Interesting article on driving and safety

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Ashley Page
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Interesting article on driving and safety

#1 Post by Ashley Page »

I have thought forever that the 4-way stop sign intersection was one of the dumber things that those who think(??) up traffic control ever came up with (right next to non synchronized traffic lights and arbitrary speed limits).

This is a very interesting article from this months Atlantic.

We have two round abouts in Davidson and they are great for keeping the flow going with little chance for an accident. Those in Charlotte for the Parade should consider skipping one of the "events" and come drive for a half hour on our round abouts for some real fun without traffic lights :wink:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic

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Pat Daily
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#2 Post by Pat Daily »

Serveral roundabouts in Richmond, VA--mostly on Monument Avenue where you can circle each monument before gunning your 356 and going to the next monument. I partricularly like the Stonewall Jackson roundabout and the Arthur Ashe one.
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Ashley Page
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#3 Post by Ashley Page »

Pat Daily wrote:Serveral roundabouts in Richmond, VA--mostly on Monument Avenue
I had a girlfriend there in the 60's, spent a couple of years worth of weekends there, and drove that street many times. It's a great street.

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Deborah King
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#4 Post by Deborah King »

Roundabouts work just great until you get to this one in Swindon, England:

Image

One comment about roundabouts--typically the cars entering give way to those already in the roundabout. A friend of mine makes frequent trips to Belgium, and says it's the opposite there. Can any Belgian confirm this?
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Stan Hanks
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#5 Post by Stan Hanks »

If I recall correctly, in the UK, the roundabouts work where the cars entering yield ("give priority" in the Brit vernacular) to the cars already on the roundabout, but in France the opposite is true and the cars on the roundabout have to yield to those entering. Which, of course, means it's instant gridlock as soon as there's any congestion...

Never driven in Belgium, but I'd bet they do whatever the French do, just 'cause...

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#6 Post by Deborah King »

Except that Italy and the part of France we were in, along the crest of the Alps and north of Monaco, goes by the "entering yield" convention. Could there be a dividing line, or is it a gradual change? All went well--no one challenged us when we are already in the roundabout, and even in congested city areas there were no problems.

Funny thing is, they took out the big roundabout in Clearwater, Florida, at the beach. Too many accidents.
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#7 Post by Ashley Page »

Deborah King wrote:Funny thing is, they took out the big roundabout in Clearwater, Florida, at the beach. Too many accidents.
Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the average age of the drivers in Clearwater?:D

Round abouts are, in my opinion, much less confusing than 4 way stops and conserve more fuel in the process. You keep moving rather than sitting at a sign or light with your motor running (unless you have one of those anemic Honda's that shuts the motor off when stopped; like a golf cart).

I don't know if anyone has read the article but it is interesting.

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Deborah King
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#8 Post by Deborah King »

Ashley Page wrote:
Deborah King wrote:Funny thing is, they took out the big roundabout in Clearwater, Florida, at the beach. Too many accidents.
Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the average age of the drivers in Clearwater?:D

Oh, absolutely! My parents were delighted when the "experiment" failed--and they, at least, have considerable driving experience in Europe. (You wouldn't know it now; that was a while ago.) Clearwater isn't the "funnest" place to drive, although my parents insist that there are lots of young people there nowadays. Probably relative--they're 91 and 87, respectively, and talking to them about driving is getting a little...difficult these days. Image The scariest drive I EVER took was about 6 months ago when we went across the state to catch a cruise. Image Fortunately, I got them to agree to let Hubby drive back.
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#9 Post by Guest »

Stan Hanks wrote:If I recall correctly, in the UK, the roundabouts work where the cars entering yield ("give priority" in the Brit vernacular) to the cars already on the roundabout, but in France the opposite is true and the cars on the roundabout have to yield to those entering. Which, of course, means it's instant gridlock as soon as there's any congestion...

Never driven in Belgium, but I'd bet they do whatever the French do, just 'cause...

Stan

I drive regularly around Europe and still have a UK license, so to provide some answers:

It is correct that the driver entering has to give way - thus, you have priority when being in the roundabout.
This is true for Germany, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Spain ....

The Frensh have changed their law in 1985 and now those in the roundabout have the right of way.
Bear in mind, that in adsence of any signal Europe adheres to the rule of thumb "right ahead of left"
In Belgium it is a bit different, most adhere to that those in the roundabout have the right of way - however, if you stop - despite having the right of way - you have to stop and lost your right of way.

In Austria those that seek to enter the roundabout have the right of way - this holds similarly for most roundabouts in Italy.

Watch out for this sign - the upperone indicating "to give way", while the lower one indicates the roundabout.

Image

With all these confusing laws just watch out and rather give way, your 356 will thank you for it (to bring some 356 reference in this post 8) ).

Regards, Martin

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#10 Post by Deborah King »

Interesting--I don't recall seeing that sign, although there were SO many for SO much of our trip (and Italy's highway numbers are poorly marked), that it isn't surprising. I just remember signs saying a roundabout was ahead. I will say that the person who chauffered us the first 3 days told us what to do, and we did it once we had the car. We never had the feeling that we were doing it wrong--in fact, it was quite obvious that newcomers had to yield or be smushed!

This was from Venice to Maranello to Monaco, through the Tuscan Appennines, and along the coastline. Also, the French Alps right along the border. Zillions of roundabouts through the little towns!

Image
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#11 Post by Guest »

Here's the first thread regarding this topic: http://356registry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1909

Too bad it's not a simple matter to combine them. Here are a few examples in my area:
Image
Image
Image
Image

Traffic circles work. Drivers in other parts of the world are trained differently (better) than those in the USA, but given time to understand and adjust to them, American motorists adapt to roundabouts as proven by how many are in use. Especially in crowded areas of the country where the benefits are readily apparent.

I imagine that Clearwater, Sarasota, Venice, et.al. are anomolies (as Deborah suggests) because of the average age. Old dogs, new tricks... or stubborn refusal.

In my little town there are several which seem to work fine. We're a less elderly population with a significant Finnish and Central American component.

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#12 Post by Deborah King »

I think one difference (and reason they probably work in your area) is that yours are little and the European and GB roundabouts are much larger. Also, there's more of a difficulty in assessing how to merge and who has right of way. I was always taught that in the case of cars arriving at a stop sign at the same time, the one on the right has preference.

I never saw the one in Clearwater--after hearing so much about it, it had already been demolished by the time of my next trip (much to the delight of my parents). Given the traffic at the beach, I would suspect that it was pretty big. If Glen Getchell's following this thread, can you chime in? He lives in the area.

Hmmm--I just found this link:

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/13/North ... edux.shtml

It's apparently pre-demolition. (I might add that I never saw the thing, and can't even verify that it's gone--just going by what my parents have told me.)
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