Topic: Traffic Circles

[Ice]

I like them allot...but everyone in them seems to be a bit confused as to what they need to be doing.  Its not hard but whatever...

[xviper]

They are known as "rotaries" in New England.

Does that make all who use them, "rotarians"?  Do you have to join the club before you can use them?  What if you're religious?

Seriously, in a traffic circle with 2 circles (2 lanes), what's the rule for right of way and the right way to use it?  The ones we have in the newer Calgary neighborhoods like Springband Hills are single circles.  Those are easy.  Edmonton has quite a few double lane circles and we have one big one in McKenzie Town in front of the firehall.

[CyberNick]

Gatineau has 4 that I know of, all close to each other... look here are 3 in one page...

I go though them carefully and as did ovr50, I too saw a woman stop inside the circle to let someone in... 

[PJungnitsch]

A lot of good animations here:

http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/Dowling/index.htm

Including this one on who has right of way:

http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/Dowling/slowApproachFlashN.htm

And one on the stopping in circle problem:

http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/Dowling/NOstoppingFlashN.htm

That said, it looks like there are certainly better designs than others, and some of the older ones were not very good:

http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/mythfact1.html

[CyberNick]

check this one... the magic roundabout 

[initial_D]

Wonder where that is?

[Triple Bob]

What about This one?

[wing]

I drive through one every day, it's a single laner though.  If I see a hole I just slot myself in and whip through it.  Once I'm in I assume everyone else will wait for me.  Problem is I see people stop and line up to get into the circle, you YIELD, don't stop!  Once I even saw a person stop in the circle and just wave people through, yikes!

[Railton]

I also drive through one everyday almost. It too is a single lane width though and quite small in diameter such that you have to really watch to see if someone is just passing thru or going around more than 180 degrees. I suspect it the diameter larger and lane width were two instead of one that it would not be able to perform its 2nd intended function....

...traffic calming.
Railton

[xviper]

check this one... the magic roundabout 

These people have a death wish!

[tpl]

check this one... the magic roundabout 

These people have a death wish!

Looks easy enough to me... as long as you know where you are going.

What about This one?

I remember a much "prettier" one of those  near Hemel Hempstead  in the early 70's    6 small roundabouts as entrances to a bigger one. Good for testing the Lotus steering and grip.
Looking at Google Earth/Google maps it may have disappeared under the M25 now.

[Bubba]

If more roundabouts are installed in Winnipeg, I'm going back to RWD or going AWD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nijZZfjHGdw&feature=related

[UmroAyyar]

Well, people here are not used to it, that causes confusion. 'YIELD' is an alien subject to quite a few people driving around.

Roundabouts work on the yield principle, pretty simple (for me because I grew up driving, cycling around those).

[tenpenny]

Some work well, and others are horrible.  Halifax/Dartmouth has a famous one that works so-so, the big one at Burnside was replaced by about 8 to 10 lanes and overpasses.

In Oromocto NB, there are a bunch of small ones.  They seem to work okay, but it's hard to enter them without stopping, if there are any cars inside the circle.  The diameter is small enough that you can't see signal lights on the cars in the circle, so you can't tell if they're coming through or turning out.

[DriverJeff]

Had a near-miss in one in Ancaster just last week.  One jackass entering it failed to acknowledge the Yield sign and just entered as we were coming around.  A good hard blast on the horn woke him up.

They're really popping up like mushrooms around here.  IN the past week, I've driven on a few of them in the Waterloo area, the Ancaster one mentioned above and the one that Railton mentioned from his neighbourhood.  They're all pretty small and the only concern is other people not knowing how they're supposed to operate!

[safristi]

..Geez I drive CIRCLES around _ a _bout U lot...where are ma Magic Mushrooms.................they were great fer "apex" teaching and weak drifting in my MG Midget ...Not @ LUNCH_HOUR of(f) course.........drove ovr many of those 3 foot
 Mini 'bouts of madness they came up with...Ya have ta have a PALM TREE or a flowerbed Inna Middle  ta be Keeping it REAL....

[getHK()]

They are known as "rotaries" in New England.

Does that make all who use them, "rotarians"?  Do you have to join the club before you can use them?  What if you're religious?

Seriously, in a traffic circle with 2 circles (2 lanes), what's the rule for right of way and the right way to use it?  The ones we have in the newer Calgary neighborhoods like Springband Hills are single circles.  Those are easy.  Edmonton has quite a few double lane circles and we have one big one in McKenzie Town in front of the firehall.

Ha ha I know that McKenzie traffic circle that you speak of very well.  I have to drive through that circle every week to drop off a friend, and for every 4 times I drive through there I always find myself honking at other drivers who fail to yield in one way or another.  When I took my driver's ed.  my AMA instructor told me when driving through a traffic circle your left signal indicates to others that you're entering and your right signal indicates to others that you're exiting.  As for who has right of the way, those entering the circle yield to the outer lane of the circle and the outer lane of the circle yields to the inner lane of the circle. 

[xviper]

Ha ha I know that McKenzie traffic circle that you speak of very well.  I have to drive through that circle every week to drop off a friend, and for every 4 times I drive through there I always find myself honking at other drivers who fail to yield in one way or another.  When I took my driver's ed.  my AMA instructor told me when driving through a traffic circle your left signal indicates to others that you're entering and your right signal indicates to others that you're exiting.  As for who has right of the way, those entering the circle yield to the outer lane of the circle and the outer lane of the circle yields to the inner lane of the circle. 

That makes perfect sense and now that you've put it in print, I do recall reading something to this effect a long time ago.  The few times that I have used that McKenzie circle, everyone seemed to be driving like crazy people.  The speeds could have been considered frightening for drivers who may be meek or easily intimidated.  At times like that, such people would be hard pressed to remember who has the right of way.  It's almost as if traffic circles are managed better by aggressive drivers.
PS.  Those few times I've used that circle, I have to admit that my lights and sirens make everyone else yield to me no matter what I'm doing.   

[tpl]

I was "brought up" with roundabouts.   I only indicate just before my exit... just to let people at that same entrance know that they now have a gap to accelerate onto the roundabout.

On a multi-lane conventional roundabout i would tend to stay in the outside lane.  If the roundabout is empty of traffic and I am going straight across I'd usually take the shortest path through tho', using all the road.

I am not sure I'd dare to do that in Canada as the populace is just not used to roundabouts. In the UK, France and Spain it works well and one can get through them quite fast with some care and anticipation as one approaches the entry point.

[initial_D]

This will be a very interesting weekend at that intersection, a lot of people will tow RVs and boats going thru it, and they are seeing a traffic circle for the very first time. Lotsa runabouts I am sure. Some people are clueless when it was a 4-way stop.