Over here in the States, we have roundabouts, but there aren't that many of them. Fewer still are set up for interesting driving. By happenstance, there's one located about a mile from my home, halfway between the house and the supermarket.
It's a perfect circle, about 50 feet in diameter, with four roads leading into it at slight angles, every entry marked with a "Yield" sign. My store route takes me into it at the 6 o'clock position and exiting at the 9. In the mornings my work route has me coming into it at 6 and exiting at 12. That maneuver feels like it could be refined endlessly.
Needless to say, the Spyder has demonstrated time and again that there's very little on the road that can tailgate it through this kind of traffic obstacle.
And you guys have these all over the place? Lucky you.
Quote from: "southerneditor"And you guys have these all over the place? Lucky you.
Some call this a roundabout, I'd call it fun s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
(http://www.swindonweb.com/life/magicsign.jpg)
(http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi1.jpg)
Those are kinda popular in Finland as well...can easily drive through 5 within a mile. But not through 5 in one place s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Count again Tem, there are 6!
Quote from: "victor"Count again Tem, there are 6!
s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
I lost count after the first three s:oops: :oops: s:oops:
Quote from: "Tem"(http://www.swindonweb.com/life/magicsign.jpg)
Whoever named that one definitely had a sense of humour! It looks so straightforward from the air, but just try driving over it at ground level.. argh s:) :) s:) I'm sure the only reason I came off at remotely the right place was because I had satnav! s:) :) s:)
Some roundabouts over here are fun, but most of them just serve to cause giant tailbacks - heck, 90% of them, these days, are about 6ft in diameter anyway s:( :( s:( Stupid road planners..
Quote from: "aaronjb"Some roundabouts over here are fun, but most of them just serve to cause giant tailbacks
Round my way they keep replacing roundabouts with cross roads with traffic lights... even longer tailbacks, and not as much fun to drive round!!
Germans being what they are, there are huge arguments over here at the moment about if roundabouts should be built so you can see across them or not. The tendancy is to make them so you cant see over....
But then again, your not allowed to indicate as you approach them either s:roll: :roll: s:roll: You can only indicate on exit, which most people dont do anyhow, so the traffic queues for ages as people havent got a clue where others are going.
s:? :? s:?
Quote from: "aaronjb"It looks so straightforward from the air, but just try driving over it at ground level.. argh s:) :) s:)
Hey at least you're used to driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting in the wrong side of the car...imagine someone used to LHD cars&traffic coming up to that s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Quote from: "victor"But then again, your not allowed to indicate as you approach them either s:roll: :roll: s:roll: You can only indicate on exit, which most people dont do anyhow, so the traffic queues for ages as people havent got a clue where others are going. s:? :? s:?
It's the same over here...there's really no reason to indicate when you're going in, as you can only turn in one way, right?
There's no time to indicate where you exit when you're going 40-50mph through one anyway s:D :D s:D
Quote from: "victor"Germans being what they are, there are huge arguments over here at the moment about if roundabouts should be built so you can see across them or not. The tendancy is to make them so you cant see over....
Over here roundabouts work much better when you can't see the traffic coming in from other directions - when people
can see who's coming they seem to totally forget who has right of way and everyone just ends up parked, waiting for someone else to move first.. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
The standards of driving over here suck, generally speaking.. Germany used to be (when I was over there - that is a long time ago, afterall) much better, Holland was too (I was over there much more recently, a few years ago I used to go twice a year, every year - much fun).
Bah, England sucks (having a bad night, plagued by kids trying to get money for 'the Guy' every damn night!)
Quote from: "Tem"Hey at least you're used to driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting in the wrong side of the car...imagine someone used to LHD cars&traffic coming up to that s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Just making it around would be quite impressive I reckon s:D :D s:D
Definitely the most confusing and down right frightening junction I've had to navigate - I'm confident of my own driving standards, it's just everyone elses that I was worried about s:D :D s:D
Quote from: "aaronjb"I'm confident of my own driving standards, it's just everyone elses that I was worried about s:D :D s:D
Isn't that the truth - there's a roundabout near me that I get cut up on everytime i use it. It even has lines painted round it to show where you should drive and yet some people still manage to use all 3 lanes to go straight ahead s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
If you want rounabouts come to Milton Keynes for the weekend s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Milton Keynes should be renamed to roundabout city as there are so many of them!! On a recent trip to florida, i didn't see a single roundabout, but mind you, we didn't venture any futher than orlando! s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
Looking at that pic, it seems to suggest that you could approach from cirencester, do a right then left and another right to effectively go round the wrong way! s8) 8) s8)
Quote from: "Chris"do a right then left and another right to effectively go round the wrong way! s8) 8) s8)
Yeah, you do go the wrong way round the middle one.
Every time I go to the States I long to get back home just to drive round a rounabout ... and that was before I got the 2 !!!!
But when I get home I wish I was back on the Freeway where anything seems to go for overtaking.
I can only dream of taking my new MR2 around a roundabout. I haven't seen one in Years. It's only recently that we got traffic lights!
Nathan
Corfu, Greece
Quote from: "aaronjb"The standards of driving over here suck, generally speaking..
s:lol: :lol: s:lol: the grass is always greener.......
i get a kick out of watching television documentaries that include a great deal of footage from uk traffic officers (believe it or not, there are quite a few of these shows)
overtaking on the inside (undertaking?) is treated as a major offence.....here, though similar laws exist, there is absolutely no enforcement......i have never tackled uk roads but i've greatly enjoyed driving through most of europe, lane discipline simply doesn't exist here.........i once had a police officer on a motorcycle give me several obscene gestures for driving slowly in the left lane in budapest.... s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
kev
undertaking is a no no here, but you're right little enforcement.... probably because they've not yet come up with a camera that can catch people doing it.
