Easy guide for using a roundabout

That's quite simple really:

Or close your eyes, slam down the accelerator and pray to whatever God that you follow to make it out the other side.

Yeah. If you're a minor you have to take Drivers Ed that requires a couple hours of driving with an instructor. If you're an adult, you can just take the written and driving test. I think I just drove around the block, and did a reverse parking test for my driving test. Depending on where you live, roundabouts are not common here. I don't think I saw one IRL until I was in my late 20s when I moved to a different state.

That sounds wild. I imagine it varies by state and some will be easier than others.

In the UK you have a lot of lessons and practice getting used to driving the car and navigating traffic, as well as perform some manoeuvres; for instance a parallel park and bay parking. We practice the emergency stop, hill starts, and roundabouts and more.

Then you have the theory test where they ask questions about signs and road rules etc. many are common sense but people fail a lot.

Then you have hazard perception where you watch videos and click the hazards before they become a danger. This is harder as you have to click at the right points.

All in all it’s rather difficult to get driving and I am all for it as it means people on the roads can generally drive.

In Ontario / Canada it’s pretty much that. G1 - written test split between signs and road laws but you can only drive with another licensed driver of 5 years experience or more and can’t drive highways

G2 - driving test, low speed no highway. You do basic driving procedures (reverse, parallel, 3 point turn) I imagine doing a roundabout depends on where you live, but where I am they’re not close by so it’s not included.

G - same as above and then you boot down the highway for an exit.

TBH, passing is not hard in the slightest. And that’s improved from what used to be the 365 - you do a test get a license, drive for a year and do a road test after.

I had to some highway driving. But just a few hours.

Thats probably pretty accurate. I did have a class in High School where we drove on highways and what not. I am not sure it was a reauirement.

Its been almost 30 years since I got my loscence and I don't recall ever doing any renewal tests either besides the eye test where you look into the machine bolted to the counter.

Invoking the French is cheating though. They can barely handle the straight roads.

Dude I was in Paris once in a taxi (cab) going over that roundabout and let me tell you French people are insane. It was just road rage and every person for themselves.

Upvoted you because you admitted to being wrong.

in high traffic areas traffic lights are better.

Absolutely not. And roundabouts have traffic lights too, these are not mutually exclusive.

Not necessarily.

Roundabouts are used in area of moderate to high traffic where multiple roads meet and places where continuous flow is needed. Like motorway junctions. The junction near me is very high traffic, and we use a roundabout with traffic lights too. They can be less effective if the flow of traffic is heavy in one direction but not the other.

Traffic lights are used in busy urban areas where there are a lot of pedestrians or places with uneven traffic distribution. These can cause issues of slowing traffic in quieter times due to lights not really being smart and knowing when people are there.

A few actual problems:

• Because they don't provide any breaks in traffic, high flow times can make it difficult for people living downstream to get out of their driveway
• People with eyesight disabilities can have problems navigating them. Advocacy organizations would like them to use stop signs rather than yield signs, but this reduces the throughput of the roundabout.

Nope. Traffic lights create high traffic areas, by unnecessarily delaying cross traffic.

Near my parents house, there is a 6-way intersection. When I was growing up, it was served by traffic lights, with straight and left-turn lanes in all directions. Traffic was backed up all day long in 3 of the 6 directions, to the point that pretty much everyone waited through at least two turns.

A few years after I left home, they converted it to a two-lane roundabout. Traffic immediately died down. Now, you typically see one to two other vehicles when you pass through the intersection, and you never wait more than a few seconds to get through.

They are, but I feel like there are people who like to cause unnecessary confusion by making things out to be more complex than they are (not just limites to roundabouts, either).

Okay... Sending it to him cause he loves making fun of me for being american :/