Round and round over roundabouts
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Roundabout driving tips
The two most important things to remember when navigating roundabout are choosing the appropriate lane before entering the roundabout and yielding to traffic in all lanes, said Patrick Fleming, standards development engineer at the state Department of Transportation.
If people follow those rules, the number of crashes in roundabouts would drop 75 percent, he said.
Other causes of roundabout crashes include failing to judge distances properly, drifting into another lane and being hit from behind when stopped at the entrance.
"Really, the only things are those vehicles to your left, and the pedestrians as you enter," Fleming said.
-- Yielding to traffic.
"There is either a desire not to understand or a misunderstanding of yield," Fleming said. "When you see a yield sign, you yield to other vehicles in your path."
If vehicles are approaching from the left—even in the left lane—let them pass before entering the roundabout. Vehicles in the roundabout have the right of way.
-- Being in the correct lane when you approach the roundabout.
This is especially important in dual-lane roundabouts. Look at the pavement markings and signs. If you intend to turn left, be in the left lane. If you intend to turn right, be in the right lane. If you intend to go straight, you can be in either lane.
"It's the same as if you are at a signal, "Fleming said.
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A vehicle makes its way eastward through a roundabout on the recently constructed bypass around the south side of Milton. As the state focuses on installing more roundabouts around Wisconsin, the choice continues to generate controversy among many residents.
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JANESVILLE — The mere mention of roundabouts can kick up passionate debate.
"Good thing there is a hospital nearby," one Gazettextra.com reader grumbled in comments attached to an article about two new roundabouts to be installed at Racine Street and Interstate 90/39.
"The worthless roundabouts are a death trap waiting to happen," wrote another.
"I'd rather import European Socialism than European roundabouts," wrote a third.
Why don't some people like roundabouts?
"That's what we're trying to find out," said Patrick Fleming, standards development engineer at the state Department of Transportation.
"It's hard for me to speculate," said Carl Weber, Janesville's public works director. "Certainly, I was open to them because the statistics just smack you in the face—how much safer they are."
When Janesville city staff proposed a roundabout on Milwaukee Street in 2011, however, the city council rejected it, partly because of resident feedback about roundabouts. It was rejected again in 2012 when two council members brought it up for another vote.
"It's a hot button for people living in Wisconsin," said Ben Coopman, director of public works and the highway commissioner for Rock County.
He recalled hosting a birthday party for his mom in Neenah. Several relatives didn't attend because they would have had to navigate several roundabouts.
It's not always the elderly who complain, Fleming said. Many older drivers in Florida prefer roundabout because they only have to look to the left.
Complaints about roundabouts come from truck drivers and snowplow drivers, but they also come from those driving small vehicles, as well.
Coopman has conflicting feelings about roundabouts because of the maintenance headaches they cause his road crews.
Maybe it's because roundabouts are new and people don't understand them, Fleming and Weber said. Accommodations for pedestrians also are different. Pedestrians cross about 25 feet before vehicles reach a roundabout.
"Truckers don't like them, but what are you gonna do?" said Jerry Klabacka, director of the Diesel Truck Driver Training School in Sun Prairie.
"They're not going to go away. They've been very efficient, and I think most people, once they get used to them, really appreciate them."
Here to stay
It's a good bet roundabouts are here to stay, contrary to some who describe them as an engineering fad.
Weber recalls first hearing about roundabouts 20 years ago when he worked in De Pere and heard a presentation by an Australian visiting to educate people about roundabouts.
About 200 state-built roundabouts have been installed in Wisconsin since 2004, and the state builds an average of 15 to 25 a year, Fleming said. Another 75 or so are on local systems around Wisconsin. Other states are building them, as well.
All roundabouts on the state highway system are designed to accommodate legal-sized trucks, Fleming said.
Trucks tip when their loads shift because drivers are going too fast, Fleming said.
"I can guarantee you that no truck will tip over if it is going through at 3 miles an hour."
The compelling reason for roundabouts is safety, Fleming said. A standard intersection has 24 points of conflict—spots where vehicles could collide—but a roundabout has eight.
A common crash at four-way intersections is the front of one vehicle slamming into the side of another, causing severe injury and death. The chances of such T-bone crashes are greatly reduced in roundabout intersections, advocates say.
Studies show roundabouts reduce crash severity and usually also the number of crashes.
Vehicles must slow to navigate a roundabout. If a car is hit, the angle is more a glancing blow or a fender bender.
"No one is hurt," Fleming said.
