(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

OT...So, in your area...

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
...do you have "roundabouts"? It is getting so we don't have intersections around here anymore. They put these fool things everywhere. Two times in the past week I have been coming home from working out to the farm and come across some ninny sitting at a dead stop INSIDE the roundabout, letting cars enter from outside and go ahead of him. Two times, different cars but the exact same spot in the same roundabout. You honk your horn and they act like YOU are the idgit.
 
yup, we are getting a few of them here in the ND oilfields, gets interesting when 2 or 3 oil tankers get there at the same time, also some of the blue haired little old ladies are kind of confused by them.
 
Ya getting to the point they seem we should drive like they do on the other side of the pond. Guess there trying to get us ready for world power not as it sits today. I hated them when O was over seas and hate to see them coming in since they are a pain in the you know what
 
They're claiming that they're safer than normal
intersections. Got one that's so small you can't get around it with a 16' trailer....another one has 8 roads coming into it, that one's fun...(google "Tallmadge circle in Ohio")
 
We have a few nearby home in GA. I love them. They keep the traffic moving better than any traffic lights and 4-way stops. The only problem is that they're too small to the point of being ridiculous. I pity the tractor trailer guys who come across our roundabouts. If they were made twice the diameter, they'd be a lot better.

They're confusing at first and take some getting used to.

Have you ever driven through one of these? They actually work well.
Diverging Diamond Interchange
 
They're starting to put them in here. Not really wild about them. But, I guess one won't get T-boned at 60 mph.
 
It just takes the locals a little while to figure them out, the Europeans have always had them. I like them because there is zero chance of some idiot running the light at 70.
 
I think they're great. You can't blame the traffic circles for the idiot drivers who can't understand them (or more likely refuse to try). These are the same nincompoops who drive in the left-hand lane 5 mph below the speed limit talking on their cell phones.

Nothing infuriates me more than sitting at a traffic light when there's no traffic within half a mile. And stop signs are notoriously dangerous. I say put in more circles.
 
I think maybe that is what they have been doing here with the freeway overpasses. Big push the past several years to redo all the bridges. A couple of them east of here on I-96 could be like the one in the picture. Not as bad when you are in it as it looks from the air!
 
Good way to move traffic efficiently ,
Pedestrian crossing light at the roundabout does cause forward progress to stop tho.
 
Don't bet the farm on that. There is one a mile from my home where the north/south traffic seems to think they have some kind of special right of way. I have seen folks go thru it many times at high speed without even looking around. It's a pretty scary sight when there is other traffic. Be careful.
 
I was somewhat accustomed to those while living in Massachusetts while in the Army but at my age now I must admit they confuse me. The brain has to receive and then process any message so it is a learning experience for anyone not familiar with them. Heck, I can pull a distributor or magneto off any IH tractor and reinstall it no problem but not every one can do that either. Why, my brain has processed it several times.
 
South Bend In. put some in and then found out the Fire
dept. ladder trucks wouldn't fit. OOPS!
A Friend of ours worked in a furniture store in Valparaiso In. that was by a bad intersection.
They would watch the accidents on a daily basis.
When the roundabout opened up She said it was like watching the Keystone Cops.
But after awhile it got better and a lot fewer accidents.

Steve A W

.
 
I had to drive a truck through one several times a day for two weeks in Idaho Falls. Some of you might know where it is. It's pretty easy to squeeze a car on your left if you are going straight through it and a car intending to go left is on your inside. The truck going straight through has to get into the right turning lane so the trailer doesn't climb up on the inside curb. This farm boy here had to get used to not getting upset when some teenage girl gives the one finger salute and is mouthing the f word.

I think there is one by Owatonna MN if I remember right. I went around it in the car in the darkness of night and Marilyn freaked out because she had never seen one. It's good she wasn't driving because she was totally lost in the dark.
 
Well stop on by...I will take you on a tour. We have doubles and triples galore. Makes for some really interesting driving because the folks between the RA's in the multi RA configuration are never sure if they are actually IN the RA and have the right of way or between RA's and have to yield to folks in the circles. But that is advanced RA science. I am still trying to figure out why two idgits would stop at the exact same spot in the same roundabout two days running.
 
