5 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Improving walkability cost me an election
So weird that roundabouts have become such a cultural flashpoint. Seems nuts.
Comment by Wood-Kern at 15/11/2024 at 15:31 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'm sitting here in France reading these comments, and it's like peeking into a different dimension. I thought OP was joking when he said that roundabouts were obviously controversial.
Comment by hedonovaOG at 11/11/2024 at 15:03 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I think many people have driven long enough to remember inefficient roundabouts, or rotaries as they were formerly termed, from the past, their multiple conflict points and how much better traffic moved after they were ripped out and replaced with a properly signaled intersection. Many of us see young urbanists confusingly tout them as a new solution to traffic management. I’m sure they’ve all found studies to prove their point, but we have lived experience that directly contradicts those claims.
It doesn’t help that many of these new roundabouts are not built with sufficient diameters, some even acknowledge the inclusion of rounded curbs because “some” vehicles will have issues with the turning radius. That just creates increasingly dangerous road conditions. So the feeling among those who have to drive through them (even in the most transit forward cities at least 85% of households own cars) is that we’re compromising vehicle throughput efficiency and road safety for unproven pedestrian advantages (they still need to cross paths).