Weber said turns in the Racine Street roundabouts wouldn't be nearly as tight as the roundabout on Highway 59 near Milton, where a truck tipped with its load of ethanol Nov. 27. The state is planning to widen the Milton roundabouts.
Roundabout designs keep improving, Weber said. Approaches to new roundabouts are curved to ease motorists into the circle, he said.
Another plus? Nobody waits for traffic lights at roundabouts.
Weber said he prefers to slow and wait for his chance to enter an intersection rather than sit at a red light.
"How many times do you pull up at a red light and nobody is there but you?" Fleming asked.
Crashes increase at some roundabouts, and that might be because accidents can increase at any intersection after changes are made, he said. Crashes might decrease when people learn to navigate roundabouts, Fleming said.
"There is either a desire not to understand or a misunderstanding of yield," Fleming said.
The key is to yield, he said. A motorist should enter a roundabout only when all lanes are free of vehicles.
Focus on education
The DOT is ramping up education in an effort to soften residents' views on roundabouts. It printed 4 million fliers to include in license renewal information. A DOT website includes an interactive video.
"It's kind of a human reaction to new things—that you're not really in favor of it until you understand it a little more," Fleming said. "So, it's like anything else. It's self education."
People aren't accustomed to roundabouts, and that can cause some level of initial confusion, Weber acknowledged.
"You need to make a decision when you come into them, as opposed to a traffic light, where a green light tells you to go—even though the green light might tell you to go when somebody is running the red light in the other direction and is ready to broadside you," he said.
Dual-lane roundabouts can be a more difficult introduction, Weber acknowledged. Unfortunately, many Janesville residents will cut their teeth on two new multi-lane roundabouts near the Interstate.
Janesville has two roundabouts. The one at Menards has little traffic continuing through on Morse Street and no connection to a private road going south.
The second roundabout is in an isolated subdivision.
"If you don't know how to use them at home, you're going to be lost using them in other communities," Weber said.
"Ultimately, most folks will find out this works out pretty well. Support always goes up after people get used to them."
Ben Coopman said roundabouts are a challenge for snowplows and large trucks.
On County G, county engineers opted against a roundabout for an intersection that will serve trucks hauling long girders from a nearby factory.
Coopman has his own conflicting views on roundabouts.
He appreciates their safety, but he knows they are difficult to mow and plow because equipment operators must deal with awkward angles and elevated truck aprons.
"There's always a certain amount of snow that stays behind," Coopman said.
His department maintains three roundabouts on East Hart Road in the town of Turtle.
"Talk about challenges," he said. "There's close to 60 street lights in those three interchanges."
But Coopman knows roundabouts are coming, like them or not.
"I prefer signals, but roundabouts do make a lot of sense," he said. "They probably make a lot more sense where you don't have snow."
Jerry Klabacka of the truck driving school said most roundabouts on truck routes are large enough for truckers to navigate by using the truck apron and both lanes. Some of the smaller ones are impossible, but they aren't on truck routes.
"The big thing with roundabouts, when the sign says yield, yield means stop or proceed safely," he said. "It doesn't mean merge."
Truckers don't particularly like them, but they're here to say, Klabacka said.
"People better get used to them."
Feb 14, 2013 at 11:42 a.m.
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(they're the people who make money on safer roads)
And their statistics back up the "safer" issue, cause they make money that way! No doubt. You need to understand that their "safer" does not mean less accidents, it means less fatalities. Statistics actually show more minor accidents at roundabouts compared to normal stoplight controlled intersections, but less injury accidents. More accidents actually mean more congestion on the average, so traffic overall moves slower.
Feb 13, 2013 at 11:50 a.m.
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jcommon (2/6),
where do you get your statistics? Do you have any to actually give?
Modern roundabouts are the safest form of intersection in the world. Search www.iihs.org for FAQs and safety facts. (they're the people who make money on safer roads)
Feb 7, 2013 at 2:05 p.m.
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when will this end
Feb 7, 2013 at 12:50 p.m.
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lol- just ran out to do an errand at 10:30 before the snow started to cover the LINES on the roads. An elderly person was going down Milw st heading west on the wrong side. I wonder if they should just close off that Milw St entrance to Mercy East?
Feb 7, 2013 at 10:19 a.m.
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people including older people cannot figure out the road now. On the worng side of the street on Milwaukee heading East- no clue. Turned onto Milwaukee into MY lanee(first one) and a lady sitting there in the wrong lane waiting for light to turn and continue down the wrong side of Milw St!!
