Roundabouts vs Traffic Lights
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2021
- Hate it when you’re the only car stopped at a light? Roundabouts are a solution to that, and more.
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Roundabouts are “safer. They save lives. They cost less!” Carmel, Indiana mayor Jim Brainard explains.
He’s replaced nearly every stoplight in his town with a roundabout. His town now accounts for about 2% of all roundabouts in America.
Roundabouts are safer. A study in Wisconsin found that when roundabouts replaced typical intersections, deaths fell 38%.
Crashes actually rose 12%, but they were more minor crashes.
“Instead of a T-bone, you get a sideswipe,” Brainard explains.
Roundabouts pass cars through intersections faster, they look nicer, save tax money, and pollute less.
Yet America’s politicians have been slow to adopt them. Europe has about 200,000 roundabouts - compared to America’s roughly 6,000.
Why so slow? I ask Jim Brainard in the video above.
They also eliminate tickets given out for running red lights and stop signs.
And that hurts quotas!
Biggest problem with modern police is that they police for profit.
That just sounds like an even bigger reason for local politicians to be opposed to them
And then they start giving tickets for not yielding to traffic or improper use of roundabout, ect
Only the politicians that want to line their own pockets. A good politician would want society to function better and be less wasteful.
Whenever any traffic lights get old and need reolacing they should put in a roudabout rather than new lights.
A traffic light system electronics cost hundreds of thousands. To be able to replace that with a road design with zero electronics is a no brainer.
I went through maybe 5 roundabouts in the space of a minute in Ireland, and thought it was ridiculous...then I realized I had just gone through 5 major intersections in under a minute. I now love roundabouts
Typical behavior, not liking what is not understood.
where in ireland is that?
I had exactly the same feeling when I moved here, plus a little bit of fear. Now I prefer them.
I had the same experience driving in Italy 2 years ago. I was really worried at first, but after driving around for 2 weeks, I was surprised how well traffic moved.
I'm not buying it unless you were traveling at 120 km/hour. A major intersection here is a 6-lane road meeting another 6-lane road and thousands of cars pass through every hour. Even going straight with all green lights (an alternative that would be faster than a roundabout) it would be impossible to pass through a major intersection every 12 seconds.
They installed a new roundabout in a small town I work at.
A coworker was scared to death of using it.
Another coworker graciously offered to let her follow him through to ease her anxiety.
After they made it through, she passed the nice coworker that guided her through.
5 miles down the road as she approached a 4 way stop with large flashing lights, the coworker watched in amazement as she blew through the stop at 60 mph.
It's going to take a mixture of public awareness campaigns and inclusion of roundabouts in lessons for new drivers to make this happen. It should be a simple issue which everyone from across the political spectrum can agree. Sadly, despite it's benefits, it's quite a boring issue and so most will ignore it as there are no votes available for anyone supporting it.
it pisses me off so much from the new road/subdivision construction here in atlanta. Specifically south fulton area. just 10 minutes away from all this construction we have 3 key roundabouts I'm aware of, one of them is a double roundabout. It eases traffic so damn well, unfortunately theres 3 more major intersections on that route.
Just wish for those 3 months atlanta spent constructing a new intersection, they placed a roundabout instead. They put a classic 4 stop instead.
Eeeeeek!!!
I just want everyone to realize how much honesty stossel shows.
Stossel makes content about wasteful spending, it's pretty clear he went into this investigation to find out about these useless roundabouts that cost too much. But he found out differently, now here's where it gets important to recognize Stossel's reporting integrity. Unlike most 'journalists' who would scrap such a story because it disagrees with their narrative, stossel posts his findings to challenge even his own biases, which for 2021 is quite impressive.
But why are all of his videos only 5 minutes long? I wish he would make some longer videos. This is great content
@@wh0racle3 they are short because that is what the attention span of 'most' people on social media :) I think he has some longer form stuff on his channel as well.
Plz help stop Israel (modern nazis) inhumane apartheid against Palestine, it's not your problem but your gov is funding them, spread the message cause their strongest weapon is misinformation. If we together boycotted them they will be forced to stop like South Africa.
Tell your vicious buddies in Gaza to stop mercilessly firing rockets at civilians in Israel while using the innocent as human shields, @@arabianprince7508.
“It’s pretty clear he went into this investigation to find out about these useless roundabouts that cost too much”??? OR... maybe he just wanted to report on an anomaly that seems anachronistic, but is actually providing a lot of value relative to the mainstream/common intersection? John is a very knowledgeable guy - I’m fairly certain that he already knew that traffic circles have fewer fatal accidents... and it’s also pretty obvious that they are cheaper to operate than an intersection with traffic signals.
I like them because if I make a wrong turn in my semi truck, the roundabout gives me an easy place to turn around at.
It's funny that you would be pro-roundabout. Roundabouts need to be much larger to handle US big rigs. US companies love their "classic" long-nose trucks towing a 53' trailer.
Stossel failed to ask about that!
@@austinhansen9079 I did? Where are the sarcasm cues? I see no "lol" or eye-roll emoji!
@@codeman99-dev People are running classic long nose trucks to avoid e-logs. Don't be so ignorant.
@@jamie6387 What? I was just talking about a fact. That fact is that truck drivers in the US have to deal with a very long truck in front of an exceptionally long trailer.
Heck, many small towns can't even handle these huge trucks going down main street.
