The difference is that traffic flows very differently in the UK to the US. In fact, the way traffic flows in those two countries captures a lot of their cultural differences. In the US, everything needs a grand overarching theory and imposed order, which is why Americans need traffic lights, and why they’re so keen on a very specific set of liberties that allow them to freely live such similar lifestyles. The UK embraces mild chaos and ruthless pragmatism, with everyone finding locally optimal solutions to their own problems, so things like roundabouts fit well with the national mindset.
In comparison, UK roundabouts are civilised examples of harmonious intellectual etiquette. Enjoy them.
[source] I learned to drive in Swindon, home of the Magic Roundabout.
I don't want to celebrate UK roads too much. The majority of roundabout users in the UK are not indicating properly. Too many people are stopping at them when they have priority. Lanes are just a suggestion and using the correct lane is an invitation for someone to drive into the left of you.
In other areas: enough people don't know how to use a slip road that it becomes a problem to those who do. Likewise the flashing ambers of a pelican crossing. Lane discipline is much worse than on the continent, to the point you can see it creating traffic jams. Lots of people are driving big cars without the confidence needed to remain in their own lane.
There are millions of drivers who've never passed a theory test. We could do with more ruthlessness.
Still, all across the world the average driver seems to below what I imagined the average driver to be, before I started driving myself.
Because the US largely "grew up with cars", the economy was built around the expectation that folks can drive to work. The population density of the US reflects this, and mass transit just doesn't work in small/middle America. That means everyone needs to be able to drive. If you can't drive, you can't work. That isn't the case in the UK, and you'll notice a lot of these "driver beware" analysis is explained by the fact that driving in the UK is seen as a privilege whereas it is a right in the US. This sort of "mild chaos" is prohibitive for a lot of would-be UK drivers, and they just take the bus.
Do you have any data on this? Everything I've ever read about them points to exactly the opposite conclusion. They actually reduce accidents and by a significant margin.
My only guess would be that you are referring to the US, where people are not used to roundabouts and yielding without a STOP sign.
You know that's like, the entire point of roundabouts: force traffic to slow down.
Slowing/calming traffic like this is a good thing. Make it impossible to speed. Enforce the existing 35mph speed limit via concrete rather than allowing cars to rip through a yellow light at 70mph. You're also ignoring this aspect when you call roundabouts "(mostly) worse for cyclists and pedestrians".
Why? This feels like it's assuming pedestrians share the street with vehicles, but besides the US and some other places, don't most "modern" countries have separate pavements/streets for pedestrians? Besides in the country-side, vehicles and pedestrians don't generally share the road in populated areas here in Spain. For crossing roads outside cities, building a pedestrian tunnel below or a bridge above seems to preferred here, except in the cases where it isn't possible, and in cities obviously.
For cyclists, this is mostly true IMO (depending on implementation), but for pedestrians roudabouts are way better than traffic lights. In the absence of lights, pedestrians have right of way on crossing, so no waiting time, and physically slowed traffic make it safer.
another con: If only one of the exits gets backed up, it clogs the traffic circle and causes every connecting road to back up.
- when there is too much traffic: if there is a constant stream of cars in the roundabout so you have to wait for a long time before being able to enter it, or force your way in (risking a fender bender), that's
- when you actually want traffic to flow. My small city has built a bypass road which is however IMHO completely botched: it starts with a roundabout, and the first exit leads to the route going through the center, only the second one goes to the bypass, so people are more likely to drive through the town. And it has three more roundabouts along the route, further making the option unattractive (in addition to a relatively low speed limit of 60 km/h and several tight curves).
I think it's fine with lots of traffic in a roundabout, but it has to be somewhat balanced.
For example, we have a roundabout that sits on a relatively popular road, with one exit/entry that leads to a bigger highway. During rush hour, there is heavy traffic, from from/to every one of the three points, so traffic naturally divides, as cars turn off.
However, when there is no rush hour, the highway exit/entry isn't used, so cars mostly just pass through the roundabout, and everything still works, as the two entries/exits are still balanced.
Issues would arise if it's only one entry/exit being used, as then it'd always block the two other entries from being used properly, but seems that never happens, so seems to me it's proper and works well, regardless of the traffic being heavy.
Nothing worse to have upstream of where you are trying to enter a road, or cross it, than a busy four way stop, with cars coming out of it at regular intervals, without sufficient time/space in between.
On my current gearbox, I can dip to around 30 km/h and gently accelerate while staying in 4th gear, which I'd be in up to around 50 km/h. So if I hit an uncontended larger roundabout that takes me 50-30-50, I don't have to do anything, transmission-wise.
Manual driving culture is probably one reason roundabouts have been popular in Europe long before North America started to warm up to them.
Especially nice for us who plan our car trips based on when there will be the least public traffic out there, as roundabouts don't force you to stop when there is no traffic, and you can essentially keep the same speed with these large roundabouts.
You can draw a circle on the road and have “roundabout rules” without the need for any car to even turn their wheels.
You could keep the same space I guess by pinching the roads tighter near the entries/exits but I don't think anyone is talking about that.
This point is so under-appreciated. Roundabouts are really good in some cases, but they're over-utilized in England. Imagine if the US had roundabouts on the interstate and you're getting close.
For example I was going to point out that roundabout completely fail when one direction becomes nose to tail congested but when I thought about local examples, I'd rather take that over a set of traffic lights where it becomes near impossible to get out from one direction if the traffic keeps backing up onto the junction.
I think Jevons paradox basically guarantees this in both countries. The difference between the two countries (in my theory) is how much responsibility they're willing to place on the drivers. The UK requires much more driver effort for good reasons I suggest in another thread.
https://www.carmel.in.gov/government/departments-services/en...
a city frequently ranked in the top 10 places in the US, also frequently ranked as one of the best cities in the US for cyclists.
They have their downsides, but "It doesn't work in America" is more informative of American motorists than roundabouts
The one thing people should ponder is this: Germany has less than 3x the number of road deaths (no matter how you count it: per 100 K people, per kilometer, etc.) than the US. And yet every time I'm in Germany I happily drive at 125 mph on the highway (including when I drive to Poland, where most autobahns near Dresde have no speed limit at all whatsoever). And at 125 mph, I'll get overtaken by some cars going proper fast.
So, what, 65 to 70 mph max speed limit vs unlimited speed and three times the deaths: what's the problem?
Note that I'm certainly not advocating for US (or France for that matter) highways without speed limits: drivers are way too bad.
There is one more downside, they are easy to get lost in, especially in an unfamiliar area. Apple Maps does an OK job guiding me most of the time, but just yesterday I spent an extra 25 minutes going through the same roundabout 3 times before I went the right direction, and each time I had to drive the wrong way, turn around, and then negotiate the same roundabout again.