Yet another Hacker News

13 points ngruhn 1 day ago 17 comments

herbst 1 day ago | parent

The city I grew up in had no roundabouts back then. Today it does have some, some were even made and removed again since. People there hate roundabouts.

The city I live nearby now has so many roundabouts that I can drive for over an hour without seeing a traffic light. It always had those, people are used to using them.

Guess what works better and barely has any traffic issues at all.

LargoLasskhyfv 1 day ago | parent

As a bicyclist I hate them, at least the smaller ones. Because they slow me down, can't take them with 40 to 50 kph, need to slow down to 30. But that was the intent, yes?

However, crossings with traffic lights I can take at any speed I'm able to, when they are green for me, and I don't need to turn. Or if I can oversee them from afar, and they are empty, and I can give a shit about 'lights'.

herbst 1 day ago | parent

Some roundabouts here have bike pass troughs on the side (obviously only works if there is no turn to that side) for speedy drivers like you.

Other than that it's obviously by design. There is no reason to speed at constant 50kph in a city. Nether for a car, motorbike or e-bike.

rightnutwingjob 26 minutes ago | parent

The think I don’t like about not being able to “speed” at 50kph(!) through a city is that, at least in Australia with it’s excessive compliment of bureaucratic Karens, is the 30 > 50 > 70 > 60 > 40 > 30 > SCHOOL ZONE > 80 > 40 > 50 > 30 nightmare.

Which does two things, raises state revenue and causes drivers to spend way to much time concentrating on how fast they are going rather than driving to suit the conditions and paying focusing to what’s going on in front of them.

And don’t get me started on the pot holes.

brudgers 1 day ago | parent

[edit: for clarity, I am not against roundabouts]

I don't have real expertise in civil engineering

Traffic lights have a smaller physical footprint and require less construction activity.

Traffic lights fit on a cost spectrum from two stop sighs, to four stop signs, to stop signs plus blinking lights, to non-trivial signaling.

First make it work. Then make it good. Then make it fast.

Engineering is not a one size fits all discipline.

[edit: I have a background in urban planning, architecture, and real-estate development]

rightnutwingjob 33 minutes ago | parent

You forgot roundabouts with traffic lights.

Here’s one in Australia near Perth:

https://youtu.be/h8lhX9Q6Z5g?si=eloUWLcH8q3eJiZH

And I’m certain I’ve driven through other roundabouts with traffic lights in other states.

olyjohn 32 minutes ago | parent

The footprint is a cost problem once. They don't need power, computers, or technicians to come out and maintain the equipment constantly.

wat10000 4 minutes ago | parent

A roundabout can be as simple as a circle painted in the middle of an intersection, plus a bit of signage. It doesn’t have to be a big thing.

teddyh 52 minutes ago | parent

> Roundabouts come with this otherwise unused patch of land in the middle. Apparently, it has become common practice around the world to put some random art there, or a little green space, or a fountain, or a "welcome to this town" sign.

Or a dog: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roundabout_dog&ol...>

grebc 34 minutes ago | parent

I like roundabouts over lights at small intersections. I still prefer simple give way/stop that changes the next intersection over roundabouts.

Lights suck unless there’s sufficient traffic.

pornel 28 minutes ago | parent

This dreaming about roundabouts is as American as the fantasies about using metric one day.

orev 24 minutes ago | parent

They’re being used often in new construction areas. It’s just not likely that they’ll be retrofitted to existing areas due to needing more space than regular intersections.

derbOac 3 minutes ago | parent

They are everywhere in the areas around me now. I had a similar sentiment at one time and now they seem pretty common.

I think roundabouts work fantastically well in some places but in others they are unnecessary and in others don't work as well as alternatives. Maybe that's obvious but every so often I feel like they are overapplied — probably because of what you're mentioning, along with the fact they were underapplied in other areas in the past. I've come to like them usually but sometimes it feels like the civil engineers were having too much fun at the cost of practicality.

rusty_rick 27 minutes ago | parent

This led me down somewhat of a rabbit hole looking at roundabouts, then to the official roundabout page from the Department of Transportation, where I couldn't believe my eyes to see that National Roundabout Week is next week: https://highways.dot.gov/safety/intersection-safety/nrw

elisbce 6 minutes ago | parent

It is so funny to read this because in reality, roundabouts are some of the worst traffic congestion makers :)