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:54 a.m.
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waddell, just whose property will be condemmed and taken so the city could have enough room to build not only one but two roundabouts at that intersection? There are two banks, two car dealerships there. Who is going to be willing to let their property go? My guess, not one of them
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.
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"pudssweetie
Feb 5, 2013 at 11:37 a.m.
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I agree with some that the problem is that people do not know how to yield. I think the bigger problem though is the fact that we are taught to yield from the right when we are taught to drive. When going through a roundabout, you have to yield from the left, which is not what most people are used to doing. I have to remind myself of that when I go through a roundabout because my natural instinct is to look to the right when yielding."
When you cross the street you look LEFT first, then right, then LEFT again. This is no different. Sure the person to the right has the right of way. Correct me- maybe I am wrong.
Feb 6, 2013 at 12:57 p.m.
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Hello Janesville, as a European who owns property in Janesville, I welcome your roundabouts. So glad Europe has been able to send something that works very well 'across the pond'. Living in the UK I drive around at least 100 roundabouts a week in our city. So from a Janesville and UK driver, I can honestly say roundabouts are safer than 4 way stops. Driving on them is easy, on approach you yield to the car on your left, know your lane and stick to it. You don't need to wait at traffic lights either. I agree with reader, a roundabout at the junction of Mt Zion, Wright ad E Milwaukee would work very well, but I guess that will take years of discussion by city officials. Oh, and it may need a double roundabout linked together, also easy to drive by responsible drivers.
Regards
Scotland
Feb 6, 2013 at 7:45 a.m.
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Safer? Define Safer?. More accidents happen in roundabouts then they do in a controlled intersection, how is that safer? It is just that the accidents in roundabouts are less serious. Roundabouts have their respective places, putting 1 at the end of each on/off ramp for highways sure doesn't seem like the right spot. Intersections where the most traffic is turning left and oncoming traffic is from the right is heavy seems to work the best. But many times if traffic lights patterns were studied more, this could be averted also. Someone decided this was the "idea" and so Wisconsin is now roundabout heaven, once this idea runs it's course we will be back to controlled intersections.
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:08 p.m.
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oh thats why they are having problems they are going the wrong way....LOL
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:03 p.m.
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I simply can not believe that people have a hard time slowing down and turning left. If its a smaller round a bout then slow down more...come on people your being just ridiculous
Feb 5, 2013 at 5:42 p.m.
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If you can't figure out how to drive around a stupid roundabout, you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. It's a pretty easy concept. Look at the statistics. For people who actually give them a chance and don't blindly oppose them because they are something new, like people around here, roundabouts are actually much safer than 4-way intersections.
Feb 5, 2013 at 3:51 p.m.
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Truecitizen: You are for something and I am against that something whereas I am for something else but you are against it, now, tell me which side our elected officials are to take? They were elected to make decisions and sometimes they make one side happy and then they make the other side unhappy.
Feb 5, 2013 at 11:56 a.m.
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Just like with the new garbage trucks and the sidewalks....they just push on the community whatever they want to regardless of what they demographic wants. Stop trying to be progressive. It is silly. Most people do not want these roundabouts. So be representative of their wishes for once!
Feb 5, 2013 at 11:42 a.m.
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Excellent point, pudssweetie.
Feb 5, 2013 at 11:37 a.m.
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I agree with some that the problem is that people do not know how to yield. I think the bigger problem though is the fact that we are taught to yield from the right when we are taught to drive. When going through a roundabout, you have to yield from the left, which is not what most people are used to doing. I have to remind myself of that when I go through a roundabout because my natural instinct is to look to the right when yielding.
Feb 5, 2013 at 10:29 a.m.
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The hostility toward them is weird.
Feb 5, 2013 at 10:28 a.m.
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I meant to say that this part of the story explains it all.
Feb 5, 2013 at 10:27 a.m.
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"It's hard for me to speculate," said Carl Weber, Janesville's public works director. "Certainly, I was open to them because the statistics just smack you in the face—how much safer they are."
When Janesville city staff proposed a roundabout on Milwaukee Street in 2011, however, the city council rejected it, partly because of resident feedback about roundabouts. It was rejected again in 2012 when two council members brought it up for another vote.
"It's a hot button for people living in Wisconsin," said Ben Coopman, director of public works and the highway commissioner for Rock County.
He recalled hosting a birthday party for his mom in Neenah. Several relatives didn't attend because they would have had to navigate several roundabouts.
