RV accident at a Roundabout.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
They put a roundabout on a rural road out by me that is a heavily traveled North/South route. well they made it so tight that semis cannot negotiate it. and there was no need for it, because the intersection it was put in doesn't see that much side road traffic!

Are you talking about the one on Rte 47? That would be a case of the state being economical (cheap) and buying the minimal amount of land required for a roundabout. I believe the reason it was put in was to reduce backups on Rte 47 caused by the stop signs which were there previously. From what I have seen traffic flow has improved.

dodge guy wrote:
You should see the new ridiculous interchanges they now have for expressways with the lanes switching sides over the bridge. completely ridiculous!

I assume you are referring to a Diverging Diamond Interchange. Here’s an explanation of how they work and their potential advantages.

The newest one I know of is on Charles road east of rte. 47.Charles rd and Raffel rd. Prior to it becoming a roundabout there was talk of putting a light there. I don't think there was enough traffic to justify paying comed so a traffic circle was installed instead. I like it and travel through it several times a week.

Interesting article about death by stop sign:

Article

They aren't Rundabouts, according to a Montana Dept. of Transportation enganeer, they are "Traffic Calming Devices"! What a joke. To the earlier poster who talked about them pulling them out of Jersey, I always thought that Flemington was the king of traffic calming devices. Then when the state started taking them out, the pink slipped "Traffic Calming Device" enganeers brought their talents or lack there of out West. To the poster from Astoria, OR. and Yuma, AZ., wait until you use Araby RD. and I-8 here in Yuma, and they ain't done yet! They sure don't calm me as the hackles get very large on my neck!

We have many roundabouts here and I love them. I very seldom have to stop and if I do only for a few seconds. They have been here for 4/5 years and at first NOBODY liked them now it's second thought. Those people coming from an area that does'nt have them hate them and take forever to pass thru them but not enough to bother me. I say build more.

Up here they are called "rotaries" and work just fine.

Gotta love roundabouts on a motorcycle. Great fun.

Of course if somebody spilled a little diesel fuel, all bets are off. I watched a friend, who wasn't going fast at all, go down on a roundabout in Spain when he he hit a slight splash of diesel fuel.

There's a relatively new roundabout at the intersection of two state highways near our upstate NY cottage. It's a slightly unusual design in that half of the circle is two lane, and half is one lane. Apparently the DOT engineers did their homework, and really understood where the heaviest traffic flows were and how they split off at each exit. It works remarkably well with far fewer and much smaller accidents than with the old lighted intersection, along with a much smoother traffic flow in all directions.

When they first started putting in Roundabouts in my area I hated them. But, now that I have gotten used to them they are not so bad. My complaint is that the signage that they are using in MN to direct you around them is horrible. Now that someone above said "if you are going left use the left lane" that will be helpful to me the next time I go around one.

I wish that they would have , or still would, run a public information campaign here in MN when they first started adding them. Instead they just started building them without telling any of us how they worked.

I really really like one lane roundabouts. I think they are vastly superior in some circumstances. I am not as fond of 2 lane roundabouts though.

JMHO

jfkmk wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Hopefully the driver and any passengers of the motor home are okay.
Roundabouts in general are more efficient and safer. As with anything new, there is a short learning curve.

Roundabouts are nothing new at all. Where I grew up in North Jersey, we had them on one particular road since the 50s or 60s, but they were called circles. At one point, some time in the 80s, they did away eith them as they were too dangerous. Funny to see them make a comeback.

That's just it. "Circles" were just plain dangerous.

"Roundabouts" are perfectly safe. :)