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US here. There seems to be an obsession at the moment with adding roundabouts in my area. They don’t always fit where they are put. Some of them have a stop sig
by code_runner 2y ago
US here. There seems to be an obsession at the moment with adding roundabouts in my area. They don’t always fit where they are put. Some of them have a stop sign in the roundabout?
When asked why, the answer is reducing “points of conflict”, which is a static variable. There aren’t actually studies being done before or after to see if makes the flow of traffic better.
They are also adding them in walkable areas with the express intent of “traffic never stopping” which doesn’t go well with pedestrians crossing the street.
I think we can find better ways to spend money… including the salaries of the people dreaming up bizarre applications for these things.
- rootusrootus 2y ago> Some of them have a stop sign in the roundabout? Traffic gets much heavier and we'll need stop signs at our roundabout near my house. During rush hour it has predominantly one flow of traffic and nobody slows down below 30-35 mph so getting into the roundabout can be difficult. A stop sign would defeat some of the point of a roundabout but it may become necessary to enforce safety.
- thepaulmcbride 2y agoIn the UK a lot of roundabouts have traffic signals for this purpose that only turn on during busy times.
- zamadatix 2y agoHow big are the roundabouts? I've read one of the problems that can be had is smaller ones, like in this picture, allow drivers to go through at high speed unimpeded. The "ideal" design seems to be to wiggle the road the opposite direction of the turning motion then force going around a decent sized center. In this way going around a roundabout quickly isn't impossible... but going 35 mph would make most feel quite uneasy. The downside is it greatly amplifies one of the biggest roundabout downsides: the amount of space needed.