This part of he story says it all:
It's not always the elderly who complain, Fleming said. Many older drivers in Florida prefer roundabout because they only have to look to the left.
Complaints about roundabouts come from truck drivers
Feb 5, 2013 at 9:53 a.m.
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Booch: Well said although you forgot to mention that those 2 roundabouts are close to a large theater complex and multiple restraunts. There have been multiple times that I have had to wait longer to get onto Moorland Rd. with the roundabout then when they still had the stop lights at the bottom of the exit ramps
Feb 5, 2013 at 9:43 a.m.
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Education of new rules and laws at license renewal time would be a big help. Grant it , not everyone likes changes, but we have to live with them if we are to get along with each other. Blaming the other guy all the time isn't going to solve anything.
Feb 5, 2013 at 9:24 a.m.
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:49 a.m.
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I second saxcat70!
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:42 a.m.
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Traveling northbound on Moreland Rd in New Berlin (say from Grange Ave), you go through two roundabouts to enter southbound I43.
In order to get on the ramp to the freeway, you cross a steady stream of southbound Moreland RD. traffic.
Frequently, the southbound Moreland Rd traffic is heavy.
You have to put lots of trust in those people heading south as you are cutting right in front of them. But since you are already in the roundabout, you have the right of way and are allowed unfettered access to the interstate.
Problem is, more times than not (I travel this route often) , the southbound traffic entering the roundabout doesn't give a flying you know what that they need to stop and let you pass in front of them.
I've had to come to a full stop in the roundabout to avoid what Mr. Fleming states is a "glancing blow"
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:32 a.m.
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"I can guarantee you that no truck will tip over if it is going through at 3 miles an hour."
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Heck of a guarantee; unles there are 40 mph winds and icy roads!
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Oh, and that is exactly waht a truck driver wants to do; slow down to 3 mph on a highway where there were no traffic signals prior!!
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:28 a.m.
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""How many times do you pull up at a red light and nobody is there but you?" Fleming asked."
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Did you ever think that the traffic light is programmed wrong; or the sensors are placed in the wrong places??
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:25 a.m.
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Insurance companies and our government; that is why we are getting roundabouts shoved down our throats! The city/county MUST consider installing roundabouts if they ask for federal or state money on all intersection projects! Insurance companies are lobbying for the roundabouts, as there maybe more accidents (yes more), the accidents do not involve injury and thus lawsuits. Oh, did I mention insurance companies run the U.S, or maybe ruin the U.S.!!
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:14 a.m.
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Concerning motorcycles and bicyclists; a French study compared the crashes in 2008 in 15 towns in the west of France at both signalized intersections and roundabouts. The conclusions from the analysis were:
• Two-wheel vehicles were involved in injury crashes more often (+77 percent) at signalized intersections than on roundabouts!!!
• People were more frequently killed and seriously injured per crash (+25 percent) on roundabouts than at signalized intersections!!!!!!
• Proportionally, two-wheel vehicle users were more often involved in crashes (16 percent) on roundabouts than at signalized intersections. Furthermore, the consequences of such crashes were more serious!!!!!!
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http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/res...
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:07 a.m.
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"The intersections in Oshkosh where the most crashes occur are roundabouts, but the severity of crashes has decreased since the intersections where converted from traditional intersections into roundabouts.
Roundabouts on the U.S. Highway 41 frontage road at Washburn and Koeller streets, along with the roundabout at Murdock Avenue and Jackson Street were the top five intersections in the city with the most crashes in 2012.
Of the 2,585 traffic crashes Oshkosh police responded to in 2012, 293 were at the frontage road roundabouts at West Ninth and Witzel avenues, according to an analysis The Oshkosh Northwestern completed of crash data provided by the Oshkosh Police Department.
"
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http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/2...
Feb 5, 2013 at 8:02 a.m.
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“Another plus? Nobody waits for traffic lights at roundabouts.”
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So I am in Neenah around lunch time and I come up on a roundabout. Since it is lunch time for a factory, there is a line of about 15-20 vehicles coming down the street from my left. So I and 7 cars behind me had to wait for quite a while to enter the roundabout, because, not only were ALL of the cars coming from the street directly to my left, but also many coming from the street directly in front of me. So we wait, wait, and wait some more. So do NOT tell me that no one waits at a roundabout!!
Feb 5, 2013 at 7:19 a.m.
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There is nothing wrong with roundabouts. If fact I think they need one at the intersection by Fagan motors. The issue is exactly what is written in one of the comments; stupid, selfish drivers... Maybe the city should do like Chicago does and put cameras up and mail tickets to people that break the law.
