Negotiating roundabouts

[Wendy]

Don't you just love those Vail round-e-rounds? More and more cities in Colorado are putting them in. Seems the more uppity and pretentious the cities get, the more likely they are to have one. Be very careful if you exit I-70 in Colorado resort towns.

Wendy

 

[Ron]

Had my fill of round abouts when we lived in Australia.  Seen more accidents in round abouts than anywhere else.  A real hazard to ones health in my opinion.

 

[Tom]

LOL Ron, I grew up with lots of roundabouts and drove around numerous ones daily on my commute. You just have to know how to negotiate them and pick the lane that will allow you to make your exit. The only time I saw an accident was when someone had consumed too much acohol and attempted to drive straight over them instead of around them.

Now those mini-roundabouts are quite different and are nothing more than a circular speed bump - something to slow you down.

 

[Ron]

Seem to me the ones having the accidents should have had a full knowledge of the round abouts since they were locals.  DUI wasn't much of an issue in Australia since they don't tolerate it there.

 

[Tom]

They don't tolerate DUI in the UK either Ron (they had strict limits and very severe penalties many years before CA had any), but laws don't stop folks doing dumb things.

As I said, I used to negotiate a number of them daily and saw no problems or accidents. They were an efficient way for cars to switch roads and for traffic to merge - no need to stop or, in many cases, to slow down.

But, as traffic volumes increase, roundabouts become less efficient and eventually bog down.

 

[Ron]

But, as traffic volumes increase, roundabouts become less efficient and eventually bog down.

That may have been the problem down under too.  I had to negotiate several but never had any difficulty other than finding another way around when there was an accident.

 

[Jim Godward]

Bozeman has become enamored by them.  The problem is that the ones here cannot be negotiated by anything larger than an SUV without going over either the curb or sidewalks!!  :-((

 

[Ron]

Sure would hate to run into them in the MH with toad.

 

[John From Detroit]

If a roundabout is properly designed SEMI trucks have no problem with it, I have seen many a semi go around the one in Marshall, Michigan (near where I grew up) and gone around it in various vehicles myself

 

[Ron]

[No message]

 

[Jeff]

Had my fill of round abouts when we lived in Australia. Seen more accidents in round abouts than anywhere else. A real hazard to ones health in my opinion.

Ron:

The roundabouts I used in Australia would have been OK except for all those people going around clockwise. ;D ;D

 

[Tom]

... except for all those people going around clockwise.

LOL Jeff, sounds like you'd have fun negotiating roundabouts in the UK too.

 

[Ron]

Ron:

The roundabouts I used in Australia would have been OK except for all those people going around clockwise. ;D ;D

Same problem here.LOL ;D ;D ;D

 

[Jeff]

LOL Jeff, sounds like you'd have fun negotiating roundabouts in the UK too.

Tom:

Me driving around London is tantamount to suicide!

 

[UK-RV]

Hi Guys

I couldnt resist a reply to this one.

In the UK we have the "Magic Roundabout".

It consists of 5 separate roundabouts that all merge into each other.

I havent had the pleasure of driving it, but you can just imagine the fun it must be.

Ive attached a couple of photos for you to take a look.

Paul

PS Ive just started my Lorry driving work this week - "normal" roundabouts are no problem at all. My problem lies with the Sat Nav I have, which doesnt route for large vehicles - the number of times Ive had to reverse down country lanes is mind-boggling.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

That Magic Roundabout would be suicidal in the USA!  Amercans are not  disciplined enough to even form a queue, let alone follow intersecting roundabouts that don't even have physical islands in the center.

Roundabouts aren't all that uncommon in the US, but some regions don't have them because they have plenty of space and/or the roads are all relatively new. In old or congested areas, e.g. the Northeast, traffic growth has led to quite a few roundabouts as the only viable solution where there is not space (or money) for a cloverleaf-style interchange.

 

[Tom]

That's definitely mind boggling Paul. Thanks for posting the photos. Most I've seen are used more as a speed bump than an aid to merging traffic, more like the minii roundabout variety.

The other thing I found mind boggling during my last few visits to the UK were the barriers to slow traffic on a 2-lane road (1 lane each way). The barrier essentially blocks off an entire lane. First time I ran into that without any warning it was downright dangerous. I still think it's the most idiodic idea I've come across for slowing traffic.

Your drive a lorry? (Called a truck here). That should make you feel right at home when you get behind the wheel of a motorhome and you'll have had plenty of pratice reversing out of places you wished you hadn't gone..

 

[Ron]

Thanks for posting those photos.  Very interesting.  Can you imaging four or five 40 foot motorhomes with a toad negotiating that mess ??? ???  I thinks I would try to avoid something like that.

 

[UK-RV]

Ron,

Here are some pics of the "Traffic Calming" measures you mentioned.

We also have lovely speed bumps (pic attached) - lumps of tarmac just thrown into the centre of the road.

The emergency services aren't exactly happy with these, especially the ambulance service.

Imagine being rushed to hospital whilst a paramedic is treating you in the back of the vehicle - and you have to negotiate these things.

A fair few motorists are complaining about the wear and tear to their suspension too.

This safety measure has to be seen to be believed - instead of driving in the correct lane and having one wheel go over the speed bump, drivers tend to drive down the middle of both lanes (with traffic heading toward them), just so the wheels go either side of the bump. They invariably have to speed up to beat the traffic coming in the opposite direction - what a great Traffic Calming invention !!

Paul

 

[Tom]

Yep, that's the kind of lane barrier I was talking about Paul (it wasn't Ron  )