if you at speed you either have plenty of time to stop or clear the intersection. This alone would make them a bad idea in a large part of the country.

The result would be everyone having to drive 5 mph to ensure that they don't start sliding. So for a large part of the US, they simply won't work.

Sizing them for large vehicles would make them excessively large. The Main Street through Grand Forks, Washington street, has to handle traffic from everything from 18 wheelers, to fully loaded (and very top heavy) beet trucks, to tractors, to Combine Harvesters. (Yes combines regularly drive down the street during certain times of the year, usually during non-peak hours.)

This would be disastrous during beet season. Beet trucks don't speed up or slow down very quickly and they cannot take any turns too fast when loaded. They will have to slow down significantly when driving through town to get to the beet plant, bogging down traffic significantly. As for 18 wheelers and combines, you would have to make them too large to be feasible.

FTFA: "I think that roundabout at Route 101 is the most dangerous roundabout in Keene," said Sevene, who drives through the intersection every day on her way to work. "People just don't yield when they should. I've seen people almost get hit through there."

There is the fundamental problem with roundabouts, they assume that everyone knows what they are doing. Get even a small proportion of bad drivers or people trying to speed through and suddenly this "perfect system" doesn't work so well. Having to make them deal with large vehicles is also problematic as well.

/"Rush Hour" in Grand Forks lasts about 15 minutes.

NJ started eliminating these things many years ago. SO far, all the ones in the NYC area are long gone, replaced with traffic lights.

That ARE confusing sine on most roads the larger road has right of way. So those entering from a highway feel they have right of way. Add that to the old left yields to right rule, plus the few traffic circles that were actually DESIGNED to make traffic in the circle wait for an entering road, (inconsistency in design), and you get problems.


NH should learn from NJ. About traffic circles anyway.
Please do not learn anything about taxes from us. Please.

Manic_Repressive: It's called a traffic circle, and we perfected them in New Jersey. If you can't handle a circle (or if you want to ever turn left) please don't drive in NJ.

/Jersey's got jughandles too
//or, as we like to call them: "all-turns"

I used to drive a truck and I remember the first time I got directions to a shipper that included "jughandle". I called my dispatcher to make sure he wasn't farking with me. They're a good idea, actually.

Crosshair: The problem with roundabouts is that while they may work great in some areas, they are not the saving grace and have more disadvantages that people want to admit.

Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter.

They don't seem to be a problem here in upstate NY. Maybe your plow drivers just suck?

Crosshair: Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter. Properly plowing them during snowfall would be problematic and the traction problems of having to constantly turn would result in far more accidents than right now where you only have to worry about that when turning.

Hmm. England's snowy self seems to have few issues with all of its roundabouts during winter.

I used to live in Albany and there was one of those damn things nearby and I hated it. My method of using it was to simply drive faster and faster until my car whipped away in a random direction. I'd drive ten miles out of the way just to avoid that thing.

eddyatwork: I used to live in Albany and there was one of those damn things nearby and I hated it. My method of using it was to simply drive faster and faster until my car whipped away in a random direction. I'd drive ten miles out of the way just to avoid that thing.

Latham Circle? You couldn't handle Latham Circle? My mom figured that one out on the first go, and it was the first traffic circle she had encountered.

Hey kids...Houses of Parliament...Big Ben...

"When there was a light, I used to go through that intersection four times a week," Russell said Thursday. "I don't do that now. I avoid it."

Mission accomplished

That's where that roundabout went! My bad--it must have slipped from my backpack.

Well, Keane isn't called "The City of the Extra Chromosome" for Nothing.


/(IIRC it cost Methuen $1.2M to pass on that designation.)

soze: Crosshair: The problem with roundabouts is that while they may work great in some areas, they are not the saving grace and have more disadvantages that people want to admit.

Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter.

They don't seem to be a problem here in upstate NY. Maybe your plow drivers just suck?

I remember seeing a snowplow in South Dakota going 50 MPH on CBS Sunday Morning. I don't think it's the driver.

