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Seems we always assume everybody is too stupid/lazy to learn new skills. I grew up with roundabouts in many countries and don't really understand the confusion or reluctance....other than "it's something new" or as one person said to me "it's not hawaii". Well neither is spam, or a lot of other things that are embraced.
Personally I think they work well and if you can't figure out the way it works or the proper ettiquite, than take the bus.[8D]
riverwolf
riverwolf
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Just as people are getting better at the Ke'eau bottleneck (Merge and let merge, rather than "you're not getting in this lane, I was here first") people will learn to adopt to a roundabout(but only if we build one).
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Well said, riverwolf. Your first sentence nailed it. Driver elitism! (also known as "I-am-a-better-driver-than-these-local-idiots" syndrome. :-) Learning to navigate a roundabout ain't rocket science, and to suggest that folks here can't learn this is a tad condescending and insulting, no?
Will there be a learning curve? Absolutely. My biggest concern would be on Friday and Saturday nights when a large chunk of drivers on the road are impaired. It might be a good idea to take David Shaw's advice here and station cops/firemen/politicians :-) at critical points 24/7, at least for the first month or so. (Personally I think they should build a police box in the middle of the circle and set up a cot for one of Puna's finest.) Whatever the roundabout design that engineers come up with, it can't be worse than what we've already got, as the Malama Market intersection is a timeless masterpiece of poor design never to be outdone!
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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Greg, it is fascinating to me that more people ignoring clearly posted traffic signs is seen as "getting better." Roundabouts are more complex than a simple merge lane. Even with clear signage and instruction, I can't see it working well.
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Let me hasten to add, one of the chief problems with the merge lane is that is SHOULD be a zipper or alternating merge lane and not simply a "merge left" lane. Because the traffic coming from the main flow and the merge lane is about the same amount, the lane should be designated as "zipper" or "alternate." (But it's not.) A simple merge lane can't handle that much incoming traffic. My point is the engineering is flawed there, just the like the Malama intersection, just like the ramp from Keaau into the Hilo flow which tilts the wrong way. If these same traffic/road engineers will be responsible for the new roundabout, we're doomed!
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I agree. It should be a zipper lane. It is a zipper lane. People are learning to navigate this bottleneck on their own. All that's missing is the correct wording on the sign.
What's amazing is that in spite of there being two essentially equal volumes of cars obviously merging in an alternating fashion, there's still the occasional driver determined to block out the right lane.
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I casually asked 10 people here in Pahoa if they knew the rules for a roundabout & 9 said "what is a roundabout". I vote for stoplights.
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Here's the key: if you are going to exit use the blinker so incoming traffic knows and can merge.same with staying use blinker and people will wait to merge thus keeps traffic flowing.
Peace
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"9 said "what is a roundabout""
This could possibly be because there are no roundabouts yet.
I'm sure at one point 9 out of 10 people had never heard of traffic lights either.
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True Paul
I know I never heard of one till they were here. It's better than a free for all at. High traffic times. Another thing is larger trucks such a fire trucks can easily get through by going over close to the middle if built right. Once installed people will see they make things safer.great place to put up advertisements too! we put up a sweet Christmad display on ours and local schools put up signs for games etc...
Peace
