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+--- Thread: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" (/showthread.php?tid=12546)
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - terracore - 10-17-2013
I lived in a town that had a serious bottleneck and the DOT proposed a roundabout to fix it. A stop light wasn't really an option because it would have required traffic to backup onto a bridge. The whole town was aflutter on what a big mistake the roundup was going to be. The "Letters to the editor" section of the newspaper was flooded with doomsday predictions of traffic accidents, backups, and serious end-of-the-world chaos. Video rental stores couldn't keep "National Lampoon's European Vacation" in stock as people wanted to queue up that scene where the Griswalds got onto a roundabout in London and went round and round in circles for hours. "Look! They are stuck forever on the roundabout!" Shouted one video viewer. "And they are driving on the wrong side of the road!" Shrieked another. One day I spotted a Prius with a "Roundabouts Kill" bumpersticker sandwiched between the "You can't hug your child with nuclear arms" and "Free Tibet" stickers.
The DOT tried to educate the public on roundabouts and released a public service announcement on the radio. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect that they were hoping for. Half the town criticized the message. The other half criticized them for hiring Dick Cheney to narrate it.
The nanny state ignored the public outcries and proceeded with the planned roundabout. People started stockpiling food, water, and ammunition. Churches were overflowing with confessing congregations on the Sunday before the grand opening of the roundabout. The eve before the grand opening, the DOT erected the new roundabout signage. Before the morning dawn broke, somebody had spray painted a swastika on it.
Then the day came when the roundabout opened. Some brave souls woke up two hours early to navigate the gridlock and congestion that they were sure they were going to face, but most families just retreated to their basements, held hands, and prayed. And waited. When they didn't hear the sounds of vehicles colliding and the screams of the wounded they bravely turned on their radios. Why were the radio stations featuring their normal programming? Why wasn't the emergency broadcast system activated? Why was the morning traffic report stating THERE WAS NO TRAFFIC DELAYS?!
Eventually, people came out of their basements. It took their eyes a moment to adjust to the daylight, but eventually through their squinting eyes they could see that instead of stopping traffic and mankind, the roundabout actually worked! The bottleneck was gone! Why did we spend so many years waiting waiting waiting at that intersection? Who were these mad scientists and engineers the DOT employed? We never got the answers to these questions but it was almost like... almost like.... almost like the roundabout had been used in other countries for decades successfully, and that America's sick fascination with the stoplights and expensive overpasses may not be the only solutions to the world's traffic problems.
The first time I approached the roundabout, my fingers were tingling as they clutched the steering wheel tightly. Butterflies were fluttering in my stomach. I entered the roundabout. A Prius in front of me had a scraped mark where somebody had removed a bumper sticker but couldn't get all the glue off. Hybrid cars, roundabouts, Dick Cheney shooting people in the face. What had this world come to? I didn't really have time to ponder it all, because the roundabout shaved 10 minutes of my commute.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - james weatherford - 10-17-2013
quote:
Originally posted by TomK
James,
"Drive with aloha is all good with roundabouts."
I don't know what that means, it makes little sense to me. Can you explain what you mean?
It means, be aware of other people (watch what the traffic is doing), treat them the way you want to be treated (yield on entry), and everything will be OK (drive right on your way without hassle).
Aloha.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - james weatherford - 10-17-2013
terracore -- LOL, ROFLMAO!
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - kalakoa - 10-17-2013
If you build it, they will dumb.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - peteadams - 10-17-2013
Great post terracore! Hopefully people will put aside their fear factor, watch out for other drivers, yield on entry to the roundabout and be on their way.
The history of the human race is that if you build it, people will adapt.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - ScottRAB - 10-17-2013
Sue,
Many people confuse older styles of circular intersections with modern roundabouts. East coast rotaries, large multi-lane traffic circles (Arc D’Triumph), and neighborhood traffic circles are not modern roundabouts. If you want to see the difference between a traffic circle, a rotary (UK roundabout) and a modern roundabout (UK continental roundabout), go to http://tinyurl.com/kstate-RAB to see pictures. And here’s another site that shows the difference between an older rotary and a modern roundabout: http://tinyurl.com/bzf7qmg
The FHWA (http://tinyurl.com/fhwaRAB) has a video about modern roundabouts that is mostly accurate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHzly_6lWM ).
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - lquade - 10-17-2013
great comment scottrab. i will never forget navigating the arcDTriumph and my almost heartattack! but later went on to learn to really like the roundabouts. the great thing is no signal lights and the associated costs, especially here in hawaii with our huge helco rates. once people actually begin to use them, they will like them i think. we have all sat at a red light with no cars in sight wondering if we should go anyway. hey terracore, enjoyed your humor as well... people do hate change dont they.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - Wao nahele wahine - 10-17-2013
Terracore,
Love love love it!!!!
Wahine
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - robguz - 10-17-2013
Would love to see the test repeated with at least half the drivers unlicensed, drunk, stoned, and/or mentally ill. Would be much more representative.
RE: Roundabout test on "Myth-busters" - ourdoc - 10-17-2013
quote:
Originally posted by james weatherford
quote:
Originally posted by TomK
James,
"Drive with aloha is all good with roundabouts."
I don't know what that means, it makes little sense to me. Can you explain what you mean?
It means, be aware of other people (watch what the traffic is doing), treat them the way you want to be treated (yield on entry), and everything will be OK (drive right on your way without hassle).
Aloha.
I hope that doesn't include the people who sit in a left turn lane with several people waiting behind them as they sit there waving the traffic from the street they are going to turn on to forward, and then the next and the next right up till the point only they can make it through, then they go, leaving the rest of us sitting there waiting. My thoughts, if we wanted you to direct traffic, they would have asked you to, you may be trying to be nice and all, but your holding up everyone else and actually breaking the law (yes there are specific laws as to the required white gloves and training in order to legally direct traffic).