I could go either way on the Keene roundabout. If you understand how it works, it's great, at least at the times I go through. It's way faster than waiting for the light to change at that intersection. But I can see how it could really cause problems too. The first time my wife went through was a serious WTF moment. There are two lanes going in from both main directions on 101. But there's a third lane for if you want to "in at 6, out at 3", so you take that if you want to make a right, take the first lane if you want to go straight through, and take the left lane if you want to take a left.

There you go. Clear as mud.

Them Duke boys have these roundabout things figured out: Link (new window, I swear it's not Rick Roll)

The American driving experience can be summed up by this picture:

Cant cows only turn left...or something like that???

I'm an American that got lost in a roundabout in Ireland, so I'm really getting a kick blah blah...

/try doing a roundabout while driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.
//we nearly wrecked

Crosshair: The problem with roundabouts is that while they may work great in some areas, they are not the saving grace and have more disadvantages that people want to admit.

Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter. Properly plowing them during snowfall would be problematic and the traction problems of having to constantly turn would result in far more accidents than right now where you only have to worry about that when turning. The lights here are timed properly to ensure plenty of yellow time and a moment where all lights are red to allow traffic to clear. (The switching time on a few are another mater.) So if you at speed you either have plenty of time to stop or clear the intersection. This alone would make them a bad idea in a large part of the country.

The result would be everyone having to drive 5 mph to ensure that they don't start sliding. So for a large part of the US, they simply won't work.

Sizing them for large vehicles would make them excessively large. The Main Street through Grand Forks, Washington street, has to handle traffic from everything from 18 wheelers, to fully loaded (and very top heavy) beet trucks, to tractors, to Combine Harvesters. (Yes combines regularly drive down the street during certain times of the year, usually during non-peak hours.)

This would be disastrous during beet season. Beet trucks don't speed up or slow down very quickly and they cannot take any turns too fast when loaded. They will have to slow down significantly when driving through town to get to the beet plant, bogging down traffic significantly. As for 18 wheelers and combines, you would have to make them too large to be feasible.

FTFA: "I think that roundabout at Route 101 is the most dangerous roundabout in Keene," said Sevene, who drives through the intersection every day on her way to work. "People just don't yield when they should. I've seen people almost get hit through there."

There is the fundamental problem with roundabouts, they assume that everyone knows what they are doing. Get even a small proportion of bad drivers or people trying to speed through and suddenly this "perfect system" doesn't work so well. Having to make them deal with large vehicles is also problematic as well.

/"Rush Hour" in Grand Forks lasts about 15 minutes.

Right, because one additional turn in a 30 min carride will damage your tires too much. And beet trucks have to drive through them slower, as opposed to coming to a full stop when the light's red.

It's official, you guys are running out of reasons to protest the roundabouts

Hooray, my hometown makes fark.

They installed one there? Nice jorb. Does anyone have pics?

soze: Crosshair: The problem with roundabouts is that while they may work great in some areas, they are not the saving grace and have more disadvantages that people want to admit.

Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter.

They don't seem to be a problem here in upstate NY. Maybe your plow drivers just suck?


They don't seem to be a problem in Michigan either. ND plow drivers must be pretty special.

We got a couple of new roundabouts in my area just recently. Both have heavy 18 wheeler and cement truck traffic. I haven't witnessed any issues. Maybe it's not just the plow drivers in ND who are special.

For one thing here in the NE we call them rotaries..... Second people from NH are morons when it comes to rotaries. In Mass. the driver in the rotary has the right of way if you come to the rotary and there is someone in the rotary near your entrance you wait to see what they are doing before entering said rotary..........In NH the people coming into the rotary have the right of way (I think they have changed it to match Mass. in the last year)...so if you are in the rotary in NH you are supposed to stop and let the other person into the rotary is that STUPIDDDDDD.....I live in Mass. in a town that borders NH and we have a rotary in the center of town...Huge friggin signs saying the person in the rotary has the right of way and more than once I have almost been killed by some moron from NH blowing into the rotary without stopping and when you lay on the horn they just look at you like your wrong..............drive me crazy...............


GO PATS!

I'd hate to see what would happen if they came across this:


Well... maybe it would be entertaining...

