Fuckin' roundabouts. How do they work?

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit) 12/20/2013 at 20:22 • Filed to: trafficlopnik

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From the WI DOT website:

Steps for driving a single lane roundabout:

1. Slow down. Obey traffic signs.

2. Yield to pedestrians and bicyclists.

3. Yield to traffic on your left

already in the roundabout.

4. Enter the roundabout when

there is a safe gap in traffic.

5. Keep your speed low

within the roundabout.

6. As you approach your exit,

turn on your right turn signal.

7. Yield to pedestrians and

bicycles as you exit.

About #6. No one does this. No one signals AT ALL that I have seen. Should people at least signal if they intend on changing direction, say, a driver is heading SOUTH and wants to continue EAST through the roundabout?

Does everyone agree with #6? When do YOU signal? What does YOUR state law say?

(disclaimer: people tend to plod thorough single lane roundabouts near my home, and never signal, and several times I've had to stop just so I can wait to see if that vehicle that just entered the roundabout opposite of me is going to continue to run parallel to me, or make a un-signaled turn across my bow)

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:25

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Paul, Man of Mustangs > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:26

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People should signal just before exiting, but I occasionally see people signal as if they were in a normal intersection. For instance, right blinker if they take the first exit, no blinker for second, and left blinker for third. But that doesn't really help people that don't care where you came from.

ttyymmnn > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:28

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Fuck it.

Paul, Man of Mustangs > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/20/2013 at 20:29

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How 'bout NO, YOU CRAZY DUTCH BASTARD!

cardcheat > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:33

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I always try to do it although it's more useful on the crowded multilane ones than the small single lane ones that I mostly run across. To be honest I'm not too fussed if people don't do it; it bothers me more when people suddenly decide that common sense be damned, traffic in the roundabout is going to yield to them .

Bad Idea Hat > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/20/2013 at 20:34

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That's kind of what I always envisioned a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book would look like if given manifestation in diagram form

Sn210 > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:37

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Edit: YES on 6. Signal when you leave so you don't get rear ended and so the guy waiting to enter the roundabout can get in.
The best thing to do is yield as you enter. A lady once drove into my fathers dump truck because she thought he had to yield. He was the one in the roundabout, or "rotary" as we call them around here. She drove into a dump truck.

bhardoin > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 20:48

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Do you signal take an offramp from the highway? Seems the same to me, so I signal.

E30Joe drives a Subaru > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/20/2013 at 20:52

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Nope

feather-throttle-not-hair > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 21:04

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Of course I fucking signal. Otherwise people waiting to get into the roundabout won't know to enter in front of you for fear of cutting you off.

Side note, most ppl around here have no idea how they work. People all the time think that people entering the roundabout somehow have right of way. Think about it people, how would that possibly work? Answer: it CANT. Morons.

wizkashifa > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 21:25

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One day I just want to drive round and round and round a roundabout. At least for a good ten minutes or ten rotations, whichever is most effective.

wizkashifa > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 21:25

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One day I just want to drive round and round and round a roundabout. At least for a good ten minutes or ten rotations, whichever is most effective.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 21:30

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http://www.virginiadot.org/info/resources…

VDOT even recommends using your left signal

XJDano > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 21:33

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MODOT just finished another diverging diamond intersection one exit down. Crossing over to left side is odd, but cuts one light out & smooth transition onto entrance ramp. I-70 at Mid Rivers Mall

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > wizkashifa 12/20/2013 at 21:38

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also leave your right turn indicator on.

ttyymmnn > wizkashifa 12/20/2013 at 22:24

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ttyymmnn > bhardoin 12/20/2013 at 22:25

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Always.

The Compromiser > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 23:45

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If you can find it, the Ontario ministry of transportation has a very good video series on the roundabout. Before it I had a decent idea and dreaded them but once I watched the videos it was a different ball game. Now I dread the other fucktards who don't know what they are doing ....

Manuél Ferrari > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 23:46

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I dunno the correct answer to your question. But one thing I do know:

I FUCKING LOVE ROUNDABOUTS!!!

They are the beat things in the world.

Seriously. Not kidding. I want to marry them. Nothing is more fun than round abouts late at night when nobody is around. They tempt your suspension to perform.

I wish I still lived in the AU

thebigbossyboss > Takuro Spirit 12/20/2013 at 23:59

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In my opinion signalling seems pointless for roundabouts. We had this one fucked up roundabout here where traffic in the circle yielded to traffic from outside the circle.

That was pretty fucked up. It had a lot of accidents.

thebigbossyboss > feather-throttle-not-hair 12/21/2013 at 00:00

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We actually had a roundabout like that here. No joke. It was fucked up.

feather-throttle-not-hair > thebigbossyboss 12/21/2013 at 04:47

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Lolwut?

