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Why The U.S. Hates Roundabouts
We hate and despise roundabouts added in the middle of a gd highway outside town. There is no argument for safety replacing slip lanes and a light (the traffic was extremely weighted to the main highway). Roundabouts are for slow speed in town with similar traffic from all directions.
Roundabouts themselves are fine, the implementation of them, and the 3 million+ cost of each one is what pisses us off.
Who wants to sit at a light though? I can usually get in a busy roundabout in less than 10 seconds, but usually have to wait at a light for minutes.
The issue with US roundabouts is that the people entering the roundabout have to yield to the people in the roundabout. We use them wrong.
In EU and UK the person in the roundabout must yeild to the person entering.
YES
TL:DW; Americans become stupid when They encounter a round about in the wild
If it is a true round about great! Unfortunately 2 "round abouts were installed in my area, but they are not real circles. In both cases one of the entries to each round about is a straight run. the cars then think they can just zoom through. Those drivers do not necessarily yield to the drivers in the circle, even though there is signage (which is ignored). It is DANGEROUS. When the envelope is pushed in a case like this people get a bad opinion of round abouts because they are NOT circles. I think including round abouts in the drivers exam for your driving license would be a big help, even if it can only be in the written part.
Roundabouts are not the end all be all intersection some people advertise them to be. Roundabouts don't consider pedestrians and crosswalks. Roundabouts take up a lot of real estate.
I have lived in Carmel for 8 years idk why other parts of the country aren’t replacing intersections with roundabouts
we have a few where I live and people still have no idea how they work. There's at least one accident a week and every time I use it there's a close collision somewhere in there. Also 3 of the 5 roundabouts here are 4 way stops so the roundabout is essentially useless.
Its like Americans are actually proud of the death rate on US roads. It is 4 times that in the UK or anywhere in Europe.
Top of the league go America!
Americans are kinda incompetent people, convinced about their first opinion
The yield rule is different in different countries. Traditionally British rules have been that vehicles in the circle are in the intersection and vehicles entering a circle must yield to vehicles in the circle, but in most of continental Europe vehicles in the circle had to yield to vehicles entering the circle. Later, EU member countries adopted the British yield rule, but non-EU European countries often still require vehicles in the circle to yield to vehicles entering the circle.
It's funny, I learned about roundabouts through video games because it's true that there aren't that many here in the U.S. and when it came down to finally drive on one on the road, it was easy. It's simple, I'm not sure how other Americans don't understand how to use one.
They put a roundabout at an intersection close to my daughter’s pediatrician’s and dentist’s offices (in the same building). I used to hate getting stuck at the light there, and left hand turns usually held traffic up (they didn’t have green arrows at those lights! Irritating!). With the roundabout there, traffic really does move more smoothly, and any hold up of traffic is very minor and usually during rush hour, and those hold ups aren’t even that bad. What I mean by hold up is that you have to wait your turn to yield and enter the roundabout behind a few cars in front of you. Before, peak hours at the old traffic light there were an absolute nightmare! I hated it when the pediatrician/dentist scheduled us for a 4:00/5:00 appointment because the fricking light took forever to get through!
I just don't understand them I cannot figure out when to turn out so I end up going round and round. I was even pulled by a cop because I got stuck on the roundabout and he saw me go around 25 to 30 times and then got mad at me when I stopped.
On the roundabout. After he turned his lights on.
Another phony baloney video. The US doesn’t hate roundabouts. Some people like them and some people don’t.
Our city is starting to adopt this idea and I love them. Now, if only drivers start to learn how to use them.
Because Americans just aren't used to them. They have been introduced in my state in rural areas (because why not) and I run into them occasionally. After you use a roundabout multiple times, it becomes natural to drive through them. In some neighborhoods, I've seen them used as ways to slow down the traffic as they have put a tiny roundabout in certain intersections.
With the cost of land becoming more and more prohibitive, I see roundabouts being less and less popular in new construction as they take more land to create.
great video. I think one factor why americans dont like them, is in the us, roads are just way too wide. having lived in britain and america, a road in britain might only have space for one car, but in america regular roads can fit 3 or 4 or more cars in the same width. this creates massive roundabouts with more lanes that creates more uncertainty than you would have with a regular british roundabout. Im all for roundabouts though, we have a lot of deep structural transportation(and other) issues here that need to be addressed.
Shee. And Americans wonder why we think they're a bit thick.
Roundabouts are the best for traffic flow.
No I hate roundabouts that are POORLY DESIGNED!!!
