Thursday, July 15, 2010

Roundabout Rules

If you stop at a roundabout and wait for the roundabout to be clear before you venture into it, you will not only have to wait a long time, you will also end up with very many cars behind.  The grand purpose of roundabouts is that you usually don’t even have to stop at all.

And turning on your left blinker is pretty pointless in a one-lane roundabout.

(23) Comments
Posted by Wendy at 0942 hrs


  1. I guess some people take Yield signs seriously, where others don’t. The ones that don’t have almost clobbered me 7 times this year up here in GB.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1000 hrs


  2. Round-abouts are the last bastion of every man (or woman) for themselves.  It’s Thunderdome - two men enter, one man leaves.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1014 hrs


  3. You yield until there is a gap, not until the entire roundabout is free from cars, trucks, and birds.

    From the DOT:

    Steps for driving a roundabout:
    1. Slow down. Obey traffic signs.
    2. Yield to pedestrians and bicyclists.
    3. Yield to traffic on your left
    already in the roundabout.
    4. Enter the roundabout when
    there is a safe gap in traffic.
    5. Keep your speed low
    within the roundabout.
    6. As you approach your exit,
    turn on your right turn signal.
    7. Yield to pedestrians and
    bicycles as you exit.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1016 hrs


  4. I was in New Berlin last night coming from BW3’s at about 9:30 and tehre4 was some yahoo stopped in the left lane of the norther end of the northern round about. 2 cars piled behind him and others coming around not having a clue what he was doing and stopping all the traffic. Stupid round abouts (and drivers)

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1024 hrs


  5. Is it any wonder that after the first couple traffic-count-killing roundabouts in Milwaukee had the desired effect of killing off traffic, the rest of the ones put in by the DOT have been in fast-growing, Republican areas?

    Posted by steveegg on July 15, 2010 at 1056 hrs


  6. That stretch near Cabela’s is damn near undriveable now.

    That used to be an easy drive across both 41 and 45.  Even with a light at Cabela’s. 

    Now it is ridiculous. I’d like them to rip it all out, but I know that won’t happen.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1228 hrs


  7. Can’t wait for more multi-lane roundabouts to start popping up.  That should really increase the b@#$! factor among older drivers.

    If there’s a problem at a roundabout, it is the fault of a driver around 100% of the time.  And if you cause an accident at a roundabout, DOT should make you tape that list Wendy shared to the corner of your windshield.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 15, 2010 at 1231 hrs


  8. Look kids…Big Ben…..Parliment!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1233 hrs


  9. The grand purpose of roundabouts is that you usually don’t even have to stop at all.

    That might be the grand purpose, but I see way too many people zipping way too fast through those… most people think they’re small Nascar tracks.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1319 hrs


  10. Round-abouts are the last bastion of every man (or woman) for themselves.  It’s Thunderdome - two men enter, one man leaves.

    Who run Barter Town?

    Posted by Jay4Liberty on July 15, 2010 at 1330 hrs


  11. That might be the grand purpose, but I see way too many people zipping way too fast through those… most people think they’re small Nascar tracks.

    I’m makin’ another left turn.  I’m makin’ another left turn.  I’m makin’ another left turn….

    Posted by Jay4Liberty on July 15, 2010 at 1331 hrs


  12. Wendy you are wrong. 

    The purpose of roundabouts is to provide financial patronage to road building companies that support Jim Doyle.

    wink

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1425 hrs


  13. <blockquote>Who run Barter Town?</blaster>
    MasterBlaster run Barter Town.

    Posted by steveegg on July 15, 2010 at 1446 hrs


  14. Who run Barter Town?

    Diamond Jim and his road-building political contributors, of course.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1453 hrs


  15. The round abouts by Cabellas are insane. Why are ther 3 in a row. I feel like I am in a amusment park ride.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 1534 hrs


  16. The roundabouts here are a cakewalk. When I visit family in the metro Detroit area I have to deal with 3-4 lane roundabouts, 10 times the traffic, and people who have 1/2 the IQ points of Wisconsinites.

    Posted by NinjaEema on July 15, 2010 at 1637 hrs


  17. They do work well in certain areas. The one for Q and 164 is a good example. The three by Cabelas are ridiculous…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 15, 2010 at 2258 hrs


  18. I want to have the name of the idiot that puts these things in or around industrial parks and commercial areas undersized for the type of vehicle driving those areas. Better than 80% of the ones I have to drive through are barely radiused for a large pickup much less a tractor trailor rig. Running over curbs no matter how slowly and carefully is not good for wheels and tires and I don’t like to do it and then add the factor of folks that can’t seem to wrap their brain around the concept and bad things have, do, and will continue to happen.

    Posted by fishaddict on July 16, 2010 at 0748 hrs


  19. SOME roundabouts might have been a good thing, but Doyle and his road building lackeys put over 150 of the things all over the state, some in places where the local governments actively opposed them. These things were forced on our communities in the typical Democrat modus operandi - “We know what’s best for you.”

    In order to get home from I-43 I have to drive through 4 of these things in 4 miles of Hwy 42. That’s one roundabout per mile! What’s been happening since the state wrecked highway 42, is tons of traffic is taking highway 32 around all the roundabouts over to highway 23, a modern 4-lane divided highway with no roundabouts. Hwy 32 is an ancient two-lane road that has now become a heavily travelled trucking route.

    The Democrats will never get it - you can’t repeal the laws of supply and demand! As hard as you try to control the behavoir of people with your government edicts, they will always take their own path. Communism and socialism have never worked anywhere they’ve been tried. And the American people hate it!

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 16, 2010 at 0802 hrs


  20. Am I the only one who LOVES roundabouts? Once people figure out how to drive them, there is no better way to keep traffic moving. To me there’s nothing worse than sitting at a red light when I’m the only car on the road.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 16, 2010 at 0819 hrs


  21. The new one here in downtown West Bend is certainly a slap in face to West Bend Transit, they have been a trucking business for about 100 years and just a stones throw away from that dinky little roundabout, you would think city planners would take things like this into consideration. Are they saying we dont want you here take your semis and find another place?

    Now the new directive with the DOT is the center of these must be green space. I pity the person who must dodge traffic on a mower to reach the center, why not put down fabric and stone and spray it for weeds once or twice a year.  Imagine the cost of paying a union salary with a truck and trailer and mower to cut all these, talk about create a job

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 16, 2010 at 0903 hrs


  22. When i took a couple of weeks and drove around England and Scotland - I fell in love with roundabouts.  But they were new and exotic - traffic flowed very well - but none of the roads were straight many times many roads flowed into one point - and most importantly - EVERYONE (expect me in the beginning) new how to drive them.  I learned quickly - and then it was great - i drove 1500 miles and it seemed i never had to stop!.

    But - around here - the roads are straight - the trucks are much larger - and few know how to navigate them.  I know that no one is going to learn how to drive on them until we have them - but we should tread carefully - put them into lesser used places and ones not frequented by larger trucks.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 16, 2010 at 0959 hrs


  23. For me it isn’t that roundabouts are great, it’s that the alternative, the traffic signal, is the worst thing ever devised for efficient traffic flow.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 16, 2010 at 1123 hrs


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