It could potentially create a situation where a driver couldn't enter the roundabout because it was full of cars trying to yield to the driver entering the roundabout.

like some crazy nightmare perpetual motion machine that only works in reverse.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Takuro Spirit 12/21/2013 at 09:22

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Rotaries here in NE are awesome except when they put that outside right turn lane in.

McMike > Takuro Spirit 12/21/2013 at 09:33

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These always screw me up, too. Do I signal before compression or before intake?

Takuro Spirit > McMike 12/21/2013 at 09:36

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Doesn't matter. Your apexing seals are already blown. Traffic is just going to flow right out of there.

thebigbossyboss > feather-throttle-not-hair 12/21/2013 at 10:00

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It was really weird. On three entrances cars from the outside had to yield and on one entrance cars from the inside had to yield.

When pressed about this stupidity the city said that it wasn't a round about but a traffic circle. That clears it up....good god that was dumb.

thebigbossyboss > wizkashifa 12/21/2013 at 10:02

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Once, when I was 16, because I was clearly an idiot, I passed a car by going through the roundabout the wrong way. I don't condone this, it was clearly a stupid thing to do.

The Old Man from Scene 24 > Takuro Spirit 12/21/2013 at 12:25

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I grew up near Cherry Hill NJ in the '70s, I was never more than a five minute drive from a traffic circle at any time during my childhood. I used to drive around traffic circles at high speeds just to see if I could make my dates scream.

I moved to GA about 20 years ago, and there are a few traffic circles in sparsely populated areas. I enjoy watching my fellow GA motorists try to navigate them, it's like giving a Rubik's Cube to a chimp. :-D

feather-throttle-not-hair > thebigbossyboss 12/21/2013 at 14:06

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Oh man, nothing like being confronted with utter stupidity on a daily basis....

Much facepalm.

thebigbossyboss > feather-throttle-not-hair 12/21/2013 at 18:12

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such stupid.

Spasoje > Takuro Spirit 12/21/2013 at 19:11

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Agree with #6, and it's also what I do. Tons of people don't, though...

Once you're in the vicious circle, you can only signal your way out hehe

davedave1111 > Takuro Spirit 12/21/2013 at 19:18

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In England, it's different for proper roundabouts and mini-roundabouts. On a full-size one, the correct way to do it is to indicate right until you pass the exit before yours, then indicate left. At a mini-roundabout you treat it like a normal junction as far as signalling goes, so signal right for turning right, left for left, and so-on.

But all of that's subject to change, because the whole point is to clearly signal your intentions to other drivers. If you're changing lanes on a multi-lane roundabout, or something, all bets are off.

As for what I do, I prefer to time it right for a big gap in traffic so as not to need indicators - because it can be tricky to signal while oppoing.

The other day I forgot something and had to go back for it, so I had a legitimate reason to go all the way around this one while it was wet and empty:

http://goo.gl/maps/eYRps

Dual carriageway, so it's a 40 limit all the way around - I wasn't even speeding. You could tell when I was going to be turning off because that's the point where I stopped drifting...

MadisonSuicide > The Old Man from Scene 24 12/22/2013 at 10:12

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I find in atlanta my usual approach to them requires shouting, "don't stop, don't stop, don't stop, why did you stop!"
The new, very tiny one, at the entrance of east atlanta village is highly entertaining, especially before they "widened" it.
I wonder what the smallest traffic circle in the world is....cause I suspect it would be a contender....

Maxton86 > Takuro Spirit 12/22/2013 at 11:55

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Having driven many thousands of miles in the UK on business trips over the years, I found that roundabouts work really well as long as everyone knows the rules. I always signalled my intentions when exiting. Except for the one time I forgot. I was promptly "punted" off the roundabout by a Ford transit van behind me who didn't realize I was about to turn off. I did "exit", but backwards into the shrubbery. It was my fault, no doubt. Lesson learned.

Clown Shoe Pilot > Takuro Spirit 12/22/2013 at 12:01

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With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > ttyymmnn 12/23/2013 at 12:28

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Attentive drivers would have recognized that he did not use his turn signal and they would react accordingly.

aquila121 > Sn210 12/28/2013 at 17:21

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The roundabout in the center of my hometown used to have signage since forever that dictated 'yield to those entering'—god was that a nightmare. Every afternoon when the nearby high school let out, all the kids driving home would use that route, and it would just clog itself to hell. Then, about ten years ago, the city council got its head out of its ass, and changed to 'entering traffic must yield,' but everyone who'd lived there for 30 years or whatever had about a month where they didn't realize things changed.

I avoided that chunk of asphalt for about six months until all the kinks worked out.