I know of one by a new school and to a 50+ year old its about as goofy as you can get. I use to go that way but now I go out of the way to avoid it. Its a tight circle and getting a truck and trailer around it is tough thing to do without the added traffic and confusion. I don't like the new fangled things, I guess I'm old fashioned. Bandit
 
Western NC only has a few roundabouts. But they are working on a new Double Diverging Diamond intersection for the interstate at the airport. They say it will work SOOOOo much better. REALLY???
Only places that roundabouts are put in are in the "uppity" areas.
 
I go through atleast 1 to get to my parents farm, and 3 to get to work. They really don't bother me much in most cases. They put one just down the road from the farm and to be honest, it have me a fair chance to get going and not worry about being run siren by a semi or dump truck any more.

My parents live on a very busy highway, and some of the fields are up the road, meaning we have to make a left turn to get into the busy road with loaded wagons. To add to it there used to be a concrete bunker silo on the corner, and it was on a curve so you really couldn't see around it very well at all. There were severe accidents almost weekly there, and many lives lost because of it.

Now, I don't have to worry about what's coming at me at 65mph from the left, only what's coming at me at 15-20 from the right.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
We have a double diamond here in St.Cloud, MN. Though it seems irrational, it really works very well and because it is light controlled, idiots can use it. Really is a good thing. Roundabouts are OK if they reside at a intersection with traffic frm all directions about equal. Much learning needs to take place. As in driver instruction. They as need to be capable of handling at least an 18 wheeler local delivery. Jim
 
The only one locally is in the center of Angola Indiana. I have always liked it for getting thru an intersection. Works slick as long as the drivers understand what the sigh that says (YEALD) means. To some it means, what the heck is this all about? So they stop until they can see all the cars have disappeared except the line honking behind them. :)^D Then you have the locals that spot the out of state front plate, time to play chicken, and start to pull out in front of you to see if you check your brakes. If you touch your brakes they are gone.
 
Dave,
yeah, they're putting in everywhere here in Michigan. I've seen several accidents at the first one in the area (M53/Van Dyke/18 mile rd). They recently put TWO within a 1/4 mile of each other right in front of THREE schools! Between the school buses, new drivers and rush hour traffic, it's crazy. When you want to turn left at the 2nd one, you have to be in the right lane at the first one to go straight thru it, then switch lanes immediately for the 2nd one. The school buses go left at the 2nd one, so there is usually a line at 7:00 AM. Lots of honking horns and near misses.
 
Once upon a time, many towns built the court house in a central location and several roads converged into one big circle around the courthouse. A small town near here recently installed two "roundabouts", one near a school and one near a shopping center, but the people can't seem to understand the concept. As someone mentioned, people will stop in the circle part, others will not yield, etc. I wonder if it would help to build a miniature court house in the center? ...........Nah, probably not.
 
Minnesota built its first Diverging Diamond Interchange between Rochester and Pine Island. It was a good one to practice on because there were no roads connected to it for the first year.

Pine Island also got a 6 way roundabout this year. I would say they did a good job of designing it. It is single lane but there is a concrete skirt around the middle that is as wide as another lane. It only has a slight bevel on the curb so it is easy for trailers to run there while semis are going through.
 
Starting to see a few, its hard for people that is not used to them. Seems like they ought to be bigger but guess people would use them as a race track.!!!! Seems like where more than 4 roads come together they are somewhat of the better.
 
Iowa is installing them in the DUMBEST places in the world only to be topped by Wisconsin.

Two of the worst one are north of Baraboo, WI. Route 12 is a four lane road. They built an overpass exchange for 35 to access 12. Rather than put stop signs at the top of the rams they put traffic circles. One on each side of the four lane overpass. The best part is there almost never any traffic there. Even with stop signs you rarely had to wait for cross traffic. They are too small of a circle. In a SEMI you have to hug the outside curb and still run over the center curb. When we where hauling feed there twice each week we had several outside tires ruined from them trying to carry the entire load while on top of the curb.

They also installed one just south of Dodgeville on a small cross street where it crosses the main access road. There used to be a truck stop that you accessed off the small side road. The circle was so small that you could not make the 75% circle to left turn into the smaller side road to get to the truck stop. The owner told me his business dropped off over 50% after that circle was put it.

I think they have there place in some high traffic areas but out in the middle of the country they are just plain STUPID!!!
 
They remind me too much of being overseas, like nearly all American expatriates I came back to the USA after my 5 year assignment. Don't care if I ever see another roundabout.
 
