Quote:
Originally Posted by Eagle
Round-abouts are a very safe way to control traffic at intersections. And it eliminates the need for a traffic light.
You see them all over Europe and especially in England.
By the way, there is no such thing as a dangerous intersection, only dangerous drivers.
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Roundabouts can be effective, especially if there is a secondary road with low volume involved. You'll find in areas where traffic volume is high, roundabouts tend to be designed to slow traffic down first. This is done through additional curves, eliminating a lane from formerly two-lane roads, and even making the circle smaller. The latter is particularly confusing for drivers, and can revert to an effective stop sign if the volume is high, and the traffic circle is too small.
There are a few benefits, the primary being more steady traffic flow and less fuel used, and typically wasted time. The trouble now is they have become trendy, and are being used in areas of high two-way traffic volume that are not great candidates for roundabouts. The Weirs junction is going to be interesting. The majority of the time, the traffic volume from Laconia towards Meredith should be much higher. But roundabouts depend on alternation AND rules of entering. These are two things that people have trouble with in ski lift lines, let alone on the roadways.
Should be interesting.