Roundabouts work in the UK because they don't have as many Asian drivers as America does.

It's always good to hear about my town on Fark.

Maybe it is because I never used to see rotaries, but since moving to Cape Cod this past year I absolutely hate these damn things. They aren't so bad on back roads, but when you plop one into the middle of a 4 lane highway it can be pretty hairy.

Sizing them for large vehicles would make them excessively large. The Main Street through Grand Forks, Washington street, has to handle traffic from everything from 18 wheelers, to fully loaded (and very top heavy) beet trucks, to tractors, to Combine Harvesters.
Hey crosshair you aren't supposed to go through roundabouts fast! As a truck driver I can tell you that roundabouts aren't a big problem, getting on in rush hour is slow and requires a little "assertion", (bullying), other than that you have to be in the right lane, watch your mirrors and take care of your line.
(Combine harvesters require an escort vehicle with flashing beacons here and must dismount their cutter drum thing, other than that I don't know.)

The problem with roundabouts is other motorists who are in the wrong lane, don't indicate and/or are hesitant to the point of incompetence.
If only the police had the power to enforce driving standards...

Speaking as someone who has driven through this very roundabout many times, I can state very clearly that the idiots that cannot figure it out are almost exclusively from out of town -- mostly with MA, CT, or RI plates.


MA is the land of many rotaries, but that rotary in Keene is designed a little weird. I hardly consider those roads a major 4 lane highway. Between Nashua and Keene on 101, you go through town center at a low speed, and hit a lot of lights. If you want a highway thats on a major road go to RT 2 by the Concord prison in MA. Traffic volume is way higher and less accidents.

One of my favorite experiences was driving in the UK for the first time. Wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car, and roundabouts. Many were killed.

you know roudabouts are a fad... and when driving goes computer controlled they will have to be taken out becuase they are inefficient. they are only there to scare drivers, which makes them slow down and try and pay attention, once people get used to them, they will push them to thier limits and abuse them like any other intersection.

i approach roudabouts at speed bacuse i know everyone else is gonna freak out and stop and there isn't a stop sign or anything that says you can't approach at speed. Other people will figure this out soon.

in other words, it is silly to change traffic intersections just to scare peopel into slowing down, if you are going to do that you might as well put cardboard cutouts of kids running into streets and after basket balls, or better yet replace traffic lights with traffic riddles that force you to figure out if you shouold be going or not.

2wolves: Because the drivers are too busy on their cell phones, drinking coffee and making playlists on their iPods to read the freaking signs?

Drive now, talk later.

Added that for you.

American drivers aren't the problem, you farking arrogant outsiders, the problem is just N.H. drivers. I've driven in and through N.H. for years and those redneck-NY-wannabes can't drive worth a damn, the impatient Farks.

/the more you know...
//the more you stop stereotyping
///tired of people who have never set foot in the States bashing it

Osama bin Limbaugh Not just one, but a total of 3 in town now. One at Winchester to 101, Main st to Winchester and the one on the end of Main st near the Court.

Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too:

Iron Chef Scottish

Close, but no bananas...



Look kids! Big Ben! Parliment!

wyltoknow: Crosshair: Here in North Dakota they would be all but useless many times during the winter. Properly plowing them during snowfall would be problematic and the traction problems of having to constantly turn would result in far more accidents than right now where you only have to worry about that when turning.

Hmm. England's snowy self seems to have few issues with all of its roundabouts during winter.

Please tell me you're kidding.
What they consider snowy we consider Easter weather.

/buffalo NY

The round abouts in Riyahd were some of the scariest things I've ever participated in. The counter clockwise direction was only a suggestion. THe local drivers don't look either way for traffic, they just hit the gas. One particular circle we referred to as the "circle of death" because there was a fatality nearly each week. The wrecked cars were just pushed off the side of the road and left there for a long time.

Naples, Italy hade the funniest one. During rush hour, all 4 or 5 roads connecting to the circle went into it with no roads leading out.

Anton's Screen Name
Welcome to Fark.

Just about every dinky nothing town in the South has at least 1 roundabout circling the olde courthouse.