Roy G Biv
Senior Member
Canadian drivers are bad, and will not be able to handle them.
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Star: City Hall eyes traffic circles
- Thread starter wyliepoon
- Start date
adma
Superstar
*Bad*? Shame on you! You hurt their feelings
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Canadians bad drivers? I'm offended! See you in court....
p5connex
Active Member
From the looks of it, Hamilton seems to be leading the way in Ontario with regards to traffic circles- i could be mistaken though- might it be K-W? Regardless, I think they are great and could work in both urban and suburban situations- I also cannot imagine that they take up any more space than a regular perpendicular intersection. That said, people need to get used to a concept, and feel comfortable with it as well-you cannot, as others have mentioned here, start putting them in anywhere and expect people to get it.
I think there are lot more traffic circles in Europe than people would like to believe- I have to navigate them all the time on my drive into Vienna- but again like anything you need to introduce the concept, get people used to it and then it will be second nature.
p5
I think there are lot more traffic circles in Europe than people would like to believe- I have to navigate them all the time on my drive into Vienna- but again like anything you need to introduce the concept, get people used to it and then it will be second nature.
p5
It is Waterloo Region that is leading the way in Ontario with roundabouts, and yes Europe has probably got 20,000 of them now - France for example is converting nearly every rural highway intersection into one (as well as many urban ones too).
Roundabouts do require a little more land than a normal intersection, so they cannot be plunked in anywhere.
Check out http://roundabouts.ca/ for lots of detail about their design, some North American history, and a long (but not exclusive) list of sites where they are currently going in.
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Roundabouts do require a little more land than a normal intersection, so they cannot be plunked in anywhere.
Check out http://roundabouts.ca/ for lots of detail about their design, some North American history, and a long (but not exclusive) list of sites where they are currently going in.
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GregWTravels
Active Member
I have seen this in other places as well (I think it was Paris, but it could have actually been Washington, DC). If I recall how it worked, often only one "entrance" to the roundabout was allowed in at a time.
Greg
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Now that I;m working from New Hamburg, outside of Kitchener, I've often shared the traffic circles with horse and buggy, and it's always worked nicely.
I've also lived in Fredericton, where the nearby town of Oromocto has really embraced traffic circles. Unfortunately the more vehicularly retarded drivers have trouble sorting out which way to go.
I look forward to these things replacing 4 way stops and some signalized intersections over the coming years. There will definitely be a break-in period for drivers unaccustomed to them, but they should help in the long run. Most significantly they cut down idling time, which means less pollution, and fuel wasted, and marginally shorter trips.
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RedRocket191
Senior Member
Just looking at that makes my brain hurt. I think I need to lay down now...
Chuck
Senior Member
The main reason why it doesn't make sense is because, being in Britain, the direction of traffic is backwards. If you copy the image to a graphics program and invert it, it actually makes sense. It's nothing more than a bi-directional roundabout, as opposed to a single direction roundabout which is what you see most of the time.
gibsonm
Active Member
More roundabouts please!
Yes, almost everyone who's used roundabouts enough to get used to them and compare them with regular intersections likes the roundabout choice. They keep traffic moving (no annoying late-night 2 minute waits at empty intersections) and are better for the environment. If designed correctly, they're easy for pedestrians to navigate. One important factor no one mentioned is that they are great for connecting more than just two intersecting roads that don't follow a basic right-angle street grid. So if we want more developments that follow the natural landscape and protect features like woodlots and hills, roundabouts are the way to go, since they allow for streets to curve and interconnect at unusual angles. They're also more attractive and much cheaper to produce. Traffic lights cost a fortune! Has anyone seen the archived City of Toronto plans for a "circus" (a la Picadilly) at Queen and Richmond? It was scuttled like so many grand plans. I do agree though that Canadians have to improve their driving. It's like we can't handle lanes that are any narrower than double car width. Great for the environment and city budgets!
Yes, almost everyone who's used roundabouts enough to get used to them and compare them with regular intersections likes the roundabout choice. They keep traffic moving (no annoying late-night 2 minute waits at empty intersections) and are better for the environment. If designed correctly, they're easy for pedestrians to navigate. One important factor no one mentioned is that they are great for connecting more than just two intersecting roads that don't follow a basic right-angle street grid. So if we want more developments that follow the natural landscape and protect features like woodlots and hills, roundabouts are the way to go, since they allow for streets to curve and interconnect at unusual angles. They're also more attractive and much cheaper to produce. Traffic lights cost a fortune! Has anyone seen the archived City of Toronto plans for a "circus" (a la Picadilly) at Queen and Richmond? It was scuttled like so many grand plans. I do agree though that Canadians have to improve their driving. It's like we can't handle lanes that are any narrower than double car width. Great for the environment and city budgets!
RedRocket191
Senior Member
My apologies. The sarcasm of my comment appears to have been lost.
JasonParis
Moderator
MTO could start the education process by putting traffic circles in their driver testing courses and books.
P.S. I want a Magic Roundabout shirt!
P.S. I want a Magic Roundabout shirt!
Lone Primate
Active Member
Queen and Richmond? But Queen and Richmond are parallel to each other.
Okay, allow me to be the Devil's advocate here. I was under the impression for that for most part, it was taken as gospel around here that building anything new that implied putting so much as a chalk mark on a brick was captial-B Bad.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong and I'll eat a bug, but given the footprint of a circle or oval as opposed to two intersecting lines, doesn't a roundabout at Queen and anything, or Richmond and anything, imply the pulling down of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars worth of adjacent residential and commercial property? And is this not the perennial signal for every ape in the NIMBY Zoo to jump up screeching and start flinging it? Careful, boys; you're in danger of being accused of building a city that favours the car over people — the very height of apostasy!