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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:14:31 PM EDT
The roundabout, one of the stupidestest ideas ever! I know! I've driven in Europe for years! Backs up the traffic for miles (or kilometers, rather) in every direction, confuses everybody, uses up more real estate, generates more noise, makes the intersection almost impossible to cross for pedestrians or people on bicycles. Bad idea, bad!
The Mother of All Roundabouts:   And sure enough, seen from above, it's a giant satanic prayer-wheel!  |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:15:41 PM EDT
[#1]
Holy shit!@!
Little round abouts connected to a big one! |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:16:33 PM EDT
[#2]
That looks like a road ragers worst nightmare.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:18:02 PM EDT
[#3]
Or wet dream.
Target Rich Environment. No where to run. No where to hide. 360 degress of total chaos. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:18:40 PM EDT
[#4]
Wow, that thing is like an oubliette. A person might never find their way out again.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:19:11 PM EDT
[#5]
As the vehicles enter the intersection, all the car stereos are switched to play "Stairway to Heaven" backwards at full volume.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:21:12 PM EDT
[#6]
I would definantly smash into a car there, either out of confusion or rage, or maybe a combination of the two.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:25:02 PM EDT
[#7]
I spent four years in Scotland mastering the confusion of the roundabout...
First, driving from the right hand seat. Second, shifting gears with your left hand. Thirdly, driving on the wrong side of the road. and now for good measure, enter a roundabout! I can't believe I made it out alive. The creator of the roundabout is obviously an anarchist. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:25:23 PM EDT
[#8]
The little ol'ladies who drive in Calif (blue hair, sitting on 3 phone books, steering wheel in death grip) would just drive straight across that...!
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:27:17 PM EDT
[#9]
So would I. FIJFI!
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:31:21 PM EDT
[#10]
Thats confusing just to look at let alone to drive.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:31:46 PM EDT
[#11]
Thats just wrong. Someone needs to tape that for awhile and post some clips.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:33:53 PM EDT
[#12]
OK, I'll bite. What does that mean? |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:34:38 PM EDT
[#13]
Fuck it. Just fuck it. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:40:24 PM EDT
[#14]
Holy shit. That's the first picture I've seen of one of these things.
This <slur removed> I work with was telling me about the time he spent in europe and how much more "sophisticated" people there are than in the USA. This traffic device was one of his examples. ok buddy |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:41:01 PM EDT
[#15]
the sign actually says "the magic roundabout"
wtf 
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:41:12 PM EDT
[#16]
How the hell do you drive a roundabout? Looks to be no humanly possible way to get out of that without disobeying arrows.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:42:24 PM EDT
[#17]
The amazing thing is that that's considered an IMPROVEMENT over what they used to have at that intersection.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:45:23 PM EDT
[#18]
I agree. It makes no sence to me. 
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:48:48 PM EDT
[#19]
LOL. That's so you can't hear all the screaming. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:49:05 PM EDT
[#20]
Along the same line of thought as "FIDO"....Fuck It, Drive On. Who in the cornbread hell thought up the roundabout?? That has to be the most asnine, back assward road engineering I've ever seen. Hell, I thought cloverleaf freeway exchanges were bad. It's hard enuff to get US drivers to merge now, there'd be mass carnage & bloodshed with one of these infernal things. In a Terry Pratchett <??>/Neil Gaiman novel I read a while back traffic roundabouts & other fvcked up roadway stuff was the responsibility of some minor demon....all the grief & anger suffered by commuters fed the hell dimensions thru the ill will generated. The demon's reasoning was why spend much time & effort corrupting souls one at a time when you could slowly increase everybodies misery index. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:54:48 PM EDT
[#21]
Damn, looks like New Jersey.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:56:17 PM EDT
[#22]
Screw it, hit the go peddle and centrifugal force will throw you to the outside, that thing is just a skid pad.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 7:58:29 PM EDT
[#23]
M-25, designed by Crowley (An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards). Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, "Good Omens". I have a signed copy
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:03:31 PM EDT
[#24]
Remember National Lampoon's European Vacation? The Griswolds got stuck in the roundabout all day. And there was episode of the Simpsons as well that featured a roundabout. I get dizzy just looking at the one pictured here...
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:07:00 PM EDT
[#25]
No fair!  Signed by both? I'd never read anything by Pratchett before but was a fan of Gaiman from reading his "Sandman" comics.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:23:30 PM EDT
[#26]
Naw, just by Pterry. I've never met Gaiman, but I on the other hand, started to read the Sandman graphic novels after reading Omens. Try to get your hand on Euro editions! I was at Books-A-Million the other day and looked at the US versions and was aghast over the quality of them, or rather the lack thereof. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:34:04 PM EDT
[#27]
I already have most all the Sandman graphic novels but I'll keep in mind the Euro vs US info when I finally fill in the collection. I do need to replace my "Death:The High Cost Of Living"....loaned it out & haven't seen it since  Needless to say, I've learned my lesson.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:39:50 PM EDT
[#28]
The ones in Mexico are insane. No lanes, cars weaving in and out.