Logs are genuinely a separate issue completely.
@@codeman99-dev most roundabouts here in Finland are smaller than what are shown in the video and we still are able to circle around them with semi and combination trucks. Very rarely they may be too small to take 3rd exit or turn around but you can most certainly go straight or take a turn right. Those are also located in areas where you wouldn't drive semi or combination truck or anyway. My truck with a trailer is 82 feet in length.
The White house spokesperson gets on one most of the day so they can CIRCLE BACK
ciRcLe BaCK psacki
Now THATS funny. 😂😂😂.
😂😂😂😂
Psacki back
@@jakefulton2125
Psaki back...the hackey sack.
omg epic comment haa haaa i might have to circle back and reuse it lol
We just had 3 installed in our little town, Willard MO and it has been a huge improvement to our traffic issue, cut travel time in half.
Hello Tony how are you doing??
Sheit niga, I know Willard
I'm not buying it.
Too many in RollaMO. Hate them. I’d rather use a back road, if possible. Whose turn is it? Am I next? Can I sneak in before the next car gets here? Why do I have to go 3/4 the way round this thing to make a left turn? I much prefer stop lights.
@@sallyhenson1321 do you not know how to drive?
John Stossel's been in the game a long time. He knows how to cram information into a short, entertaining segment.
You're right, unfortunately TH-cam wants long time-wasting material. So the very act of putting effort into your work harms your ability to succeed with it. I call it the Decapitation Effect.
@@EGarrett01 Yes and no.
One of the metrics TH-cam uses for showing videos is "impressions click through rate". This is based on youtube showing the video to people on the home page/browse and how many people actually watch the video. If people are more likely to click on a 5 minute or less video than a longer one, which they are, then he'll have a higher click through rate and as such be rated higher by the algorithm. Making him more and more likely to appear in the browse/home page section and in search results.
This is why I love Stossel. Nobody else would even think to cover this topic.
Yea how far he's fallen. It's sad to see.
I’m pretty sure RealLifeLore did a whole video on it and longer.
@@doirtleeHe's too honest for mainstream media. All the big names are merely people who tow the line.
@@GHOST22x02 oh, sorry.
Except the entire rest of world that has used roundabouts for years.
Now, that's a "circle back" that I can get behind.
I'm sorry you said to get behind and circle back in the same sentence and I seem to have vomited a lot in my house.
Lol ...same here :)
lol
😆
🤣🤣🤣
I like that they solve the issue of wide left turns being so dangerous.
A number of years ago, a friend's teenage daughter was driving, following another car which suddenly veered to the left without using turn signals. Assuming that the driver was preparing to turn left, she drove underneath, to the right. The driver in front of her then, just as suddenly, again without signaling, turned right and into her path. No injuries occurred, but my friend's vehicle was badly damaged.
Lesson? Unless you are driving a multiple axle vehicle, or towing a trailer, it is totally unnecessary to swing left to turn right (or vice-versa), and you could cause an accident.
@@danielkutcher5704 Unless you're doing a hook turn in Melbourne
Well you have to understand they don’t make cars like horse and buggies 2,000 years ago. Turning is hard. That’s why people come to a complete stop before pulling off a road. Those tiny drive way bumps could destroy the SUV.
12% MORE accidents.
@@user-un4mu1hj5o 38% fewer fatal and injury crashes. Each fatal crash costs the economy about $1.8 million per death, while injury crashes cost $25,000 to $150,000. Roundabouts save lives and make more financial sense for major intersections in the long run.
As someone who grew up in Carmel, I can attest to how great they are! I was actually going through drivers ed when Carmel started making their major highway roundabouts.
Maybe you're just dizzy from driving around in circles to get everywhere.
If they had roundabouts here in Los Angeles you know the homeless people would be living in the center of them
Isn't there a roundabout at Venice Beach? My memory is a bit foggy. Do the homeless camp on it?
They have them all over the PNW...the homeless still prefer living by the interstate.
@@HitchensRAZ0R- I've never seen one in Venice, but there is that huge one in Long Beach. I heard the designer of the Long Beach traffic circle was the first fatality there. Kind of ironic.
@@briannolan7818 I looked it up awhile after my initial comment. Turns out I was right, there's a roundabout at the end of Main St and Venice. I remember being on a bus ride around it. Last time I was there, there was just a statue in the center. But it's been years since I last visited LA, I was beginning to wonder if the homeless problem around Venice boardwalk was getting so big that they even camped in the center of the roundabout
They should! Why not?
Be like their own private island
Stossel could be the one man to fix the stupid
There's too much stupid for one man to fix.
You can't fix stoopud!
They don't listen .. that's way they are stupid
It's not always ideal to have roundabouts. Traffic lights are space efficient. I know a lot of places you could never have a roundabout at due to space constraints. It's just common sense.
@@jamie6387 sure, it’s about having the right solution for the situation. Problems rarely have a one size fits all.
I live in Carmel. Drive through multiple roundabouts every day. My observation after driving through them for years: The single lane roundabouts where one street lane merges into a one lane roundabout are awesome. You save lots of time and can literally drive across town without coming to a stop. The only downside is for folks who get carsick - after swinging through about 15 of them at a decent clip when traffic is light, a passenger with a weak stomach can get queasy.
