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roundabout VS 4-way

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ElFenix said:
...

it's really not that hard to pay attention when you get to the intersection and see who's been there longer than you. all of them get to go before you do. but people can't figure that out.
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How am I supposed to play Candy Crush AND remember which cars have gone at the same time?
 
ElFenix said:
it's really not that hard to pay attention when you get to the intersection and see who's been there longer than you. all of them get to go before you do. but people can't figure that out.
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Ugh, it's rather frustrating dealing with people at stops. It's like they think we're having a staring contest or something -- whoever goes first loses! 😛 It's gotten to the point where I've grown tired of having to wave the first person on because they're too stupid to pay attention that if we're close enough and I see any hesitation, I just go. I don't like doing it because I'm technically not supposed to go, but in the end, it actually ends up making things go faster.
 
we have both roundabouts and "Michigan Turns". Michigan Turns are more for higher speed roads (over 45) and work great. The roundabouts suck. No one seems to know how to use them and they don't save any time. One day I will just go over the middle of them and call it good.
 
I'm not a big fan of roundabouts for major intersections. When I went to Halifax a couple years ago, they had a giant one that joined 5 major arteries. During rush hour, you'd sit for ages waiting for a gap in traffic. Seemed very inefficient.
 
IronWing said:
They are starting to install michigan lefts in my fair city. I know why Detroit is dying.

Roundabouts are awesome. Naturally, my fair city screwed them up. They built roundabouts but then put stop signs all around.
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Can you give an intersection where they did this? I want to streetview.
 
IronWing said:
They are starting to install michigan lefts in my fair city. I know why Detroit is dying.

Roundabouts are awesome. Naturally, my fair city screwed them up. They built roundabouts but then put stop signs all around.
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I was thinking that when watching that mythbuster video. Many (if not all) of the "traffic circles" have stop signs in front of them, thus negating their efficiency. Stupid Americans. 😀
 
One of my first jobs was siting modern roundabouts in Michigan. I helped site in 8 or so over a few year period.

Modern roundabouts have certain features to help the efficiency: relatively small radius for the roundabout, deflection so people enter the roundabout at a tangent, entering traffic yields to traffic already in the roundabout, and a mountable inner circle.

The roundabout the Mythbusters video is not a particularly efficient design. It operates as a circular T-intersection since you would enter the roundabout radially. Bump out the entrance with a little deflection, and you could improve the throughput quite a bit.
 
mpo said:
The roundabout the Mythbusters video is not a particularly efficient design. It operates as a circular T-intersection since you would enter the roundabout radially. Bump out the entrance with a little deflection, and you could improve the throughput quite a bit.
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Like this?

images
 
Tons popping up in Eastern Canada (the Maritimes). The issue is the ones which have 2 lanes, one to turn, one to go straight and people get cut off constantly. Also sucks when you're next to an 18 wheeler!
 
mpo said:
One of my first jobs was siting modern roundabouts in Michigan. I helped site in 8 or so over a few year period.

Modern roundabouts have certain features to help the efficiency: relatively small radius for the roundabout, deflection so people enter the roundabout at a tangent, entering traffic yields to traffic already in the roundabout, and a mountable inner circle.

The roundabout the Mythbusters video is not a particularly efficient design. It operates as a circular T-intersection since you would enter the roundabout radially. Bump out the entrance with a little deflection, and you could improve the throughput quite a bit.
Click to expand...

Did you do the one in Kentwood?

I'll find you, you little.....
 
Zeze said:
And more $$$

And requires skill to properly merge in and get off the roundabout properly.

Us stupid Americans can't be trusted.
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That's what I meant about different kinds of roundabouts around here. The newer design I see has no merging or anything. You stay in your lane the whole way through.
 
I love the ones in my neighborhood. Most of my neigbors go through them backwards because it's REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT THAT THEY TURN LEFT.
 
As stated before, they take up a lot more space. I enjoy using them, but where space is limited, a roundabout will not work.
 
Ichinisan said:
http://www.wimp.com/testroundabout/

My only problem with the video is that they imply we don't have roundabouts here in the US.

We do, they just aren't as common as 4-way intersections. In my town, a 4-way stop was converted to a roundabout. Some people are still confused by it (stopping when there's no reason to), but it has helped tremendously.
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I am UNHAPPY with all the roundabouts here in upstate NY.

I prefer a traffic light, at least I have a chance in hell to get thru an intersection,
at rush hour when I need to go the direction Against the major flow of traffic.

Waah.
 
I love roundabouts, but sadly there are a LOT of growing pains when a town tries to implement them.

272343_10151103261394326_1892380547_o.jpg


Anyone who lives in Colorado Springs will know what intersection that is, and how much HELL was caused when it opened (I snapped this pic last summer). They had to put signs up to show how to use it, how-to videos on the local news and instructions in the news paper. We STILL have people messing it up and at one point it was the most dangerous intersection in the city.
 
Some are OK, others are horrendous, depending on the design and then the location.

My brother was in an accident in one of those in Michigan. Come to find out that it was designed poorly and the combination of poor visibility due to decorative crap all over and the angle the roads merged made it one of the worst intersections in the area and they have several accidents on it per day 😵

They put one in near my parents' place, spent all this money and and made it a huge deal for a relatively small intersection... just to find out they made it too small and the longer school buses can't make the corners 🙄
 
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