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:39:53 PM EDT
[#29]
I know I'm gonna get my ass kicked for this but you guys sound like a bunch of chimps pounding on some new invention. Roundabouts KICK ASS. They are easy to use and they're fast.
it's as easy as flying into the roundabout, checking to your left and either yielding or stopping if you have a car coming from the left or dropping the hammer if you're clear. Think if it like stop sign that you can run if there is no traffic. How many times have you been sitting at a traffic light and there are no other cars and you're thinking "this is fricking stupid" but you sit there anyway cause you're worried that if you take off, that cop sleeping behind the billboard will pull you over. With roundabouts that's eliminated. I'll tell you the best round about trick there is; In Finland they have bigger roundabouts made of cobblestone (really really slick when snowy). We had this little VW Golf that was like a golf cart on steroids. I think that's why they called it a golf. We'd FLY into that roundabout at about 40 mph when it was snowy and we had front studded snow tires, you'de be flying around that roundabout sideways, the studded tires just barely holding you in there, you'd be steering by looking out your right passenger window and you'd see how far you could go. Once we went around almost twice. Totally sideways. At the last minute you'd let go off the wheel and you'd straighten out and shoot the little sidestreet. Anyway, you amish people let up. Roundabouts rule and once you've been through one once, you'll see the light. One thing that DOES suck about roundabouts? Old Peeps in roundabouts. Going the wrong way. Stopping. Cursing. that does suck. CrashBurnRepeat |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:43:31 PM EDT
[#30]
"Look kids! Parliament! Big Ben!" My town installed what to my knowledge is the only roundabout in America. I've never navigated it because it's in a part of town I never need to visit. But they put a freaking roundabout in when a simple intersection would have worked fine. With predictable results. Many fender benders and crashing into curbs by US drivers who have never driven a roundabout in their lives and dont know what to do. It's difficult to plow the circular roundabout to remove snow, and when it becomes iced over, it becomes even more hazardous. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:47:40 PM EDT
[#31]
Washington DC has roundabouts. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:49:24 PM EDT
[#32]
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Posted: 5/2/2004 8:51:48 PM EDT
[#33]
Yes, but DC is laid out like a Satanic goat's head. 'Nuff said. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:24:03 PM EDT
[#34]
I spent 16 weeks in Barbados doing ALL that. The shifting with the left hand was wierd, but at least you can get a manual tranny rental. I had a blast with the roundabouts. Timing it just right and apexing the center if going straight or letting it drift if going 270 degrees. It was fun. I love roundabouts. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:28:38 PM EDT
[#35]
Hilton Head Island has roundabouts. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:29:36 PM EDT
[#36]
I agree completely. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:34:56 PM EDT
[#37]
I thought you were required to crank up Yes when entering.  CW |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:38:24 PM EDT
[#38]
my town has one and i got stuck in it for 15 minits
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Posted: 5/2/2004 10:46:26 PM EDT
[#39]
I ever drive into that I'm just gonna lay on the horn, act like I have no brakes and the accelerator is stuck and just blow through it.
I'm just seeing visions of lots of fiats and peugeots in a demolition derby..... |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 11:08:34 PM EDT
[#40]
I'm going to have to agree with crashburnrepeat. However, I'll admit I've never been in a roundabout as large as the one pictured. Holy crap!
We have one small roundabout over on the south end of Lake Sammamish. They are in the process of putting another in right down the road from me, on SR203 south of Duvall. I can't wait, right now you sit at a stop sign and wait for an opening in the traffic to turn onto SR203. It's pretty dangerous sometimes. Putting a stopsign in for SR203 traffic would FUBAR the whole situation pretty bad. A stoplight I think would suck ass too, with a roundabout you can keep everything moving pretty good. Unless you are a complete idiot, you can go around a small roundabout. There are a lot of whiners saying there is going to be a bunch of wrecks and bla bla bla bla bla but then when I lived in Montana and they were going to abolish the speed limit, the old grannies said the same thing but it never came true. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 11:09:49 PM EDT
[#41]
There's a roundabout less than a mile from my home. I think everyone here calls it the "traffic circle" though. It's ok, but damn you have to make sure the doofus on the outside turns when his lane splits out and not keep going around the circle when your trying to turn out too. Inside lane has the choice, but the outside lane MUST turn when the split comes up. I have to agree with LARRYG, we have a traffic light in this city that is split 5 ways, and my god it takes for freaking ever to get through it. The city had proposed to turn the 5 way light into a roundabout but eventually scrapped the decision. Now its the longest light in the city. |
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Posted: 5/2/2004 11:21:57 PM EDT
[#42]
my wife has a signed promo copy of the book store pre=release of Neverwhere. i could accept a round-about with a little public instruction. they seem really effed up to look at, but they make random sense as long as everyone is paying attention... |
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Posted: 5/3/2004 5:49:00 AM EDT
[#43]
Looks like the same pattern the liberals are using right now running around trying to find a way to keep the AWB.
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Posted: 5/3/2004 5:53:48 AM EDT
[#44]
Guy who designed that must have a lot of his family in the body shop business.
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Posted: 5/3/2004 5:59:35 AM EDT
[#45]
 Nuff said as to why they'd never work here in Northern VA..... I can just see VDOT plopping on of thosedown in our first-due area. If that'd happen, we might as well just assign a permanent-duty wagon & ambulance there.... they'd need it constantly.
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Posted: 5/3/2004 6:08:01 AM EDT
[#46]
Ah ha! Kar98, this thread is no doubt another ruse to post NAZI propaganda.
You can't fool me.... ...that's a Swastika!
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Posted: 5/3/2004 6:23:46 AM EDT
[#47]
Five roads meeting at a point....We call that "Five Points", and it looks like this:
 I've never had any trouble at this intersection. A five-way roundabout? Call the body shop. If you can't wait a minute for a traffic light, then you should have got up earlier. |
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Posted: 5/3/2004 7:10:01 AM EDT
[#48]
Thats easy to say until you've sat through this light a few times. And its more like 5 minutes at this light. YOUR 5 way light may be different than mine as far as amount of traffic that goes through it. |
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Posted: 5/3/2004 7:23:53 AM EDT
[#49]
The key to round-abouts: NEVER, EVER get out of the outer-most lane.
There's 3 in my area, one of which is on a US Naval base, it really did improve the traffic but there's only one lane to it, so you cant get stuck. Kharn |
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Posted: 5/3/2004 7:28:50 AM EDT
[#50]
"Look kids! There's Big Ben!" |
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