The multi-lane roundabouts are a different story - especially during rush-hour. The way the multi-lane roundabouts are designed in Carmel is that when two lanes (ie: a four lane road) merge into a two lane roundabout, the left-hand lane is automatically channeled into the inside lane of the roundabout. Because the roundabouts are not large like many in Europe - that driver is often forced to move from the inside lane to the outside lane very quickly in order to get out on their desired street - basically looking over their right hand shoulder while turning the car to the left. Not a good situation in a busy roundabout. Every single person I know has either been in an accident or almost been in an accident when an inside car suddenly cuts across the outside lane to get out of the roundabout. In fact, the story in Carmel is that Mayor Brainard, who is featured in the video and has championed the widespread construction of the roundabouts, has been in 3 roundabout accidents.
In addition, Carmel has many roundabouts that will suddenly change from a 2-lane roundabout to a 1-lane roundabout. So lots of people will enter a roundabout on the outside lane, and then immediately realize their lane is ending. They suddenly will cut into the inside lane to avoid being forced out of the roundabout too early.
So in the multi-lane roundabouts in Carmel, you can get hit without warning either by a car on the inside suddenly cutting to the outside or a car on the outside suddenly cutting to the inside. Have not been in an accident yet, but have had more close calls on the multi-lane roundabouts than I can count.
Agree wholeheartedly on the multi lane roundabouts in Carmel. There’s a certain unpredictability in them that makes me nervous.
Then why not use roundabouts for single-lane roads and traffic lights for the larger intersections?
@@sanjivjhangiani3243 Because larger intersections are extremely dangerous. It's just a matter of understanding how they work, how to enter and how to exit. Once you get use to it, they're great.
I've been a professional driver of one kind or another my whole life, and I don't like the roundabouts, but I do have to admit they save time. I've done quite a bit of driving around Carmel myself; it should be renamed Traffic Circle City LOL. But waiting for traffic lights and 4 way stop signs in rush hour traffic just doesn't get it, and the roundabouts solve that problem. I think about all we need to do now is get people to learn what "Yield" means 🤣🤦
Good luck.
No idea why you guys call "Give Way", "Yield" as the former makes more sense IMO
@@vista9434 They both mean the same thing...
@@CaliMeatWagon They do but in my opinion, give way is more self explanatory
@@CaliMeatWagon yea a stop sign is called stop. That make sense. Give way makes sense
I like roundabouts, when the road is empty you can pretend you’re in Tokyo Drift for a couple seconds
_DEJA VU I JUST BEEN IN THIS PLACE BEFORE_
yes, but during rush hour if you arent on the road that has the most traffic, you wait for a fucking hour to get out there!!
Ahh, somebody who gets it!
** Agrees in whitesmoke and 5500 revs **
That should be a main reason for Americans demanding roundabouts(traffic circles🤣) are installed at every intersection on mainland USA 👍
It’s kinda funny how Stossle has become one of my favorite TH-camrs
Because he’s one of humanity’s best. No matter where he goes that will be the case
It’s not funny, it’s science
Who would have guessed that honesty and facts would work !! MSN still is bringing it all with lies and make believe and still they exist
Stossel is an actual journalist, instead of the common media propagandist.
Stossle is like the cool internet Uncle
"It takes public education" haha, oh the irony
You want to see the "Magic Roundabout in Swindon , UK" for the ultimate roundabout.
I drove through that last year. My satnav went berserk.
Problem is from people who don't know how to use them.
Hell, many don't know how to use 4 way stops.
There you go. You just answered your own question.
Rather someone not use a roundabout properly then not use a stop sign properly..
I know how to use a roundabout .. I still hate them
Ever see a large truck try to use a roundabout
@@FP194 Yes everyday there's no issue
I dont like multi lane roundabouts because people are absolutely awful at merging lanes.
I remember the Woodbridge traffic circle in Woodbridge NJ. it was a horror to try and switch lanes.
Specially if you are new to an area and don't know what the lanes do
The maximum should be two lanes. We have some of those where I am.
@Niels Kloppenburg growing up (50-60’s) all we ever had were old cars which were described as $100 bombs, which were 6.5 times the cost of my first car.
Multi-lane roundabouts are too complicated.
The worst are roundabouts with lanes that peel off.
I live in Ireland so we have a lot of roundabouts, I'm still learning how to drive at the moment but they're pretty straightforward once you know how to yield right of way.
It's just Americans I think. Like in Ireland and the UK it's same for us Aussies, they're pretty straightforward.
It's interesting a population who can recite line for line Amendments to their constitution (Albiet always starting & ending at #2) yet cant figure a roundabout.
Maybe it's just the natural US aversion to anything foreign and not from 'Murica
I worked in Carmel In from 1996-1998, and then again from 2009-2012. The 1st time there were no roundabouts, and it would take me 45-90 minutes to get to work in the morning mostly because of the traffic backups at 4-way stop signs. The 2nd time I lived further and all the stop sign intersections had been replaced by the roundabouts. Even though I lived further away from work, my commute was only about 15 mins. I love those things.
Simply amazing.
we have a few here. one i go through 10+ times a day working. its fantastic. rarely an accident, traffic doesn't get backed up in any direction. most of the time i hardly have to slow down.
Roundabouts are great...it's the people who don't understand "right of way" that screw them up.
Agreed - Its nice to keep moving.
Havent seen a crash in any traffic circle ive ever taken but i have been in a head on crash while stopped for a red light
@@youtube_is_a_POS The 1st one we had in our area saw a HUGE increase in accidents. The intersection where it was put in, had never had a fatal accident. Not bad, for being there over 40 years! That intersection went from 3-4 accidents per month to 3-4 per day.
Things have improved considerably over the years...but there's still plenty of people who don't understand right of way.
@@youtube_is_a_POS happens all the time where I live people take the turn too fast they don't slow down to get on and they wind up flipping their vehicle or crashing into a car that was already on the roundabout. When it's busy everyone rides each other's rear making it near impossible for somebody else to get on
Best one is watching the drivers just off a flight from somewhere that drives on the other side of the road, traversing the roundabout the wrong way, as often happens outside Heathrow airport in London.
That goes for all traffic rules/laws. Yield is completely mis-understood by so many people.
The roundabouts in my neighborhood have stop signs, even when they decide to put them in they do it wrong.
No need for a stop sign at a roundabout, a yield sign would be far more appropriate. It is incredibly easy to see if the roundabout is clear or not
@@PointNemo9 Depends on the local drivers. A circle in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx that used to have yield signs at the entrances had them switched to stop signs decades ago. Of course the "Yield" sign *should* have been superfluous anyway, since once the driver recognizes it as a circle, the entering drivers are supposed to yield the right of way anyway. But apparently New York City drivers can't be trusted to see that.
Why not just replace all stop signs with yield signs?
You cannot use a stop sign at a roundabout since you yield to traffic from the left. You must be thinking of a traffic circle which is different.
@@goodmaro But stop signs require the driving to come to a complete halt even if the way is clear . In England there is no need to come to a halt at a roundabout if we can clearly see the roundabout is clear.
No u-turns no left turns. A formula for a more safe driving environment.
I’m fine with roundabouts, but the one around the Arc De Triumph is insanity.
Contrary to normal roundabout, this is the only one in France that yelds the right of way to cars entering the circle. We have to be very careful to get out of this without a scratch.
i don't mind roundabouts, in general, the thing that gets me is when they put smaller trees in there so you can't see who's going around the circle.
You're not supposed to see through the circle. You look to the left and that's it.
@@andrewfusco7824 yeah, i get what you are saying, the thing i'm talking about is when there are trees to the left too. it happens when the lanes have long splits. you almost have to stop at the yield sign instead of a smooth transition...
@@jbkibs I hear what you're saying, those engineers screwed up. They shouldn't have out trees or shrubs in those triangular islands before the roundabout
@@andrewfusco7824 yeah we have several new ones near me with pampas grasses. In winter, no problem, they are cut back, but by late spring forget about being able to see left or right.
@@andrewfusco7824 You can say that, and it may be 'correct' but I want to see the whole thing.
The traffic engineers need to remember that, occasionally, large trucks need to use the roundabouts.
Most small one I see locally have added bit of a lip, a raised area that trucks can use to cheat the curve a bit.
Roundabouts locally have an unused paved section (almost a full lane) in the middle to accommodate larger wheelbases.
Trucks have been negotiating roundabouts in the UK for decades.
The ones I've seen so far in the US seem sufficiently large or well planned enough to allow trucks to negotiate them.
Most of them I have gone through in a big truck I have to take up all the extra lanes and some of the shoulder to make the turns which is very inconvenient for everyone because when I’m done waiting on the lanes to clear for my maneuver two or three more cars are always there to pull out in front of
@@bmused55 Having lived both places, I understand that US trucks are significantly longer. But a truck that large would have great difficulty just getting into and out of many UK villages.
I live near a few roundabouts and they are actually really easy to navigate and you definitely get through the intersection a LOT faster than at a stop light!! First time I drove one it was a bit intimidating, but it was so easy to get through!! Hopefully we will start seeing more roundabouts in the US!! 😁😁
I can say 100%, roundabouts are much more fun to watch during nasty snowstorms :P
The worst is when they put traffic lights in roundabouts which basically defeats the purpose.
Sometimes they are necessary at rush hour or you would be sat there looking right as an endless stream of vehicles zoom by you.
marccas10
No no, you haven’t seen the shit near my house mate. There are FOUR sets of traffic lights and TWO pelican crossings on one roundabout and all of them are switched on all the time without any traffic sensors to detect cars at lights. Traffic flow through it takes a lifetime. Before there was only two sets with sensors and wide lanes, traffic flow was rapid through there, now it’s appalling.
@@qasimmir7117 Sounds like the classic councillor with nothing to do fixing what wasnt broken?
European roundabouts NEVER have ANY traffic lights
@@engeligeorg the definition of a roundabout is no traffic lights, so you are right. But there for sure are a few circles with traffic lights, even but they are rare
Expecting people to like roundabouts is like expecting people to use their turn signals.
I love roundabouts, even the weird "Magic Roundabout" in Swindon. Which briefly gave me as a Dutch guy already driving on the wrong side of the road a start, seeing that complex sign in a matter of mere moments, but when you're on there you'll navigate it instinctively.
Think of it this way: you don't have to stop!
@@Cheesewiz247
That is the problem people think yield means you don’t have to stop
@@FP194 I've seen yield signs my entire life, and have had to stop for them. I think taking into account the fact that some may not know what to do at first, these are still safer and faster.
@@Cheesewiz247 I am with you on that, just a yield.
We moved to a neighborhood that has 2 roundabouts. At first, we hated it because it was new to us. Now we LOVE it. Just like the mayor said, it is ridiculous to sit at a red light when no one is coming from the other directions just wasting gas. The tricky part is understanding that not everyone who goes through a roundabout understands how they work. So be careful and drive defensively.
You must also realize when you put motorcycles into the factor things get different. Even small crashes are fatal. Also the truth is that it's not the inherent problem of intersections, but that people don't obey the law. As a motorcyclist both are equally bad.
Edit : Not that anecdotal evidence matters. But because cars can't see motorcyclists as properly as other cars they often hit bikes in roundabouts when in the blindspot. I can vouch for it. The whole theory works behind the idea of yielding to those in the circle. When they don't see a bike and don't yield and I have to hammer the breaks, I get rear-ended which is absolutely fatal and also the risk of being run over by the oncoming vehicle that was supposed to yield. And you'd argue that people can break rules in intersections as well(which is certainly more likely and dangerous) but I can say that I can avoid more close calls in intersections than in roundabouts. If you want to understand how then go watch dandanthefireman where he teaches how to avoid accidents. It's easier to anticipate and avoid accidents in intersections than in roundabouts. But I certainly don't denounce the fact that roundabouts save us from many HIGH-SPEED accidents. Also people are less likely to speed when they come out of roundabouts than intersections.
where i live people are such horrible drivers they had to outfit roundabouts with signals in some parts of the cities.
Man my little town put in a roundabout at a big intersection. When people know what they’re doing it saves a ton of time and I love it.
However, it seems like every time I go through it there’s at least one idiot holding things up.
It’s not that complicated. Like at all. I do t get why some people have such a hard time.
Same here. Roundabouts with traffic lights, smh
As a designer, we are taught not to do that because....that is not a roundabout....its a traffic circle.....and traffic does not flow better, it can actually flow worse lol.
@@begintothink Yep, acording to the history in the distant past for the US we did that... "added lights" it caused more trouble, it's like we wanted the "roundabout" to fail byt converting it into a "traffic circle" and calling it a roundabout to trick people. Reminds me of the Captialism vs Socialism debate. Both sides mislabeling things to press some crazy agenda.
The problem with roundabouts is that I have to stop texting when I’m driving
To be fair, everything confuses Homer.
Homer has never been confused by the TV remote or how to open the refrigerator door.
hes feminisms mascot.
And Clark Griswold / Chevi Chase!
@@tediousmaximus1067 To be fair to him, when do you have a right-of-way to exit a center circle of a roundabout?
We call it a rotary here. My town is adding one at an intersection where there are no traffic lights but almost weekly accidents. Some folks are not happy. I’ll recommend this video.
They do work well unless you have significant traffic. Take a drive through Sedona Arizona during rush hour or a holiday and you will see what I mean.
I’ve never had a problem exiting a roundabout.
Drive a semi...
@@eatshitful Drive slowly...
@@gustavgnoettgen then every idiot cuts in front of you. Well I guess we just plow them people over right? Make sure you are the first!
@@eatshitful What are you talking about? Drive slowly through the roundabout.
I tend to use my directional signals when I am approaching the exit to which I choose to leave from any roundabout.
Actually, the Simpson thing was a parody of what happened in National Lampoon’s: European Vacation.
@@TimGautier I did, I always watch John Stossel, but he didn’t reference it right away.
I remember when the Simpsons was tremendously funny, until about season 7 or 8
The Simpsons are loaded with allusions.
roundabout schmound about. John is an American treasure. he should get some sort of award.
A roundabout is an excellent example of spontaneous order at work
I thought he was gonna point out the libertarian angle of being responsible for your own merging instead of waiting for a government-funded light to tell you what to do
It sort of was
Here here!
Plz help stop Israel (modern nazis) inhumane apartheid against Palestine, it's not your problem but your gov is funding them, spread the message cause their strongest weapon is misinformation. If we together boycotted them they will be forced to stop like South Africa.
@@arabianprince7508 Hamas is a terrorist organization
@@arabianprince7508 allow Israel to exist as a free state, and watch how that improves the situation in the middle east
I agree with the sentiment that when they get bigger than 2 or 3 lanes they actually become dangerous. Preferably only have one lane roundabouts where possible.
Maybe on residential streets, but in areas with more traffic, it’s ideal to have an outer lane for right turns or going straight and an inner lane for left turns.
@@Wired4Life2 But that makes sense only on a large diameter circle. If the circle is of smaller diameter, traffic would have to slow so much to do that *reliably safely* that it wouldn't pay to have a circle at all.
I could see an exception for a small diameter circle in a place where there'd be a lot of pedestrians crossing the road at one or more of the "spokes". In that case it could pile up traffic considerably in the circle because of traffic exiting at that point if there weren't an inner lane to bypass the backup. But that would practically forbid pedestrians trying to cross *thru* the circle except at times of very low traffic.
Some busy multi-lane roundabouts in Croatia recently got traffic lights .
Multi-lane roundabouts are the worst.
multi lane roundabouts a piece of piss and not that dangerous if you have good situational awareness ,are a competent driver, passed a proper driving test we have plenty of them in the uk , as well as spiral roundabouts
Great video Stossel! I love round-abouts because I really dislike waiting in line. There's the sense that your always making progress with roundies, and tha's true!
They're fine in smaller communities but cause problems in areas that have a lot of truck traffic. The few exceptions are in Wisconsin and Washington state where semis have immediate right of way in roundabouts.
Have you driven in Yakima recently?
Thank you for delivering essentials during COVID
Went by there about a week ago on my way to Pasco.
@@Ringmaster78320 Ive been there before surprising change of weather from Seattle area better in my opinion
National News could be running useful and informing stories like this. Instead they'd rather push division and hate. That's a big reason our country is more divided.
thats what the 'news' is for... to push the agenda.
The Global Deep State have decided to push Chinese Marxism, which is a mass-murder agenda. I complain about the evil agenda, I certainly do not complain that the People and the Deep State disagree divisively on that agenda... if we do not maintain that division, tens of millions will be murdered. This is a good story though, and so-called "news" has become nonsense and deception; but I thank God for the division.
Look to France, the world capital of roundabouts. No coincidence that the nightly news there is informative and cerebral, quite the opposite from the clown media here.
@@andrewfusco7824 Many years ago I heard the same about BBC, just to find out it's actually far worse than American news. Sometimes it's harder to see through foreign deception because we don't have the context to see the difference. Considering Cuties came from France, I would hate for the inside of my cerebellum to be formed by their news. The best thing about news is knowing not to let it inform us; which is basically nothing but it's better than something when that something is poison at best.
Amen! My dinky town JUST put one up at a pain ITA intersection and now NEVER clogged up 💯
Same. There was a road by me that always backed up between 3-6 every week day. Now it runs perfectly with 4 round abouts.
Try negotiating two that are joined together, especially if they're not level, i.e. the road rises and falls within and/or between the two conjoined roundabouts. That makes it tough to get a bead on your exit in time to choose it, all the while when dealing with other drivers who also don't know where they're going. 😵
@@KoshN But like Chevy Chase, you can always just keep going around until you figure it out.
@@CorkKNIFE Yes and you can enjoy people running into you while you're doing it.
Agree, my small town suburb (30k people) put one in a few years ago in place of a 4-way stop on residential streets that parraled the main 5-lane road. That 4way would get backed up 20-30 cars X 4...if there was a fender bender you'd be stuck for an hour. Now there's never a wait of more than 30 to 45 seconds UNLESS you get stuck behind a senior that shouldn't be driving anyways. Another fun thing is later in the day when you may hit the roundabout solo you can drift if you have a rear wheel drive sporty car 🚗😀
I lived in England for 3 years. My wife and I loved the roundabouts. They work well.
Hello William how are you doing??
We really, really need these!
For 22 years I have traveled to Switzerland for work and have come to love roundabouts. After a week over there barely ever having to stop at intersections, it is a horrible awakening to come home to our endless stop lights. They do not work in all situations but they absolutely work better in a majority of those where we currently have lights in the USA.
Hello Ken how are you doing??
I used to live in a town where 6 roads all met at one spot. The stop light took forever and so I would take a bunch of back streets every day to avoid it.
Then they decided to make it into a round about. I was blown away by how much faster and easier it was to go through with the round about. I was totally convinced after that, that they should be way more common.
Bro my country just did the opposite thing (a.k.a turning roundabouts into traffic lights) and it only created more problems. *But people don't even care about that and still saying that traffic lights are better....*
*Help me my country is so cursed💀💀💀*
I agree with your assessment, but with a few caveats.
1. In areas with snow half the year they cause more spin-outs, which result in blocked traffic due to the vehicle getting stuck or choosing with another.
2. Many are too small and missing the 'skirt' that aids larger vehicles to navigate the tight turn. I've even seen a waist-high concrete cylinder planted in the middle of a regular two-lane residential intersection!
3. The art, vegetation, or landscaping in the middle frequently blocks your line of sight to avoid other vehicles.
4. Due to the subsidies awarded to cities that install roundabouts, sometimes perfectly serviceable intersections are replaced with one of these at the expense of maintaining other roads or intersections. I've seen intersections that were drastically upgraded less than a month ago torn up to install a roundabout in its place. Meanwhile, there are potholes deep enough to snap an axle on every street for a 20 block radius. Not to mention all of the rusted, worn out, or partially broken stoplights within that same radius.
The city Tromsø in Norway is FULL of roundabouts, problem is in the rush hour you end up with eternally having to yield for the traffic flowing in one direction trough the roundabout that is not light regulated. Meaning you can end up waiting for 1 hour to 2 hours or more if no one is kind and let you in or if there is no other traffic coming to break up the pattern...
We have these little “circles” here in Miami on long streets to cut down on speeding AND you take your life in your hands since no one respects the yield and just barrel through 🤷♀️
Well everyone in Miami is borderline retarded so your story checks out.
People aren't literate enough to read "yield" or speed limit signs 🤷♂️
@@r.a.7161 🤦🏻♂️😂
@@the_watcher_ I thought that stuff only happened in my third world country.
Thats because they are to small. If they were as big as the first one he showed it makes you slow down because you cant shoot straight thru.
Just call them "Freedom Circles" and it''ll sell better.
Well..... Democrats hate the idea of Freedom.
You'll immediately have Leftist morons calls them "freedumbs" and insisting that the only possible solution is rigid government control with a hyperadvanced, AI-driven surveillance system that monitors every car in the country to ensure exact compliance with the law and which automatically generates fines for infractions that are essentially impossible to dispute in courts. You will wait 3 minutes at that red light in the empty intersection, or they'll fine you $500, and you'll like it.
We're dealing with a world view here. These people feel like they're out of control, have confidence, and so they respond by being controlling and domineering of even the smallest things to give themselves a sense of power they can't earn through merit and respect.
LMAO. Good one!
The democrats won't like that title
@@VenomousCompany It's all about marketing an appearance.
I love roundabouts! Approaching I look left and, if no one is coming, hammer the throttle around the turn. Great fun.
I love round-a-bouts. So efficient and no traffic jams.
I love mini roundabout where there is just a circle drawn on the ground. You can drive straight though it when there is no traffic.
Educated presentations like this can help sell roundabouts to the public! I'm a traffic engineer and I support the use of roundabouts.
Have been adding these in my neck of the woods for some time now. Love them!
I've personally found that signalized intersections work better during a power outage than when the signals are operational.
I love roundabouts, just wish people would learn to use them properly.
I wish people signaled when exiting the roundabout. Makes the process smoother for those entering because they know the intentions of the other drivers.
Sometimes a semi tractor trailer has to use them and it is a nightmare 😬. Cars on your left and right and you're stuck in the middle trying to exit buuuut motorists won't let you and then more cars entering thy roundabout, repaying the process.
We put in a roundabout near my place, way quicker, way better, way faster. Although since it is a government road, it took FOREVER to build.
@Nilo's Channel wdym?
Question: It seems it would also cut down noise because people aren't completely stopping, therefore not accelerating and almost coasting through the circle. Is that true?
@@seanharris7545 I imagine it is but it is at the front of my community, away from me.
This could make pedestrian traffic with the crossing person a thing of the past. The roundabout OR traffic circle is easy and a universal concept.
They are especially good when made small, single lanes in and out. We have a few of them in our small town and we love them. They can be very attractive too!
It still blows my mind how many people don't know what to do when the traffic light is out ...
Treat it like a 4 way stop sign !
Roundabouts would be a nightmare for elderly drivers who barely know how to drive as is
Hard to do the who got there first rule when its four lanes on each side arriving sporadically.
You're absolutely right. Problem is, if you're on the main road and try to stop, you're likely to be rear-ended at a high rate of speed. A few years ago, we were losing power 3 or 4 times each winter, and the intersections in town were death traps.
I think they'll figure it out. Thers a Yield sign right there.
One was built near my house to take the place of a 4 way stop that would back up terribly when school let out . I said it would never work, but I had to eat my own words, It works marvelously.
My town adopted roundabouts like a decade ago and I’m pleased with them. Let’s make the switch
"Well, most American politicians don't wanna take the risk that might get them unelected". That's very bitter pill to swallow but someone has to get it out.
Living in Carmel Indiana, I can confirm roundabouts are EVERYWHERE
what do the townspeople think of it?
@@cronoz7 it's kind of a meme to say "there's soo many of them it's crazy" but they actually do help with traffic quite a bit
The problem with roundabouts is there are too many idiots who don’t know how to use them
The more roundabouts you have, the more people learn to use them
Those are the same idiots that can't drive on a straight stretch of road either...
They are learning. This will get better over time.
I can attest to that. I've lost count of how many times people have yelled at me for yielding to others when entering a traffic circle. Just doesn't make sense! Why on earth would I want to cut in and get impacted?
Round abouts are trash the lives they claim to save dont out weigh the cost of repairs
As a teenager, I hated the Dupont Circle in DC.
Fort Worth is replacing tons of 4 way stop sign intersections with roundabouts and it is great. Traffic flows so much better. I’m a fan👍🏼
Roundabouts can work really well for getting traffic to continually flow through, but I don’t work very well in peak hour traffic where the traffic is mainly coming from one direction. The roundabout near where I live in Australia has temporary traffic lights to break up the traffic in peak hours and since doing that the roundabout is working fairly well again.
Carmel has a roundabout like this too that is located near the high school.
When I went to Ireland they had roundabouts everywhere. At first it drove me nuts but I got used to it
They’re everywhere in Europe especially on the British Isles and in France
the round about drove you around the bend?
I drive my car!
When I was in Ireland a couple years ago, most of the roundabouts had traffic lights. Made them seem kind of pointless.
Roundabouts are definitely better than 4 way traffic lights that stop traffic 3/4 of the time.
My town of Conway Arkansas is suddenly filled with them, and I love it. Except for the fact that so many people apparently can’t figure them out. Particularly the fact that a yield sign is not a stop sign. When I’m behind someone and they stop at a round about, when no one is coming, the devil comes out of me. Lol
I love roundabouts! I have taught 5 of our 6 children to drive myself and it took me about 15 min to teach any of ‘‘em how to use them properly. I can only imagine if you’re afraid to use one that you could find a TH-cam video that would teach how to do it the proper way.
They only downside to traffic circles is that they use more land than a traditional intersection.
That's the main challenge for existing traditional traffic light intersections in cities where land is expensive. It will be quite expensive to change them. Not so much for newer housing projects where one can start from scratch.
That makes it all the more impactful that Europe has them but America doesn't. America really doesn't have a land shortage, especially in relation to Europe, or my dense dense state of Israel.
So if we have them, why not America?
Not by much. A fair amount of roundabouts in the uk are just white circles painted in the middle of a crossroad.
Give way to your left and don't cut across the middle and it's fine
They have small roundabouts here in South Africa.... not much more land at all. But in downtown NYC... you might have a problem converting...lol.
@@yoavmor9002 It's easy to put one in when first building a road, but not so easy when buildings are already close to the intersection.
Michigan has started to embrace Roundabouts, there have been several places where Roundabouts replaced traffic lights. The big problem with them is most people don't know how to navigate them
They're literally circles. Sounds like we need to go back to kindergarten.
Drive round circle. Don't hit anyone. The end. If you can take a right hand turn and yield to on coming traffic, then you can drive a roundabout.
THEY WILL LEARN, eventually. Or die of old age. It does happen to everybody sooner or later.
@@TheWrigle you're forgetting that the Hallmark of American car racing is only turning left
@@tedubadu2536 I guess but once your in the circle it's basically one tiny Nascar track.
It sucks being on a motorcycle stuck at a traffic light because it won't change.
I am an American and I love roundabouts. They make sense.
I grew up in New Jersey. Navigating a traffic circle was a rite of passage in our High School driving classes. Yes, my high school offered driving lessons!
Mind did also, in the 1970s. But I think the nearest one was the odd circle in south Lubbock, about 120 miles away. I think they wound up putting traffic lights on it because it befuddled so many people.
Found the statist!
Yeah, I took driver's education in high school too. Think it gave me like a 10 or 20 percent discount on my insurance! Can't beat that!
*Though the instructor didn't want to pass me after I wheelied past them a few days before graduation.. LoL 😂
Yep i remember that!
I miss the Little Ferry circle.
2:32 Although injuries and deaths decrease, It was already stated that crashes increase by 12%. with roundabouts. It does not matter if it is stop sign, traffic signal, or roundabout timid and bad drivers are always going to be bad drivers.
Hello Brad how are you doing??
@@alexiskauff2125 Hello Alexis.. I am good. Thank you. How are you this morning?
I hate waiting at lights, so I support roundabouts 100%. Makes left turns easier too.
John you should have discussed the traffic light lobby trying to stop this.
it is fascinating to think that some people find roundabouts too difficult. Roundabouts are great!
People are dangerously stoopud!
People find turn signals too difficult. Not sure why any of this should be surprising at all.
@@DavidDrummondTX 🤣🤣🤣 RIGHT?!
"You never come to a complete stop"
This man has never been to the 66-35 circle in Monmouth County NJ.
That's just a terrible place to be haha
All of these videos that talk about how wonderful traffic circles are and how much better America would be if we had them seem to always conveniently overlook NJ’s traffic circles and what a pain they are when you get a increases in traffic.
@@Shadowfax-1980 Roundabouts are inherrently superior, yes you can and will come to a stop, however they increase traffic flow overall, reduce pollution, increase safety.
If you're against rbts then you're for more deaths and more ollution and more traffic jams.
Increases in amount of traffic is resolved by traffic lights how?
@@Shadowfax-1980 to be fair NJ just sucks and would terribly implement any good idea.
@@Shadowfax-1980 that's because New Jersey is wildly overdeveloped in some areas. At a certain critical mass, waiting becomes inevitable, no matter the form of traffic control. As an overall, traffic circles are more efficient, cleaner, cheaper, safer and aesthetically pleasing. Not sure how that's a problem..
What Stossel doesn't mention is that neighboring Fishers, Noblesville and Westfield are putting them in just as fast. More in this county than any other state.
I’ve been through Carmel twice. I knew instantly it was going to be Carmel. That place is nothing but roundabouts. You can see other roundabouts from the roundabouts.
"Because cars slow down." Except in Utah, drivers speed up to try and get in before drivers coming from other directions.
Exactly. It's not that Americans don't know how to properly use roundabouts, it's the typical American driving attitude "Not before ME!!!"
Then they freeze up not knowing how to deal with merging
I passed thru Carmel. I used one of the round abouts shown a few years back. Man it was the most dangerous thing I ever did see. Safer my butt. The people who believe this nonsense are not drivers . they just want to make things as hard as they can on people just passing thru.
@@dallasbishop6519 Yup come to a complete stop and there is no one in the circle. WTF are you doing!
@@Meekerextreme hello how are you doing Meeker
The gold standard of journalism. Excellent John
Thank you John Stossel!
every time I cross a Traffic Light I pray "God please no fool T bone me"
Roundabouts do take up more space but not having to stop and wait for the lights makes it worth it.
@Fma fg Gddvh ,
Something giving birth to you makes you not worth it.
@Fma fg Gddvh ,
Because you lack common sense.
they actually don’t, the examples here sure were ridiculously extravagant roundabouts however 99% of yhem here in england are just white circles painted on the ground and because everyone knows what to do there’s no issues
If your average wait (including all the times when you don't have to wait because you have a green light) at a roundabout-eligible intersection is more than 4 seconds, then it is because your local government has decided to punish you for driving.
Tell that to the folks living on the corner. Willing to bet they won't give up their land for the project.
They also allow the lost and and confused among us to do U-turns, or go round a few times to be sure of the right exit. And, personally, i hate being told to wait by a little red light.
John, I am glad you came around on this!
Building roundabouts is a countryside meme in middle europe. They are everywhere.