The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

The US hates roundabouts. 

[Tamas]

I don't think the British map tells the story.

For example, this is in a village very close to me:




It's a double roundabout in some very basic crossroads.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - I don't know why we love the mini-roundbout like that quite as much as we do

[garbon]

The US hates roundabouts. 

I do generally find them stressful.

[derspiess]

The US hates roundabouts. 

Cincinnati is one of the small clusters-- we are getting more and more of them here.  Still not quite as many as Indianapolis apparently.

[Duque de Bragança]

Yeah - I don't know why we love the mini-roundbout like that quite as much as we do

Incidentally, it's often called rond-point à l'anglaise in French.
rond-point = roundabout, though the proper term would be carrefour giratoire.

[Sheilbh]

I find the really localised hot-spots in the US kind of weird. Wonder how that happened.

[celedhring]

Over here the roundabout boom in the 2000s launched the golden age of the horrible urban sculpture.






What happened to the dinoshrubbery, Larchie?

[DGuller]

It could be that roundabouts require some prior education on everyone's part, and it's too much of a hump to overcome in the US, especially given how driver education is not taken seriously here at all.  In my experience, Americans are also good at taking the worst from both worlds when designing roundabouts or "traffic circles".

[Valmy]

The US hates roundabouts.

We like grids...though I am seeing more and more of them around here. I kind of like not having to stop at an intersection.

[Valmy]

I find the really localised hot-spots in the US kind of weird. Wonder how that happened.

They are currently fashionable so they are showing up where construction is happening.

[Valmy]

The US hates roundabouts. 

I do generally find them stressful.

Aren't intersections just generally stressful? I mean unless you hit the greenlight jackpot.

[DGuller]

I find them stressful because I'm never sure whether I'm doing what I'm supposed to do in them.  I imagine it would go away with practice, but they're rare enough that every time is like the first time.

[Tonitrus]

I find the really localised hot-spots in the US kind of weird. Wonder how that happened.

Enterprising young urban planners who probably did a gap year in Europe. 

[Tonitrus]

But on the topic, as an Amerikan, I generally really like roundabouts...when used wisely.  For relatively low-traffic intersections, they're fantastic.  It is when they get into the double-roundabouts, roundabouts with traffic lights in the middle, and other high-volume locations that they get out of hand.