Just need to vent...

The ones I've seen where those in the circle yield are clearly signed for it. Likewise, the local ones with incoming yield are also signed.

 

I wonder if some of those are traffic circles and some are roundabouts. I used to think those were synonyms, but it turns out I was mistaken.



(Hmm ... that graphic doesn't talke about some circles having the yield-to-entering-traffic rule. But this article does.)

 

Yep I've been to 18 countries and not ONCE have I seen a roundabout or traffic circle where someone inside was supposed to yield to anybody coming in. But, of course, there are "unofficial" rules like larger vehicles (especially buses) have the right of way and those fools WILL run you off the road with a smile on their face!!!
Fun memories!!

 

Roundabouts are more fun when you drive on the left and many of centers are one lane. Particularly in rural England and Wales where the lanes are also narrow.

 

Most US airlines let the first and business class passengers on first, then people with kids and then back to front in big groups. The whole carry on fiasco started when the airlines charged extra for checked baggage.

 

Yes, we do that, but the last bit is in smallish groups.

Also, in some smaller airports, for small planes like 737s they load from both the front and the back.

I've never understood the first/business urge to get on first. Maybe for a short flight. But the bulk of flights I take are between 7 and 16 hours: getting on early so I can sit there for an extra hour really doesn't appeal.

And yes, charging for checked baggage definitely adds to the chaos. You can really see the difference when you switch between full-service and budget airlines.

There are ways around it, though. Check out this unsuccessful Scottish boy-band member.

Rewind singer collapses after wearing 12 layers of clothing on flight - BBC News

 

Yes, I suspect that was me.

It's roundabouts, which they're not used to. And they're driving on the left, which they're not used to. And a lot of them didn't realise that, unless you specify that you want an auto and pay extra for it, you get a manual. It's chaos.

There is an argument that the roundabouts at Heathrow were necessary. But there's also an argument that they put them there because it would be funny.

 

Increasingly in Britain (very rarely in Australia), they've put traffic lights on some of the bigger roundabouts. So the cars on the circle have to stop and let incoming cars through.

It wasn't a thing when I lived there, so it came as a surprise when I first saw it on a visit to my parents.

 

I came across that when the GPS went another route once.

A roundabout, and other street layouts, is designed for a certain level of traffic. Get above it, and things start getting messy. Lights are probably easy and cheap to apply when that happens.

 

Yes, and it does actually seem to work reasonably well for high levels of traffic.

 

My favourite roundabout is in Swindon, in the South West of England. It's called the Magic Roundabout (after the spectacularly-strange 70s children's TV show). It is a bunch of mini-roundabouts set around a big roundabout.



So you can actually go around it clockwise on the outside or anti-clockwise on the inside.





Locals are fine with it. People from out of town get very confused.

When I worked in London, I once had a meeting very close to it, and we had to go through it after the meeting. It was fine for me, but one of my colleagues had come from Oxford. We were all pretty young at the time - just out of university. She had learned to drive when she was 17, but hadn't driven since: she was now about 22. The only way for her to get to this meeting was by car, so she'd borrowed her boyfriend's car.

Hitting this roundabout with that little driving experience would have been awful. But to compound things, her boyfriend's car was a 1965 Beetle, and it was left-hand drive!

We were behind her, and she just froze at the entrance to the roundabout. In the end, I got out, knocked on the window, and told her to just follow me. I went through the roundabout with my hand on the horn, to keep everyone else out of the way, and got her onto the road to Oxford.

She was really embarrassed, but I told her not to be. This was a really bewildering situation for anyone to be in: the unique and weird roundabout, heavy traffic, a lack of driving experience, and a car that really compounded all of the confusion would have made this impossible for anyone.

 

Swindon and sorcery seem to go together.

 

It's very close to Stonehenge. Lots of druids.

And weird circles.

 

Actually I was thinking of Tilda Swinton. mind stone threw me a tiny bit off.

 

Ah, right.

It's possible the name comes from the same root.

----

People in Swindon are odd, but not as odd as Tilda Swinton.

 

why are all you folks calling rotary's traffic circles or roundabouts?

 

Where I'm from, a rotary is an association of old guys who do charity stuff. It would be dangerous to drive around them.

A rotary is also what British people call classic Australian invention the Hills Hoist.



Again, don't drive around it. It's in someone's back garden.

 

we prefer these roads be referenced as 'Circle-Jerks'

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