Quote from: "Tem"Hey at least you're used to driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting in the wrong side of the car...imagine someone used to LHD cars&traffic coming up to that s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
It's not so bad. When I was stationed over there, shifting with my left hand was a bit "interesting" at first, but the roads are built in such a way that you almost automatically get to the "correct" side. I remember coming home on leave, getting in a rental car at the airport and taking off. About 5 minutes down the road, I realized that I had automatically switched to the "right" side of the road without even thinking about it!
I LOVE roundabouts!
Of course the Europeans have taken all the fun out of roundabouts. The main difference between a UK one and a Central European one, is not just that you go around them the other way! NO, as you enter one, you have right of way - those going round, have to give way to those coming on! Sounds strange? It is, it does work though as everyone is used to the setup, but it does take the fun out of just wizzing around a large roundabout for a few laps.
Nathan
Quote from: "Agni"NO, as you enter one, you have right of way - those going round, have to give way to those coming on!
Sounds weird...I thought the whole idea of roundabouts is to make the junction flow. Now if everyone has the right to get in there, but no one can get out, that sounds like a mess s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Over here the cars in the roundabout are the kings, the ones going in have to give way...
Ah, but in the UK they've started ruining them by putting traffic lights round the roundabout itself, meaning you can't just whizz round it. Bit of a git trying to move from lane to lane in rush hour too.
Quote from: "victor"Germans being what they are, there are huge arguments over here at the moment about if roundabouts should be built so you can see across them or not. The tendancy is to make them so you cant see over....
But then again, your not allowed to indicate as you approach them either s:roll: :roll: s:roll: You can only indicate on exit, which most people dont do anyhow, so the traffic queues for ages as people havent got a clue where others are going.
s:? :? s:?
We have exactly the same problem here in Switzerland. I found out the reason was to prevent the risk from drivers going round the roundabout the WRONG WAY s:lol: :lol: s:lol: (You have to remember that 99% of the people here have never learned how to use roundabouts properly.)
I actually live close to the very first roundabout ever built here (in Geneva). However, for 25 years it was the traffic on the roundabout that had to give way to the cars entering it!!! CRAZY! This is because they used to use the old French system of having to give way to traffic coming from your right (=left in the UK).
Eventually, in a few years, they will standardise (as the French already have) to the "normal" system (as in the UK where you treat roundabouts in terms of signaling just like a junction.)
The scariest thing I ever saw were the junctions in Germany (just signaled with a cross in a triangular sign). People used to "miss" them and race through --- like a game of Russian Roulette driving through them.
Quote from: "kulprit"i get a kick out of watching television documentaries that include a great deal of footage from uk traffic officers (believe it or not, there are quite a few of these shows)
overtaking on the inside (undertaking?) is treated as a major offence.....here, though similar laws exist, there is absolutely no enforcement......i have never tackled uk roads but i've greatly enjoyed driving through most of europe, lane discipline simply doesn't exist here.........i once had a police officer on a motorcycle give me several obscene gestures for driving slowly in the left lane in budapest.... s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
kev
Just back from a trip to LA and I now realise how much better the system is over there! Traffic is a lot more fluid when you are not limited to overtaking/passing on one side only. In Europe, you inevitably get everyone stacked in the "fast" lane stuck behind some idiot who should be in one of the slower lanes (if not in a bus or train!)
I reckon this system should be adopted in dense "urban areas" in Europe.
The other really cool thing is the "car pool lane". Considering that 9 cars out of 10 have only one person it them, giving priority to people who share "pool" their car is great. Since I was there with my wife, we could drive down the car pool lane at 80mph while every one was stuck bumper to bumper s:D :D s:D
And then there is passing on the right... usually illegal, but people do it anyway. Some people will even pull over in the ditch and go around you if they don't think you are driving fast enough (e.g., obeying posted speed limit). I don't do either of these (pass in ditch or obey speed limit (much)).
My pet peeve is when I pull up to a stop sign, intending to turn left (blinker on), and the traffic is very heavy both ways. Somebody will pull over on the shoulder on my right (to turn right) and block my view to the right. This means that I can't even think about turning left until he turns right. Some people think this is OK, but it isn't. If I can see that it is clear to the right I can pull out and get across the road into the empty lane faster than the other car (almost always a guy in an SUV or truck) can pull out, turn right, and get up enough speed to avoid being rear-ended. The a-hole effectively cut in line in front of me. More than once I have thought of getting something that would squirt something nasty (make a mess but do no permanent damage) out the right side of my car. Better yet, just as he is turning right, push a button that launches a little arrow with a suction cup at the tip, unfurling a little flag that says,
ASSHOLE
ON BOARD
s:evil: :evil: s:evil:
This happens to me almost every day in the same spot.
Using the ditch to pass doesn't work.
(http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/m/bmerton/Photos/SpyderCrackedUp.JPG)
Not passing a dog, anyway. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Quote from: "phat"The scariest thing I ever saw were the junctions in Germany (just signaled with a cross in a triangular sign). People used to "miss" them and race through --- like a game of Russian Roulette driving through them.
Talking about Russia and scary...they have this weird system with traffic lights, that you have a green for turning right at a same time when the crossing road has green for straight s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Over here (and everywhere else I know of) green means you're free to go, but apparently they use green for something else s:? :? s:?
Quote from: "bmerton"Using the ditch to pass doesn't work.
You should've hit the dog! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: