2 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Improving walkability cost me an election
I hate roundabouts because every single time I use one and there are other cars I feel like an accident is about to happen. Nobody including myself was taught enough about them in driver’s ed, the signs never feel clear in advance, they aren’t straightforward in GPS apps, and I absolutely do not trust anyone else to handle them well either. Just being honest! I live in the city so my life isn’t car-centric to be clear, but when I do drive, I’d rather be slowed down to a complete stop and more ‘inconvenienced’ than have to trust other, more deeply car-brained Americans to both pay attention and extend even the slightest bit of grace to others.
Comment by mahjimoh at 12/11/2024 at 00:33 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree that they can be a little confusing to those who don’t remember what they were taught, if they were taught anything. And so,e are worse than others - they put in two near major freeway exits in my city and I remember - even as someone who’s very comfortable and loves them - it seemed the signs indicating the lane to use for various destinations were way too late. (They have been subsequently taken out and replaced with ?diamond interchanges? Which are clearer to use, but involve stopping at lights and waiting.)
But even if there were an accident it’s way less likely to be as bad as one in any other kind of intersection. Everyone slows down and is a bit more cautious. There are too many references but if you google roundabout safety statistics you’ll see more about it.
Comment by maroger at 11/11/2024 at 21:06 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I get the sensation, but I bet that accidents that happen in roundabouts are less likely and definitely less damaging. When I'm on a large open highway I feel much less safe because of the speed and the closeness of those "car-brained Americans". To your point about driver's ed, I'm one of those nerds who believes we all should take one of those defensive driving courses every couple of years to retain our drivers licenses. It does wonders for me to remind me of critical situations that I would be hopelessly lost in if I only depended on my original training decades ago. And obviously one of those situations is driving/yielding rules in roundabouts.