The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Which one do you think works better? Roundabouts or Stop Signs/Traffic Signals? Also – which one do you prefer?
Talk about it….
roundabouts by a country mile, but only if people know how to use them. One bad apple screws it up for EVERYBODY. With the decline in driving aptitude I see all around me, I’m not hopeful it’d work.
I agree. They have added a few to the southern part of Kauai (in the Popu Beach area) and they seem to work work well, though there isn’t too much traffic congestion. I’ve driven about 2,000 miles in Europe (mostly Italy and Switzerland) in each of the last two years and the roundabouts work very well. One of the downsides to implementing them here is that they require more land than a regular intersection.
We need to bring back drivers’ education back into schools. That is where I learned how to navigate them. Most people here do not know how to use them.
Stop/traffic light.
There will always be red light runners, but I think traffic signals do a better job at forcing
traffic to come to a complete stop, except when they are making a right turn on a red,
where they usually roll right through without stopping.
Even though most people roll through stop signs without coming to a complete stop, I still prefer them over a traffic signal. Mostly because traffic signals stay red too long.
I’ve only used a roundabout a couple of times, it seemed OK, and if more roundabouts
were to be installed, I guess I could get used to them.
Be careful with those roll through stop signs. I did that about a year ago on Center Avenue in Martinez, I was coming home from work, it was around 9:30 p.m. no traffic whatsoever. However, there were a cop car on the side street and he pulled me over, I had just renewed my insurance and didn’t have proof of insurance so he wrote me up for that, which was just a $25.00 ticket as soon as I provided I had coverage at the time, which I did. He said he was doing me a favor, if he had giving me a ticket for not stopping it would have been several hundred $$. For some reason a lot of people don’t pay attention to stop signs at Sun Valley Mall, almost every day I see someone driving right through a stop sign. I have learned to not count on anyone stopping so I’m very careful, I don’t want to get hit.
As if there aren’t enough confused drivers already.
One in shopping center parking lot on Diamond Blvd.,
Drivers are constantly looking to their right for oncoming traffic,
not seeing any pull out and drivers coming from left slam on the brakes and horn.
.
Around Kaiser Shadelands offices, way they’ve redone street lane layout is %*$$!!.
Bike lane is now next to curb, next is vehicle parking, then traffic lane.
An let us not forget to mention little white posts and obstructions
to turning at corners sticking up outta da street.
Is this another knee jerk, brain fart, best ideas from CA state legislature?
Makes one ponder, did politicians get substantial campaign contributions from those selling physical street pollution?
.
Open your car door into oncoming vehicle traffic, goodbye door and possibly injury to yourself.
Lawsuit waitin’ to happen.
.
Then again, it is walnut creek – – – – – – –
Horrendous design; and dangerous.
Just like downtown WC.
I cannot stand these roundabouts. Of course, I hate traffic lights too, but I think they are the lesser of 2 evils. I cannot say why I feel this way, nor can I say which works better, as I am too busy cussing when stopped by either one.
Roundabouts. Traffic moves more efficiently. I (and everyone behind me) have been at a red light and no traffic in sight. With a roundabout, we all could be on our way sooner.
People don’t know how to use stop lights, so why bother with roundabouts?
when I was in the army, I was briefly stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland. I took advantage of my time there to drive to Washington and see the White House, Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial etc. I drove with a couple of friends toward Arlington Cemetary when I encountered a roundabout close to the cemetary entrance. I found it confusing and must have made at least three trips around the circle before I figured out the correct exit.
Later, I spent about six months at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. I found that New England has lots of roundabouts, so it didn’t take long to get used to them. Even with my many experiences with them, I never became a fan of roundabouts (AKA traffic circles).
Let’s face it… no one can keep their eyes on the prize while driving so crashes will always happen at both stoplights and roundabouts. Spent a lot of time in Europe and they can’t figure out how not to play crash up derby on their roundabouts and I believe they started them (fuzzy history). Don’t care either way “six of one half dozen of the other” enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIftWO56PZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdcr_u2mN4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86m3c5h4Bxg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuhrD-_Ic_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB3sbNQ1Qt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLJb-qd9fzk
Roundabouts are like three people trying to jump into a twirling jump rope at the same time.
Someone has to give, and we don’t have a lot of givers around here.
The guy who invented the roundabout owns a body shop.
Traffic circles.. Not even close. Even accounting for dumba**es.
Roundabouts, but drivers in this area are too ignorant to learn the rules of how to navigate them.
They work very well in the UK.
Drivers in this area don’t even know how to navigate a stop sign.
Stop signs…why? Look at the one at Landana by the plaza. There are still drivers that do not know how to use them or disregard them and go on their own accord. I’ve has several close calls. Traffic lights can be unsafe due to the idiots who always have to speed through as the light changes.
The all work if drivers obey them. In Europe roundabout are more common than in the US, there is 2 here in Concord that I can think of one is Walnut Blvd off Ygnacio Valley Road, and the other at the Veranda. I can’t think of a roundabout in an American City I know of. I remember when my exhusband and I drove into Vienna from Salzburg, it was rush hour, and we didn’t know the city of course, it was before GPS, and we got stuck in the roundabout, I think we went around and around several times, can’t remember if my ex didn’t know how to get off or if he was looking for the right exit.
in Europe: roundabouts
In US: Stop signs/traffic signals
Drivers in the US don’t understand roundabouts. Too many stupid drivers that make roundabouts useless.
I prefer yeild signs, stop signs, and traffic lights over rotaries, roundabouts, and traffic circles, because the majority of Americans traveling by automobile simply just don’t understand how rotaries, roundabouts, and traffic circles work. The traffic circle at The Veranda, off of Diamond Boulevard, is often bad, but the roundabout in Dana Estates, on Landana Drive, is absolutely horrible, it’s an absolute nightmare because travelers still don’t understand how to use this roundabout after being in place for close to 2 decades or longer, especially by cut-thru traffic during weekday commute hours.