ChazzC
Ultra Member
And traffic circles are better?
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Tips/Techniques Workshop Organization- things that have made a difference for you
- Thread starter StevSmar
- Start date
Tips/Techniques
Dabbler
ersatz engineer
oh, yes. far better.
1) they eliminate the possibility of a t-bone accident (all too common).
2) the capacity for the intersection to handle traffic flow is about 40% higher.
3) saves a little on gas for each car - with many cars, it adds up.
4) eliminates the ignominy of sitting at 11pm at a red light with no traffic in sight
5) In our municipality, it is about 25% cheaper than installing and operating a traffic light.
6) it calms traffic speeds in residential areas
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
When we first arrived in New Zealand, I asked a local how to navigate a traffic circle. He looked at me like I had asked how to pour piss out of a boot.
At least for a single lane circle, if you're on the circle you have the right of way.
If you're trying to enter the circle, yield.
Done
For a while Edmonton was the only place in Canada that still had traffic circles. Eventually they got rid of some and installed lights. Now I think they are making a comeback. So when we went to the UK in 77 driving on the wrong side with traffic circles was easy.
The traffic circle that was hard to get into and out of was the one in Paris. Not recommended.
Dabbler
ersatz engineer
The circle around the Triumphal Arch is around 12 lanes: madness!! AND there are no lines, ether! I crossed it in the daytime as a pedestrian (I didn't know about the tunnel) and it was a horror show.
And apparently we didn't have the right of way to leave like in the UK or Canada. Probably why on the movie "European Vacation" they drove around it for hours.
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
Mon Dieu!I went to Paris in 2013 and only recently was I able to extricate myself from the Arc de Triomphe traffic circle.
Merde!
Tom O
Ultra Member
Remember the big traffic circle at Hillside & Douglas in Victoria?I went to Paris in 2013 and only recently was I able to extricate myself from the Arc de Triomphe traffic circle.
Yup sure do
Tom O
Ultra Member
The revolution in traffic
Fast-changing city sought a remedy for congestion: more roads, traffic lights and even roundabouts
www.timescolonist.com
The complex intersection of Hillside, Government Street, Douglas and Gorge Road had changed little since Joseph Heywood installed a fountain and a horse trough there in 1885.
Heywood's fountain and trough had been replaced by Maurice Humber in 1937, to celebrate the city's 75th anniversary, but traffic was still snarled where all those streets came together.
The Colonist argued that "the only remedy for this particularly bad crossroads appears to be a continental-type roundabout." City council decided to create a roundabout on a trial basis.
The roundabout went into operation in March 1950, and two months later, council decided to make it permanent.
Permanent, in this case, lasted 13 years. Pressure to replace the roundabout, known as Fountain Circle, started almost as soon as it was installed. By 1963, the roundabout was gone, replaced by the system of rotating signals that is still in use today - one that's similar to a design rejected by council when the roundabout was approved.
You can't have really been in an eastern traffic circle in rush hour.......
Not really. Too many idiots don't know how to use a traffic circle and ram right into a car in the circle.
I agree. But only if you keep the idiots off of it. NAs have no idea how to use a circle. They plug it up sitting there or nudging in and often get into fender benders that plug it up for days.
Again, only if used properly. The majority around here have no clue. They go around and around for 6 months wasting gas.
OK, I'll give you that one. Of course, that assumes you don't have to wait for hours for an idiot too afraid to enter the circle.
In our municipality, everything road related is 100x over budget and long past schedule.
Unless everyone is as nuts as Ontarians are. They plug up the circle and lean on their horns just they do in India.
Nothing calm about a traffic circle in Ontario......
So, to be honest, I agree with all your points. The potential is there! Too bad so many Ontario drivers have no idea how to use a traffic circle. 50% are afraid of them, 25% are way too aggressive and deliberately block out on-comers, 15% don't know how to exit once they get in, and only 1 in 10 has a clue.
My darling bride is part of the 50%. She turns to frozen salt if there is anyone else within eyesight of the circle. She is mortified of becoming a problem and therefore she is.
I learned to love traffic circles overseas, and I celebrated their arrival here. But now I wish we never tried them cuz drivers here are too clueless. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!
Hey @Perry, it took me less than one day to use it! Thank you again!
ChazzC
Ultra Member
Oh, understand how they are supposed to work: it all falls apart when the people that are supposed to yield actually do, and on the ones with multiple lanes the people in the outer lane that are supposed to exit keep going around. Also don’t work well in the situation where 90% of the traffic comes from one direction and is going 3/4 of the way around: you’re SOL if you’re trying to enter at the 1/4 or 1/2 point.
The really bad circles are the ones in the UK: they go clockwise!!!! Very confusing.
ChazzC
Ultra Member
Same goes for 4/way stops: what makes them slow is when people don’t follow the rules or sit waiting for someone to do something when it’s actually their turn. Signals also help so you can turn right when it doesn’t interfere with the driver who has the right of way.
This. In spades.
Big difference for me. Has helped get things organized, well as well as I am going to organize. I think I likely have at least 30 of them. Maybe more after the weekend as I might grabs some more on Saturday.
We in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area of Ontario have seen dozens of traffic circles in place of intersections and they are great for maintaining flow.
I have driven many in England, Scotland and Ireland as well, there is a period of adjustment for drivers, but they do help traffic and reduce serious accidents.