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I know this is memes but as a Brit, I’ll never understand how people are scared of, don’t understand, or don’t see that roundabouts are superior.
It takes a few goes in them during driving lessons and they get easier.
Everybody is gangsta until you need to exit from the innermost lane at Place Charles de Gaulle.
Invoking the French is cheating though. They can barely handle the straight roads.
Dude I was in Paris once in a taxi (cab) going over that roundabout and let me tell you French people are insane. It was just road rage and every person for themselves.
I read somewhere that in America to get your license, you take a 40 question quiz, that you can pass with up to 10 mistakes and the driving test usually consists of low speed driving and parking, no highways, no roundabouts.
Don't know how much of this is true, but that sounds too simple.
In Ontario / Canada it’s pretty much that. G1 - written test split between signs and road laws but you can only drive with another licensed driver of 5 years experience or more and can’t drive highways
G2 - driving test, low speed no highway. You do basic driving procedures (reverse, parallel, 3 point turn) I imagine doing a roundabout depends on where you live, but where I am they’re not close by so it’s not included.
G - same as above and then you boot down the highway for an exit.
TBH, passing is not hard in the slightest. And that’s improved from what used to be the 365 - you do a test get a license, drive for a year and do a road test after.
Yeah. If you're a minor you have to take Drivers Ed that requires a couple hours of driving with an instructor. If you're an adult, you can just take the written and driving test. I think I just drove around the block, and did a reverse parking test for my driving test. Depending on where you live, roundabouts are not common here. I don't think I saw one IRL until I was in my late 20s when I moved to a different state.
That sounds wild. I imagine it varies by state and some will be easier than others.
In the UK you have a lot of lessons and practice getting used to driving the car and navigating traffic, as well as perform some manoeuvres; for instance a parallel park and bay parking. We practice the emergency stop, hill starts, and roundabouts and more.
Then you have the theory test where they ask questions about signs and road rules etc. many are common sense but people fail a lot.
Then you have hazard perception where you watch videos and click the hazards before they become a danger. This is harder as you have to click at the right points.
All in all it’s rather difficult to get driving and I am all for it as it means people on the roads can generally drive.
I’ve seen documentaries about UK drivers’ training. From what I’ve seen it involves sex with the instructors and the test administrators. And, as far as I can tell, only young women ever take drivers’ training.
Actually this is how I got my licence. For some reason they want to record it too. Tough day to be a dude I tell you.
I had to some highway driving. But just a few hours.
Thats probably pretty accurate. I did have a class in High School where we drove on highways and what not. I am not sure it was a reauirement.
Its been almost 30 years since I got my loscence and I don't recall ever doing any renewal tests either besides the eye test where you look into the machine bolted to the counter.
During driving lessons.
Sure.
In the state I learned to drive in, they didn't exist. They weren't in the driver's manual. Nothing.
So there are generations of people who can't, or won't, figure out how they work, its a fucking nightmare.
Moved to another state recently. No problems here. In fact, driving here is a much less harrowing experience.
They're good in low traffic areas. They're way better than a 4 way stop, but in high traffic areas traffic lights are better.
Edit: Apparently I was wrong about this.
Upvoted you because you admitted to being wrong.
A few actual problems:
- Because they don't provide any breaks in traffic, high flow times can make it difficult for people living downstream to get out of their driveway
- People with eyesight disabilities can have problems navigating them. Advocacy organizations would like them to use stop signs rather than yield signs, but this reduces the throughput of the roundabout.
If a driveway directly leads into a high flow road, you have a stroad problem, not a roundabout problem.
in high traffic areas traffic lights are better.
Absolutely not. And roundabouts have traffic lights too, these are not mutually exclusive.
Wait you have traffic lights on your roundabouts?
Not necessarily.
Roundabouts are used in area of moderate to high traffic where multiple roads meet and places where continuous flow is needed. Like motorway junctions. The junction near me is very high traffic, and we use a roundabout with traffic lights too. They can be less effective if the flow of traffic is heavy in one direction but not the other.
Traffic lights are used in busy urban areas where there are a lot of pedestrians or places with uneven traffic distribution. These can cause issues of slowing traffic in quieter times due to lights not really being smart and knowing when people are there.
Nope. Traffic lights create high traffic areas, by unnecessarily delaying cross traffic.
Near my parents house, there is a 6-way intersection. When I was growing up, it was served by traffic lights, with straight and left-turn lanes in all directions. Traffic was backed up all day long in 3 of the 6 directions, to the point that pretty much everyone waited through at least two turns.
A few years after I left home, they converted it to a two-lane roundabout. Traffic immediately died down. Now, you typically see one to two other vehicles when you pass through the intersection, and you never wait more than a few seconds to get through.
Well did the expand any other roads near by, or have a large business close down. Sound like drmand for that path died down
No. The problem wasn't the amount of traffic. The problem was the delay from the lights. It was enough to build up long queues on three of the six entry roads. It turns out when you don't unnecessarily impede drivers, they don't become "traffic".
A housing allotment (~100 single family homes) was built about a mile down one of the feeder roads. An elementary school was torn down on another road, but a high school and rec center were built on the old site. The number of vehicles passing through that intersection has only increased.
Maxinum throughput of a round about is much higher than a typical stoplight.
Now, if stoplights typically went to flashing red instead of solid red, so drivers could proceed if traffic was clear, they would approach the efficiency of a roundabout.
