Jackson Circle at Horseferry Road (Carmel, Indiana) was voted "Roundabout of the Year" in 2016 by the U.K. Roundabout Appreciation Society.
In the United States, the earliest roundabouts often were constructed in bigger cities. In general, our analysis shows, they’re most likely to be built in well-educated, high-income towns. These days, the fastest growth is in suburbs and rural areas...In general, a roundabout will drive down fatal crashes by 90 percent and cut all car-crash injuries by at least 75 percent, even while accommodating a higher volume of cars.
More information at The Washington Post.
So far, I have had to drive through (around?) one roundabout, as opposed to many, many traffic circles. I am never sure how or when to use my turn signal to indicate which road I will be exiting on? Neither does anyone else use theirs to indicate an exiting. This roundabout is a very small and tight circle, like the DOT crammed the new roundabout onto the same area as the previous intersection.
ReplyDeleteAstoria, a town near me was, I believe, the lucky recipient of the 1st roundabout in Oregon. I was used to them from driving in England, but boy, was the learning curve steep in the early going! Traffic is usually free-flowing nowadays.
ReplyDelete1916?
ReplyDeleteI think you mean 2016? I live in Carmel, IN. We have > 138 roundabouts in the city and I can attest to their convenience! I can get to pretty much anywhere in Carmel in about 12 minutes or less and encounter no stoplights.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post article features a lot of discussion of the history of traffic management in Carmel.
DeleteWow, my area must have been pretty early with roundabouts. When I learned to drive there were two (that I knew of) . One of them is the only reason I got my license on the first try as I wasn't doing well on the driving test but I knew what to do in the circle. This would have been '72
ReplyDeleteRoundabouts are awesome. They slow traffic, cost little to no maintenance (lacking electronics) and can be built to accommodate not only drivers, but also pedestrians and bikers. Sadly, the roundabout shown above lack the latter two.
ReplyDeleteHere's an image of a good roundabout for everyone:
https://images0.persgroep.net/rcs/6h5r4SgRthfSxcpTRwL5o5Zsa9A/diocontent/182329403/_fitwidth/694/?appId=21791a8992982cd8da851550a453bd7f&quality=0.8
Note that by design, there is enough space for a car to wait getting on the roundabout AFTER it crosses the pedestrian and bike crossing. Also note, that as an extra motivation for drivers to slow down, the pedestrian and bike crossing are raised to their level, thereby functioning as a (gentle) speed bump.
Nevertheless the landscaping around that UK roundabout is very pretty.
Instead of a picture, just go to the first link. That Google Maps link is from 2022. You can zoom in, drag over the little man icon and do a bike-through at the StreetView level. You're correct - no crosswalks.
DeletePretty good explanation of the diff between a traffic circle / rotary and a roundabout: https://www.co.washington.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/2296/Traffic-Circles-vs-Roundabouts
ReplyDeleteAt the link... "The roundabout is striped as a spiral. Do not change lanes in a roundabout. As with any intersection, choose the proper lane before entering."
ReplyDeleteI don't know where the hell they get spiral from, it's circles. And you have to know where you're going so I guess direction signs are posted before the roundabout.
xoxoxoBruce
I have to say that what sticks out most in this picture is the monocultures of trees that line every street. Several times I've seen city blocks lose their entire shade because a pest or fungus takes advantage of the proximity to destroy every tree down the row.
ReplyDeleteRoundabouts have fixed so many troublesome intersections in my area. Keep them coming!
ReplyDelete