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In Southern California, we had traffic circles and they were pretty much the circus of death.
In order for a Traffic Circle to work, the motorists have to use driver courtesy. If you have a population of people who decide that they are more important then others, and routinely blow through a red light, how do you suppose they would react when called upon to yeild and merge with other motorists in a confined space? And a pedestrian has no chance at all getting across at the crossing and it almost seems as though they put gardens fountains in the middle to lure unsuspecting pedestrians into the "gallery" so the motorists have fresh targets...
The city of Redding here is deciding to go with the European "roundabout" idea at an extremely busy (and deadly) intersection, and there's a number of people here in town that are very skeptical that it'll improve on the situation. The reason why the intersection is deadly, is because people will cruise through the red light...sometimes two and even three vehicles at a time.
They already put a couple "roundabouts" into my neighborhood (idiotic idea for a small residential intersection), and in the evenings, you have to come to a complete stop to allow a string of cars through, as they won't (or perhaps aren't mentally capable) allow any cross traffic to merge through. So replacing the stop signs with these clever circles hasn't improved the flow of traffic at all, it's actually made it worse.
We had US people over when I was at Lucent Technologies and we've had Canadian people over with the company I'm at now; it was hilarious or scary (depending on your disposition) being in a car with them in their first couple of weeks and watching them wrestle with the concept of roundabouts.In 2004 they removed all the signs and converted the intersection into a roundabout. So, should the US try this and those members who have knowledge of this, whats your opinion?
I don't think I'd care for that , just teach folks how to drive
UsuallyCan you guys in the UK turn left on a red light, or for you Euro guys turn right on a red .
Here in the Pacific Northwest we have a large Asian population. I don't know if its a cultural thing, but Asian women really stand out. They drive in a very timid fashion that I assume comes from their culture. Being overly polite is all I can figure. So aside from the racist remarks, it is interesting how Americans and Roundabouts don't mix. But then again, driving on the east coast and driving on the west coast is two completely different experiences too. People on the west coast are MUCH less agressive than on the east coast. And we don't drive with one hand on the horn.
Now jump in a cab in Washington DC with a Pakistani or Indian. 7 times out of 10, get ready for a ride.