Vermont is the poster child for too small, too many roads feeding in roundabouts. There isn't a single good one.
Meanwhile, New Hampshire has some great ones…BECAUSE THEY'RE THE PROPER SIZE.
I came to study abroad in South America and Jesus Christ I hate roundabouts!! Everybody loses their mind there and it’s every man for himself. The concept might be fine but if people are always just thinking of themselves and don’t use common sense it just creates chaos and even more traffic
Roundabouts are great for low volume traffic. It keeps everything flowing. However, where large volume of traffic intersect it cause large tailbacks. In this situation you need lights and a mix of slip lanes to ensure safety.
NJ took out circles (round abouts) because too many drivers made them dangerous. Circles out, jug handles in.
There is a city called Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, Canada that has had a modern roundabout for decades due to the presence of a historical building where they wanted an intersection. It covers two minor east-west streets and a semi-major north-west street. Nobody has any problems with it, largely due (I suspect) to the fact that nobody knows it's a modern roundabout. This is in a province that has problems with four-way stop signs. (I think we have nine provinces that have problems with four-way stop signs. Quebec wins for 4-way stops & bagels.)
We have a city near us that has several roundabouts. May be that I'm just not used to them, but I do feel like my attention is spread out too far to fully know what's happening around me. These roundabouts have 2 to three lanes and are at heavily congested shopping areas.
Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.
Bullshit
And they suck. BS no long lines travel US 222 between Lancaster and Allentown PA and you will see it.
Roundabouts are stupid
This video really feels like it validates the idea that americans are ansolutely stupid.
For the most part they aren't, that's just not really true, but the reasons in this just really makes it seem like they are.
I don’t like roundabouts because I was almost killed in one with my grandma when she tried to turn left into one. I also don’t like when old people drive!
I'm done with this channel. The writing is just awful. Their conclusion is fine – roundabouts are great.
Traffic circles are "much larger in shape"? I'm not confused at all by roundabouts, but that sentence is really confusing.
Being an Aussie living in the US, I hate most of the "roundabout" intersections here because they are traffic circles and not the new roundabouts. In Australia, we have new roundabouts, probably because our infrastructure was built after the development in the 60's. Whereas in the US, a lot of the cities were built up before then so upgrading the intersections to the new roundabouts has not occurred due to the cost and interruption that it would cause. If there were more roundabouts then I think the US public would think differently about them.
In previous generations (when people were more considerate) roundabouts would have been great. But with the selfish/inconsiderate attitude of people nowadays – the "I'm so F*ing special everybody must yield to me" mindset. In my 50+ yrs of driving I've had more "close calls" in the short time since roundabouts" than in all the years before. It doesn't matter if you are already in the roundabout you end up having to stop because of some jerk-off who race into it because of they can not be bothered to wait their turn. It is far worse than trying to merge onto a busy freeway during rush hour.
Its called a traffic circle you limey!
"I'm scared I'm going to miss the exit I need" if a circle is too complicated for you then please go and hand in your licence. You shouldn't be driving.
There's two types of drivers:
The smart drivers and the Americans.
I find they work fine keeps traffic moving the car that enter fist has the right of way however there are idiots out there who think they always have the right of way
As an American I love roundabouts and so does pretty much everyone else I know. Over here we wonder why Europeans hate good dental care.
If a person can't handle a simple traffic circle, then they should not be driving a car on the road in public with other cars around them. They're simple, they're not hard, just do what is freaking easy.
So the problem with this video is that America doesn't have roundabouts. We have traffic circles. Roundabouts are generally a European thing, involving sometimes traffic lights and directional signs. Just saying. Google it.
Do roundabouts go in the opposite direction in countries that drive on the left, (opposite to the US)?
Roundabouts are unamerican.
Tell the Americans that the roundabouts are based on the ‘Imperial Measurement’ system.
I live in a small town and within the last ten years we got 5 roundabouts. I wish there were more. They are safer you only have to look one way. Much better than stop signs most people don’t know the rules of how stop signs work. There is no back ups and traffic moves much quicker and safer. Our town is considered a retirement towns with the average above 55-60 years old.
In our rural county, a modern roundabout recently replaced a 4-way stop at an intersection that had seen several fatal accidents. It works really well. We almost never have to stop to go through the intersection, even when making what used to be a left turn. We go through this intersection several times a week, and we're glad they built it.
I like round abouts and yes they are safer. They put one in my city neighborhood and I think it’s just too large for the intersection. I drive a Kia Forte which is a small car and I often come close to hitting the curb on a left turn. Not sure what the city was thinking.