The roudabout fairy was going wild when we lived in Wisconsin, the darn things were showing up at the rate of several a year. The town board where I lived was in an all out war with the State when they (the state) decided to put one in as part of the US 41 bypass around Peshtigo. They work well except for the idiots who can't understand them and unfortunately in today's kinder and gentler society we don't pull the drivers licenses of folks who can't adjust. Heck I meet the same lady twice going down the US 41 exit ramp from main street in DePere, guess she had been making a left at that intersection for 50 plus years and never saw any reason to change. So far none in Iowa, but we live in a county with one stop and go light and most of the intersections here in town don't have any signs, you gotta figure it out when you get there.
 
Grand forks put a couple of them in this summer, my guess is they are going to be a pain in the a$$ when it comes to clearing snow out of them, and i can just see them drifting in and cars getting stuck in them.

So far haven't heard of anyone rein acting European vacation in them yet, "hey kids look it's Big Ben, And the parliament"
 
Not in my area yet. When take 169 in Kansas they seen to be outside every town. Good thing have low curbs or lots of trailer tires would get busted.
 
We're getting quite a few of them around here now. The problem is not the round-a-bout... it's the ninny's and idgits that don't know how to navigate them. They're the same people that don't understand the concept of 4 way stops and merge lanes on ramps.
I can't wait until they build the 2 lane round-a-bout here that merges a 4 way intersection of a 6 lane boulevard onto a 4 lane divided highway. That's gonna be FUN...

Rod
 
I grew up not far from Angola,In, got accustom to that 'circle' and the one in Marshall, Mi.
While in USAF, Spent 3 yrs in Ma. (CapeCod).
Many roundabouts out there, also P turns and jug handles.
 
(quoted from post at 17:00:57 11/30/14) Ya getting to the point they seem we should drive like they do on the other side of the pond. Guess there trying to get us ready for world power not as it sits today. I hated them when O was over seas and hate to see them coming in since they are a pain in the you know what
Click to expand...

Overseas the cars are smaller and the trucks are able to navigate tighter circles than here in the US.
 
We have a few up this way also. I hate them with a passion. You get someone coming into one at 40 MPH you had better be out of the way. When I was in Germany in the early 70's there was one in Kaiserslautern that had 4 lanes in it and if you got stuck in the center lane you could only go around many times until you could get out. The germans would use them bumper to bumper in rush hour trafice
 
If you think people stopping on round about is stupid. You may be interested to know that in Washington DC they have stop lights on their round abouts.

I personally don't like them. The are not easy to remove snow from and some of them are so small I have to take a different route with my 41 foot 5th wheel camper.
 
All over here in southern mn.

Truckers love them, they never have to stop. Biggest vehicle gets the right of way, don't cha know?

Now they are putting in 2 lane circles next town over.

I haven't been there since.....

I'm sure its fine if everyone knew what they were doing, but with the general public, and no training.....

It appears they are just turning traffic loose into an egg beater and see what happens.

Was on one in the next town, a circle but it had turn out lanes and the regular turn corners, it still have no idea where I was supposed to go, just got off as I could and drove residential streets to find where I was going.

Paul
 
Dave,
They are all over the world and have been for years. Just now coming to the U.S. in any numbers. Might as well get use to them as they will handle traffic much faster than four way stop intersections as soon as the people get accustom to them. They are even programed into the navigational systems and tell you which exit to take. I think they are here to stay. What really gets confusing is in foreign countries where they drive on the left the traffic goes clockwise around the roundabout.
 
I hear they are putting a whopper in where 14 Mile Rd/Orchard Lake Rd/Northwestern Hwy come together. Ought to be a 3 ring circus for months to come! That is an area of high ethnic diversity and lots of money. On the right day it may qualify as WWIII.
 
I thought the whole idea was to get rid of the lights!? Seems ironically appropriate that DC would be the first to come full circle and make the whole business meaningless.
 
I think the DD in stc works very well, way better than the roundabouts in the area. Too many RAB are small, where my truck and 16 foot machine trailer are maxed out in the turn. Pity the semi drivers. People don"t understand that a RAB is the only time drivers on the left have right of way. And snow clearing is gonna be tough, no matter the size.
 