Feb 5, 2013 at 7:02 a.m.
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If you have trouble navigating roundabouts, please turn in your license.
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:22 a.m.
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Most auto drivers are an obstruction on the road wasp. Some think they can cut in front of a truck and the truck can stop on a dime, not so much. Driving a truck you notice more texting while driving since you sit up higher. Put the phones away and pay attention to the road. I don't like the roundabouts, but I have no problems navigating them in a car or semi.
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:12 a.m.
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There is nothing hard about driving a round about
Do the speed limit & as for those that seem not to be able to drive where roundabout are may be you need to wake up or grow up
Having said that they could make them larger & have a right hand turn lane just befor the roundabout as some do
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:06 a.m.
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I'm going to bring on the storm. Trucks have trouble because truck drivers aren't as good as some of them think they are. As someone that has observed drivers for a long time, we have some truckers on the road that seem to view everyone else as merely an obstruction and that they are the only ones that belong on the road.
Feb 5, 2013 at 6:06 a.m.
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It sure is nice to see the county plow already busted the curb on the new roundabout at townhall rd. What a pain this has to be for the plow truck to clean up snow.
Feb 5, 2013 at 3:04 a.m.
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I patiently await the anti-European roundabout objectors to stop using our European language and reading and posting about it on a European invention, the world wide web. What shall they turn to, I wonder? Smoke signals? Carrier pigeons? Esperanto?
Feb 5, 2013 at 12:42 a.m.
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HAHAHA, I just read the "Roundabout driving tips" by engineer Patrick Flemming, that is to the left of the article. He says, "if people would follow those rules, the number of crashes in roundabouts would drop 75%" HELLO....... if people would follow the rules all crashes would be down and their wouldn't be a debate wether we need roundabouts or not. It doesn't matter how safe you think the roads are, one type versus another, if the drivers are not driving by the rules, there are going to be accidents.
Feb 5, 2013 at 12:04 a.m.
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Milton's round abouts are too small, a fact which has been proven over and over by semi's. I actually like the new round abouts on the north end of Oregon because they kept the right turn lanes seperate from the roundabout. Traveling to Lancaster a few months ago I came upon one in a near by town (don't remember the name) where traffic going into it was so heavy from one direction that every other direction was at a stand still. Doesn't that defeat one of the purposes of roundabouts? They can be useful in certain areas but they are not the right choice for all intersections. As for the elderly in Florida who love them because they only have to look left, you are so used to that, that you forget to look right at regular intersections. The ones off I-43 east of Beloit are a bit too much for such a small area and I still wonder if they had anything to do with the lady who wound up on the wrong side of I-43 causing the fatality. They need to be properly marked and not just with painting on the road because this is wisconsin, one can't always see the road when the state is trying to save money by backing off the plowing.
Feb 4, 2013 at 11:55 p.m.
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I don't really mind a roundabout, they can get a little irritating and confusing when there are like 3 in a row.
Feb 4, 2013 at 11:08 p.m.
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It appears that the concept
is much too complicated
for Neanderthal Man.
Feb 4, 2013 at 10:25 p.m.
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keep your roundabouts, I for one will bypass them all together. Too many crazy drivers out there that never yield when they have the yield sign. Roundabouts are an accident waiting to happen.
Feb 4, 2013 at 10:05 p.m.
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Scary circles! I never liked circles. Then they go counter-clockwise. Very dangerous!
Feb 4, 2013 at 8:08 p.m.
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The cost to the taxpayer for a roundabout is ridiculous. Typically, a roundabout has 14 streetlights - just imagine the cost to purchase, install, operate and maintain all of those lights.
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:28 p.m.
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It seems silly to me, we have one in our subdivision and its okay. I travel the Milton ones almost everyday and you get used t them and they are faster. I think people just won't accept something new. I would rather have them ...i hate long stop lights and stop sighns that people just sit and look at each other...then every body goes...LOL
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:20 p.m.
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"family wouldn't visit because they have round abouts on the way" I am guessing they shouldn't attempt an interstate either then!!
I recall a commnet from a poster saying an older person was in the one at Menards and stopped in the middle of it to let somebody in. Another comment they pull in and go to the left- ugh. I for one am not fond of the double ones in a big city when you are unsure to begin with where to exit and watch traffic etc.
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:19 p.m.
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@Patrick Fleming you want to know why residents of WI hate roundabouts? They're dangerous!
