Almost every speed limit is too low (2017)

Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by jessaustin on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @03:42PM (#19922987)

Accidents happen at intersections because many drivers are not good at making themselves aware of traffic approaching from multiple directions. At a roundabout drivers only need to look in one direction. They are strictly better than traffic lights for all drivers except those who are not experienced with roundabouts. Those drivers should familiarize themselves with roundabouts.

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by davidgay on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @04:04PM (#19923188)

Of course it's always possible to screw up a good thing: the intersection next to our house has been replaced by a roundabout with a 2-way stop sign. To make it worse, you can really only see the traffic coming from one of the other 2 directions when you are stopped.

Result (people not being familiar with roundabouts doesn't help): people stop in the middle of going around the roundabout, and/or get honked at by the people coming from the 2 directions without stop signs. I'm sure an accident is coming soon :(

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by graywh on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @04:19PM (#19923319)

this sounds like some traffic calming measures that were recently installed near me just last year

they are islands in the middle of the intersection, but not roundabouts, forcing cars to "swerve" to pass through

they haven't worked as intended and are being re-evaluated

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by mikepurvis on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @04:29PM (#19923431)

Roundabouts are better for car-car crashes: there are fewer of them and they tend to be less serious— rear-enders where there's lots of crumple protection instead of T-bones like a conventional intersection.

However, they're much, much worse for people walking and cycling.

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by jessaustin on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @04:49PM (#19923632)

I agree that roundabouts and sidewalks do not interact well. Cyclists should take the entire lane in a roundabout, because otherwise cars will not notice them. Pedestrians should be very careful.

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by Someone on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @05:17PM (#19923857)

Depends on the design. See https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/explaining-the...

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by mikepurvis on Thursday May 16, 2019 @09:50AM (#19929014)

There's definitely a design component there, but I do wonder how much of it is in culture and enforcement (which can change the culture over time).

For example, the roundabouts in my city (Kitchener ON) all have a sidewalk or multi-use trail crossing each vehicle entrance and exit, and without fail, every single crossing is marked with a paint ladder, stopping teeth, and a "Yield to Pedestrians" sign. I've also confirmed with city engineers and law enforcement that people walking are supposed to have right of way at these crossings— like, you're waiting to cross, and drivers see you and stop, and remain stopped until you're fully off the roadway.

But it's not like that at all. I have dozens of helmet cam videos of me walking my bike through these crossings and being buzzed by cars who don't see me at all, or don't see me until it's too late, or see me but don't think they need to stop for me. I send these videos (many with clearly visible license plate numbers) to the local media and contacts I have at regional police, and I get a collective shrug back.

I met with city engineers in the winter to ask whether they thought it was safe, and they said that yield compliance to roundabout crosswalks was 70-90%. They said this like it was a good thing. Literally one in ten cars doesn't stop for a person walking in a marked crosswalk, and that's somehow acceptable.

I'm not sure how to change a culture, but camping some cruisers there for a week and handing out a few hundred tickets for $1000 each [1] to non-yielding drivers sure would be a great start.

[1]: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/pedestrian-safety.sh...

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Re:Almost every speed limit is too low (2017) by pertymcpert on Friday May 17, 2019 @07:23PM (#19944525)

Lived in the UK most of my life, roundabouts and walking/cycling was never a problem more than crossroads. Don't know what you're on about.

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