Too Many Drive Like You-know-what.

[timelord]

Here's a road junction layout that is peculiar to Melbourne, VIC, Australia...





You're driving down a multi-lane city street (remember, Aussies drive on the left like the British); you want to turn right at the next junction:

Do you keep to the right hand lane and turn when safe to do so?
Do you move into a left hand lane which is exclusively for traffic turning right and wait for the lights to change?

 

[jaytex1969]

 

[scloyd]

A nearby town had a five way intersection with five stop signs. It was always a cluster f*ck because half of the drivers didn't know when it was there turn. Last year they put in a roundabout and traffic flows beautifully. It took awhile for people to figure it out though. Now, no problems.

In some instances, a roundabout is a better solution.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I think this may just be Alabama, but it also drives me nuts when someone passes me, and then gets in front of me in my lane, and then slows down. It makes using cruise control impossible, because it happens all day long on the interstates.

Nope, this is a favorite for motorists in Tennessee as well. It's irritating. Like you said, might as well forget trying to use the cruise control.

 

[lraisch]

I think this may just be Alabama, but it also drives me nuts when someone passes me, and then gets in front of me in my lane, and then slows down. It makes using cruise control impossible, because it happens all day long on the interstates.

Not unique to Alabama. That's why dynamic cruise control is a better system.

 

[lraisch]

You've never experienced a roundabout unless you've been to Swindon in Wiltshire. There, they have a roundabout surrounded by five more roundabouts .

"...its name comes from the popular children's television series The Magic Roundabout. In 2009, it was voted the fourth-scariest junction in Britain".

View attachment 246912
The one and only time I happened upon this I just rode right over it!

Regards,

Jay.

Perhaps not as ludicrous as this, but a nearby county road just had a single traffic light replaced with 4 roundabouts within the space of a quarter mile. Counting multiple lanes and feeder roads, someone calculated there are 60 possible ways traffic could be driving through.

In the two months since this was installed, there have been twice as many accidents as in the previous year.

 

[scloyd]

Another thing that's irritating is when driving on a four line highway and two cars are driving side by side at or below the speed limit, controlling everyone else's speed.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

Another thing that's irritating is when driving on a four line highway and two cars are driving side by side at or below the speed limit, controlling everyone else's speed.

Another favorite of motorists here in Tennessee.

 

[ssjones]

Mythbusters had an episode a few years back where they did a controlled comparison between a standard US four-way stop junction and a roundabout. They were very surprised to find that the roundabout was more efficient...

A four-way "STOP" versus a roundabout, I can see yes. A roundabout vs traffic light,not so much.

 

[sardonicus87]

A four-way "STOP" versus a roundabout, I can see yes. A roundabout vs traffic light,not so much.

It's been proved by MANY studies to be more efficient and safer than traffic signals when properly constructed and properly used in most situations. The only disadvantage is they take a lot more room (and people are stupid).

Traffic lights can be more efficient in select circumstances, but roundabouts will be more efficient in most.

 

[ssjones]

It's been proved by MANY studies to be more efficient and safer than traffic signals when properly constructed and properly used in most situations. The only disadvantage is they take a lot more room (and people are stupid).

Traffic lights can be more efficient in select circumstances, but roundabouts will be more efficient in most.

I get it, but roundabouts depend on the ability of drivers to yield. Not a strong suit by my experience, in my rural areas of travel. I think the efficiency decreases and danger increases for roundabouts on higher speed roads, which are primarily the ones I encounter.

The roundabouts I had to use in metro NJ/NYC were pretty frightening to navigate. I'll take the traditional Jug-handle left turns NJ seems to favor any day.

 

[bullet08]

It's been proved by MANY studies to be more efficient and safer than traffic signals when properly constructed and properly used in most situations. The only disadvantage is they take a lot more room (and people are stupid).

Traffic lights can be more efficient in select circumstances, but roundabouts will be more efficient in most.

We give too much credit to people. And those engineers think one solution fits all.

 

[AJL67]

Oh the answer is shit, is the answer shit? Do i win a major prize, something fra-geel-ay ?

 

[trouttimes]

Hey, if I want to drive slow I can. I’m retired and my tax money paid for this road. Bugger off!

 

[jpmcwjr]

A four-way "STOP" versus a roundabout, I can see yes. A roundabout vs traffic light,not so much.

Roundabout wins unless it's commute time or heavy traffic due to any number of causes.

 

[captainsousie]

Hey, if I want to drive slow I can. I’m retired and my tax money paid for this road. Bugger off!

Reminds me of my grandfather. He used to drive down the middle of the road and say "I pay taxes on both sides of the road so I can damn well use whichever lanes I want!"

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hey, if I want to drive slow I can. I’m retired and my tax money paid for this road. Bugger off!

You are joking, aren't you?

It's illegal in many states, dangerous, and ill mannered.

I am sure you said that in jest.

 

[brian64]

 

[obc83]

I wholeheartedly believe that everyone should be required to drive a stick-shift for their first year of having a license. If not much longer. I'd like to see automatic transmissions under a special license for the handicapped and infirm. I think that most people are doing something much more akin to riding their car than actually driving it, and automatics facilitate this level of incompetence to the point that very likely a a large portion of people are not actually in any real control over their machine. I've spent half my adult life driving back and forth across the country chasing work so I feel like I have a fairly developed perspective on American driving habits and most people look like their just along for the ride, cruisin' in drive, and putting all their trust, and everyone else's lives in the rusting hydraulic system we call brakes.

 

[Pipingntrucking]

I wholeheartedly believe that everyone should be required to drive a stick-shift for their first year of having a license. If not much longer. I'd like to see automatic transmissions under a special license for the handicapped and infirm. I think that most people are doing something much more akin to riding their car than actually driving it, and automatics facilitate this level of incompetence to the point that very likely a a large portion of people are not actually in any real control over their machine. I've spent half my adult life driving back and forth across the country chasing work so I feel like I have a fairly developed perspective on American driving habits and most people look like their just along for the ride, cruisin' in drive, and putting all their trust, and everyone else's lives in the rusting hydraulic system we call brakes.

Make standard.....standard. Here is the states people don't remember that it was called a standard because thats what the vehicle came with. Automatics had to be ordered.