Does America have round-abouts?

[Devil's Due]

I compare this to kids saying things like down with homework simply because it's too hard and challenging for them to understand.

Or an even better example, picture an old guy refusing to use a word processor because the type-writer suits him just fine.

I like how you rarely give us a real chance to defend our system of measuring, and the only pictures you can offer are ones of people who are obviously clueless. I could easily find some of idiots doing the same thing for the metric system. Give the full facts. And honestly? It's our country, and our way to measure. Seriously, quit all these hate posts. This thread is about round-abouts, not our measuring system. Make another thread for that.

As for the thread at hand, we have them, but most are uneducated at trying them since they're so rare. Though there are some all over, including in the West unlike one poster stated. When I was in driving school a bit back, we had to go through some a bit just to get the experience, or else we couldn't pass the school, to help increase the knowledge of all types of roadways possible for maximum training.

 

[Brian Hendershot]

We have a tiny one just outside of college. I live in Missouri.

 

[Twilight_guy]

There are round-abouts in the US In certain towns there quiet popular actually. I'm not sure why there aren't more of them except for maybe nobody liked them that much way back when and its just tradition to not have them now.

 

[sinsfire]

yes we have roundabouts but since we haven't figured out how to merge properly they haven't really caught on in a mainstream sort of way.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I've seen 'em around, so yeah we have them here. I've heard that the average American isn't to good on using them though. Confuses them or something. Which is a shame because I've also heard how useful they are when used correctly.

 

[Frotality]

very uncommon, but yes, we do have some. the problem is weve pretty much given up on teaching teenagers how to drive properly, so no one knows what to do when the come up to one (including me; but im in the west, so i dont have any), so no one is in a rush to make more of them; sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy; they make alot of sense if we were just willing to teach kids what the hell to do in them...

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Oh how I wish the U.S. had more of these. The only problem is that licenses are handed out like Halloween candies to any imbecile capable of opening a driver's side door. Between chains of rude people not yielding to those patiently waiting, and those who stop in the middle and basically want to cause a circular clusterf--- catastrophe, they can be difficult to employ. I personally advocate for them because from my experience, civil engineers plan out roads (at least where I live) to minimize productivity and make everyone stop, waste fuel and efficiency, and generally make people late for whatever they have to do by improper planning for intersections, alternate routes, and generally anything involving a traffic light. And of course, our damn speed limits traps.

 

[Jake the Snake]

They've become increasingly popular here in the US. Many Freeways use them, and neighborhoods and side streets are starting to use them as well. My neighborhood has one, and my high school, that was built last year, has 4 of them...yeah its a big high school.

 

[Deimateos]

Very few here on the west coast, and if you see one, you're usually in a richer neighborhood.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Roundabouts are a cheaper alternative (and arguably somewhat more efficient) *if* you have the space to build them if there is an absence of local architecture like pesky buildings in the way to just a set of lights.

I like them because I'm a motorcyclist and if it's particularly late or a reduced traffic load it allows you to have a nice, irregular curvature to the road that is far more intrinsically enjoyable than just a simple set of lights.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

We have one near where I live; it's called a "circle" (creative) and it has eight spokes and only one lane. They put it there because trying to make an eight-way intersection would have been a nightmare. (Then they went and made a five-way intersection not too far from there, which IS a nightmare.) I've never known anyone to have a problem with it, and it's more efficient than most normal four-way crossings.

...The guys who lay the railroad tracks?

No, you mean the other roundabouts. Gotcha.

You might be thinking of "roustabouts," there. I know, I went most of my life thinking the guys in Dumbo were singing "roundabouts" too.

...You mean to tell me people can't work out how to use them? They're not exactly difficult. You drive around them and turn off at your chosen exit.

Apparently there's some standard procedure as to which lane to use. Which makes no sense to me seeing how, as long as you go at a constant speed, there shouldn't need to be two lanes; just everyone driving around and getting off where they're supposed to, like you said.

 

[Jewrean]

I like how you rarely give us a real chance to defend our system of measuring, and the only pictures you can offer are ones of people who are obviously clueless. I could easily find some of idiots doing the same thing for the metric system. Give the full facts. And honestly? It's our country, and our way to measure. Seriously, quit all these hate posts. This thread is about round-abouts, not our measuring system. Make another thread for that.

It wasn't a hate-post. Read the previous post I made about the Metric system. By reading that you will see that I addressed those points already. Also, from the context of my post you will see that it was related from my perspective.

OT:

According to these articles there is a difference between a 'roundabout' and a 'turning circle':

http://www.drivers.com/article/334/
http://tris.trb.org/view.aspx?id=835979

 

[Ironman126]

Well, apparently they do exist in the US, but I have never seen one there. I suppose they must be just an east coast thing.

Nope. I live in Colorado and we have a fuck ton of them.

 

[godfist88]

yeah, infact there one just outside my neighbor hood.

 

[Death God]

Yeah, we have them. Not a whole lot of them but bigger cities have them. They aren't particularly easy but they help control traffic easier.

 

[TheMadTypist]

I can think of about five, all within six miles of my home in northern Ohio. Not exactly rare around here, but I hear tell that out west and down south they're less common.