The first one built in Topeka, Ks they tore out and made it bigger. Now they are going up everywhere. If they make them big they work good. Getting so I like them until you are behind a goody two shoes. Don't like stoplights.
 
we have 2 about 20 minutes east of me that they built last summer. People are complaining already that they are to small. Tractor trailers rub both curbs going around them. Ive seen people out there measuring them and just sitting and watching trucks and cars going through them. I don't mind them but to many people don't know how they work.
 
Dave, i grew up in England and learned to drive there, roundabouts everywhere, most now with traffic lights on and off them... massive ones too, maybe a 1/2 acre or more in the middle, they work great until traffic volumes get so high that one road on and off doesn't let other traffic on, hence the traffic lights.

Once people are used to them they are keep traffic moving very well, there should be no need to stop in low traffic situations especially if visibility is good and you can see traffic approaching the roundabout...

on multi lane roundabouts the innermost lane is used for traffic turning left and the outer lanes for the traffic turning right or going straight ahead...

just hope they don't get carried away...
hmmm
 
We've started getting them in the hoity toity are.I could drive the double diamond thing but not sober!! lol I driven one in iowa, and cant remember the other area.Was confusing but by the time you try to read the signs and of course miss most of what the h*ll they were saying just do like everybody else and when you get to one just make it up as you go along. lol Kind of like everything else in life!! lmao The ones I've seen really didnt help traffic except when people took other ways to work to avoid them !! If God had wanted americans to drive roundabouts , He wouldnt have invented stoplights !!
 
They've started using them around my area. They put one, awhile back, on what used to be a straight road, with a light and a side road that feeds a housing development, and a strip shopping center with a grocery store in it. This one is actually two lane. If you plan to go straight down the road, you hit the one side from a loing straight stretch and all of a sudden there is a hard right, and then left turn to get through it in your lane. If you decide to make a left turn you switch to the inner lane and go around to the turn point. I hadn't been down that road in awhile, so found it the first time one night right after dark. I nearly had a wreck hitting it at 45 MPH and having to try to make that dogleg turn. Between crap like that happening to folks that aren't expecting a roundabout on a straight stretch of road, and the general idiots out there driving, it's about one of the most unsafe places I know of to drive.

All I've got to say is that they need to send every one of them, and the stupid engineers that decided we needed them, back to Europe....
 
Harrison, OH is planning a traffic circle as part of a realignment project. They say the unused ground in the middle and extra pavement and yield signs will be cheaper that 4 stop signs. Yeah, sure.
 
There is a spot in my home town where 5 roads intersected in a small area and that was the only practical way to control the flow of traffic. It has been there for a really long time. The sign now says roundabout. It used to be known as the traffic circle.
 
(quoted from post at 19:46:59 11/30/14) ...do you have "roundabouts"? It is getting so we don't have intersections around here anymore. They put these fool things everywhere. Two times in the past week I have been coming home from working out to the farm and come across some ninny sitting at a dead stop INSIDE the roundabout, letting cars enter from outside and go ahead of him. Two times, different cars but the exact same spot in the same roundabout. You honk your horn and they act like YOU are the idgit.
Click to expand...

If you want a round about that is large and old. Try the square in Goderich.
 
Puting a new one in on road I used to take to town. Will find a different way. Dangerous as all getout. The stop lights might make them safer. They say they slow down trafic when they enter but it is just the opposite, they speed up when get close. And unless you have very good side vision that I do not have those vehicals flying into your lane from the side scares the daylights out of me.
 
I hate those things. I just cringe at the thought of going to Clare or Ravenna because of those stupid things.
 
Without the center mound, speeding/inattentive semi truck drivers sometimes try to jump the curbs and drive straight through the center breaking signs, concrete and springs or axles in the process. It usually happens late at night.

A pit in the center would give much better visibility for everyone, but would also cause more injuries or worse to those still trying to drive through the centers.

Pedestrians have a tough time with the limited visibility when using the crosswalks at roundabouts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
No good deed............. RANT
2
Replies
24
Views
4K
OH - 961
O
R
West Bend IA pull Saturday 23rd
Replies
3
Views
877
ReedA
R
L
OT: Dealing With Tire-Kickers
2
Replies
30
Views
3K
scotc
S
N
Blood thirsty tools
2
Replies
31
Views
11K
BUTCH IN N.Y.
B
T
Hey Walt , Found this furnace in Ohio
Replies
3
Views
1K
John 37A
J
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top