Let's look at the new Milton roundabout. In Nov a semi tips over causing a hazardous waste spill and stopping traffic in ALL directions, a year before that a semi has an axle break in that same roundabout again stopping traffic in ALL directions. When is the last time a semi had an axle break in a controlled intersection. I have had near misses in multiple roundabouts. I have never had a near miss in an controlled intersection. People who are used to the roundabouts drive insanely fast through them creating a dangerous area for others try to navigate the roundabout.
Why are roundabouts even needed here? You have an on ramp and an off ramp and a two way road. There is absolutely no reason for one.
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:14 p.m.
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They are a total waste of time. The are costly when you have several as by Milton The price of gas Slowing and speeding up just to do it again in a mile or two. I would like to see accident statistics on these.
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:14 p.m.
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well GM last week, sidewalks 2 weeks ago. Guess time for the ol "round about" again!
I love the tips- yield doens't mean merge. IF only people had to pass a test again to get their DL renewed! Merge- also does NOT mean STOP.
Feb 4, 2013 at 7:12 p.m.
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Look kids, Big Ben!!
Feb 4, 2013 at 6:49 p.m.
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Good point cougar, I also appreciated the set up for roundabouts in Europe. They ARE larger and traffic flows smoothly.
I DON'T like the 3 in Cottage Grove. They are too close together and the radius has flipped grain trucks, gravel trucks, and a poor guy trying to transport local melons that ended up all over the roundabout center.
I think part of the problem is rude drivers that do suffer from a "me, me, me" complex. These are the morons that pass in NO passing zones, the ones that run lights, the tail-gaters, the idiots with road-rage. NOTHING we do will keep these perps in line. Everyone is in such a ridiculous rude hurry.
What I enjoyed about driving through Denmark was no one was rude or rushed. People drove the reduced speed limits and were courteous to other drivers.
Face it, Americans are basically selfish rude creeps when driving vehicles.
Feb 4, 2013 at 5:06 p.m.
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down with roundabouts!
Feb 4, 2013 at 5 p.m.
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The issue, as presented, is a false dichotomy: aside from roundabouts being 1)good or 2)bad, there's at least a third option: 3) WISCONSIN roundabouts are bad. Their radius is too small for American trucks and the speed of traffic on the road; their signage is excessive; and implementing three in a short distance, as is often done, overloads the driver with a staggering amount of information, if s/he isn't already familiar with the roundabout. One sometimes sees drivers who are older and/or unfamiliar with the area basically parked within the roundabout while they try to sort things out.
I've used European/UK roundabouts and they were generally well designed; their radius was often much larger when they were used on roads with fast traffic... One didn't have to slow down as much, and there was more separation between the entering streams of traffic. And I don't recall ever being expected to read dozens of signs within a fraction of a mile.
Feb 4, 2013 at 4:45 p.m.
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I've had almost three accidents at Menard's, only because I know how dangerous they are and break for Menard's traffic that blow past the yield sign as I head west.
Feb 4, 2013 at 4:35 p.m.
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"the state builds an average of 15 to 25 a year" ...yea, right in a row.
The bottom line is that using them at interstate interchanges is not going to lend itself to getting people used to using them. What you're getting is a lot of people not from here, that don't navigates the roads here often, don't know where they're going to begin with, can't figure out where they're supposed to go once they get into the round about, and can't figure out how to get out of it. I drive the 3 in a row on County N and I-94 in Cottage Grove regularly, and people do not seem to be making any advances in figuring out how to use them even after 2 years.
Feb 4, 2013 at 4:23 p.m.
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People need to first learn and understand what stop signs mean and what yield signs mean,then there may be some hope if they learn to drive correctly.
Feb 4, 2013 at 4:21 p.m.
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Maynard just listed all the reasons why I avoid roundabouts. I don't have a problem using them it's other people who don't get the concept.
Lets add a forth one to the list. People who aren't sure exit to take from the round about. That's always fun driving behind that person.
Feb 4, 2013 at 4:11 p.m.
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1) show me a truck or car that goes 3 mph
2) getting used to them as we did not grow up with them. I have to watch out for lots of drivers that do not seem to know the rules.
3) Too many people out there that think they have the right of way PERIOD. On roundabouts, at 4 way stop signs, at traffic lights even after light has turned yellow or even red. It seems to be the ME generation and the rules are meant for everyone else.
My experience is that roundabouts have a place in some conditions but you have to always drive very defensively. Everyone seems to be in such a hurry to go nowhere regardless of the type of traffic signals.
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