Tips for Driving in a Roundabout (this is Dave Barry-quality writing)

The Truth About Cars ^ | 17 May 2013 | Doug DeMuro

[knarf]

I'm a retired big truck driver and when my Filipina wife was learning to parallel park, I found the way to teach her was to use points on the car to determine WHEN to make a turn.

Once I figured that out, she parralel parks every time now with a 4" space between car and curb ... one pull up to the meter.

I'm familiar with the GOAL concept .. (Get Out And Look)

[TexasGunLover]

One time I was behind an elderly lady as she started to enter one. I then looked to the left and saw a vehicle about to enter it and knowing I had plenty of time and room, I then accelerated and headed forward. Unfortunately, the dumb lady ahead of me stopped while she was half way in and I rear ended her.

I have a bad habit of doing this as well, but haven't rear-ended someone yet... don't even look to your left until you're sure, and have watched the car in front of you complete their turn and are on their way. THEN look to your left to see if you can go... Too many people don't enter when there is plenty of room... but that's their right...

[radioone]

Here in the Midwest where there are not a lot of Volvos, it's best to keep a sharp eye on any Subaru driver that has a "I brake for squirrels" bumper sticker.

[Hardraade]

A few years ago, when my commute was exactly a hundred miles long, there were six roundabouts along the way. If you do them without people waving angry fists at you, you’re far too slow.

[RayBob]

"The utopian planners seem addicted to the idea of infesting us with these things. I know of 3 or 4 planned here in the Pittsburgh area. The only one we had previously was in a county park, where there is a 15 MPH speed limit. And even it was dangerous enough."

The only one I've experienced is out in Cranberry/Mars on 228 in the area where Red Robin, Chik-fil-a and Smokey Bones are located. I hate it. Out there you get lots of Volvos with NPR stickers...

[bigbob]

Funny!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Down here it’s Escalades and Lincoln Navigators that likely get 16 MPG yet have Obama bumper stickers slathered all over them.

[elcid1970]

IIRC when I was driving in Germany the rule was to yield to incoming traffic when in a roundabout.

Anyway, this writer is of Dave Barry caliber, especially the part about the Volvo with the NPR sticker.

“That used to be me!” - priceless

[Daffynition]

[Vigilanteman]

Makes you wonder what special kind of stupid ran the highway department.

Probably the same people who design roads for PENNDOT. Come to SW Pennsylvania and you will see:

1. Three way stop signs where someone turning left or right doesn't have to yield.
   
2. Two way stop signs where turners have the right of way.
   
3. Yield signs at controlled access highways where yielding is optional, if you are big enough, even when the car already on the highway is signaling and moving over to get off at the next exit ramp which you are blocking by barging on . . . causing everyone behind to slam their brakes and stack up while you refuse to yield.
   
4. Nimrods who suddenly slam their brakes at the same type of controlled access entrance even when there is 300 yards or more of merge lane available and nobody coming. Ask them why and they will tell you that they wanted to get in the lane further left . . . as if entering the immediate lane and then moving over is NOT an option.
   
5. People driving a short sedan who need more room to negotiate a right turn than your typical 18 wheeler with an extended tractor-trailer AND expect oncoming traffic in the through street they are entering to just stop and wait while they do.
   
6. The same people previously described turning left off a through street who need all right turning traffic to move 200 feet or so back so they can avoid a left turn angle any sharper than about 135 degrees. And shame on you if you can't anticipate this idiocy or quickly make your right turn to avoid getting clipped or backing up for such morons.
   
7. The courtesy clowns who, all of a sudden, stopped in the middle of through street and wave waiting traffic in because they think they've been waiting too long, sort of like the Volvo driver which Dave Barry describes in the roundabout.
   
8. Did I mention the nimrods on foot or on bicycle who think it is perfectly acceptable to cross at a Jersey barrier even when a regular intersection with a light and crosswalk is a block or so away?

[old-ager]

I like roundabouts and I hate stoplights. Roundabouts seem much more efficient. But yes American drivers have no clue how to use them.

[Buckeye McFrog]

3.Yield signs at controlled access highways where yielding is optional

That's because our gawdawful terrain around here results in entrance ramps that are too short and/or steeply curved to build up enough speed to join the flow of traffic. So if you are a large slow moving vehicle, it may actually be less disruptive for you to just continue on at cruising speed than to slow down or stop to yield, and then create a huge backup as you try to regain speed. Often times going uphill.

[GeorgiaGuy]

I wonder where, in Atlanta, this roundabout is?

[MrB]

Could be in a place where stopping might be deadly.

[Tupelo]

I guess I am an exception, I love round abouts. In my opinion they are the best way ever to move traffic through an intersection.
I do not understand how the idea can be so foreign to many Americans.
The British have moved traffic around round abouts for damn near a 100 years
In this country, we have had them for damn near 200 years.
Hell, If you look at the county seats in most southern counties and else where, Courthouse Square IS a round about. Only bigger.

[dfwgator]

Roundabouts are OK as long as you’re playing a little Boots Randolph to get you in the mood.

[tgusa]

I worked in Bristol for about 6 months in 2003. The initial drive from Heathrow on a Sunday (after the business-class redeye)on the M4 definitely got my attention.

[Vigilanteman]

Maybe, but the place I specifically have in mind as an example is at the junction of US-119 and the PA Turnpike where the clover leaf if fairly well designed and gently sloped. Yeah, it could use longer entrance ramps but the space simply isn't available.

And, no, it isn't less disruptive to continue on at cruising speed and force those wanting to get off at the next exit ramp to suddenly brake and hold up a much larger volume of traffic behind them.

It is nothing more than the "hurray for me and to hell with you" attitude on display.

A typical Pittsburgh attitude, I might add, in a neighboring county where the "courtesy clown" problem is far more prevalent.

[4yearlurker]

I negotiated lots of circles in South Jersey growing up. The trick don’t stop,just keep moving. There is a small circle in downtown Gettysburg the befuddles the tourists. I just keep on cruising. Zip. I’m home free.

[Craftmore]

Theyve started putting some of these in ohio,we just use the one hand on the horn one finger out the window method,crude but it works.