Tips for driving in The Villages
 

After 6 months here, I know this is like nowhere else for driving, due to golf cart traffic, construction, we are old, and odd infrastructure.
This thread is an opportunity to post your very best POSITIVE ideas for promoting safe, efficient traffic.

Suggest you give only one idea per post to give everyone a chance.

SUGGESTION: RESIDENTS SHOULD USE THE VISITOR GATE
My suggestion is that residents use the visitor gate when it would be more efficient to do so. Often I find a line at the resident gate and no one at the visitor gate. By using the visitor gate, which responds to the electronic card just the same, both gates can be operating, thus speeding the flow of traffic.
And I favor using some visitor gates when it's just me going through because they are easier and quicker to use (the eye is further from the gate so I don't have to full stop and the passage is straight ahead rather than to the side.)
It's a jungle out there,
Kitty

I agree with using the visitors gate. When I first moved here I felt like if would be "cutting in the line" if I did, but a gate attendant told me they prefer it because it moves more traffic through the gate.
I would also recommend that you use the inside lane when going three-quarters of the way around the roundabout.

Be careful at the roundabouts especially if you assume the other driver will know the rules of negotiating the roundabouts successfully.

That's not a recommendation; that's the law!

My recommendation is that a sign with words be added to the roundabout graphic, which IMO is hard to read when you first encounter it. Something like "Treat As Four-Way Intersection," or "Use Inside Lane When Going Left."

Kitty, your suggestion is spot on. I could never understand why people would line up to use one gate when the other one is empty!

And the comments regarding the roundabouts are also correct. They operate just like a four way intersection: you turn left from the left lane (inside lane); you turn right from the right lane (outside lane); and you can go straight in either lane.

All gates operate with the button. Why the distinction, why the card? Attendants would be for information and emergency vehicle traffic. I guess using the card slows traffic and gives cart traffic a chance.

Pay attention when at a traffic light and be ready to go when the light changes.

I see people texting, gabbing on the phone, reading something and doing every thing else but looking to see when traffic moves. This causes huge gaps and instead of 20 cars making the light, only 10 do. This causes wasted gasoline. Nationally if people maintained gap control at lights, three million gallons of fuel saved every day.

And this is amplified here in TV. I realize reaction times are more and people drive slower in general, but you can look and be ready to move when the car in front of you does.

I think it originally was going to be a true "gated" community, but then changed because road maintenance would have had to be paid for by the residents, not the counties. I could be wrong. I'm sure someone will correct.

I like the card because I don't have to get so close to the post to push the button. You can wave the card from farther away. Saves wear and tear on my side-view mirror!

but folks who are 1st in line at the red traffic light should take a deep breath or count to 5 before entering the intersection - just in case there is a driver running the red light from the opposite direction. and traffic behind that 1st car should not be so quick to honk the horn!

Always look left, look right, look left again and then go. 2 seconds max required to do that and does not hold up traffic. It's cars two though X usually causing the issue.

My daughter was pulled over by local law enforcement regarding using the proper lane when driving through a roundabout. He didn't ticket her, just a lesson.(I'm convinced it was becuase she is a cute kid:))

Second, I have to text at the light when I stop because it's illeagel for me to do it while driving now.....

Don't text at all when in the car--unless you're the passenger!

I don't have to open my window when using the card. Handy when it's raining. Also, wear and tear to the driver side window system is dramatically increased as a result of the more than normal usage in The Villages.

I may add, don't talk on the cell phone. This is distracted driving. I could never understand why someone gets into a car and must talk with someone while they drive away. That goes for golf carts also.

Question
 

We were in TV over Labor Day and will be returning in 2 weeks to buy a home. I had difficulties with the roundabouts. Are they all the same? It seemed that some of them let both the left and right lane turn right at the first quarter around. If you are in the right lane, is it mandatory to turn right at the first quarter? If they are all the same, it would be easier to get the hang of using them.

I think they are all the same, at least 466 on south. You may turn right or go straight through (think four-way intersection) in the right lane. However, if you are going 3/4 of the way through (as if you were turning left at a four-way intersection), you MUST travel in the inside (left) lane. When you begin to cross over to make that turn, make sure you have your right turn signal on so people approaching the roundabout will yield--which they are supposed to do anyway, but some won't because they think yield doesn't mean for that lane if they are not going to use it.

The other thing to remember is that the yield sign when you approach the roundabout means yield to BOTH lanes in the roundabout. If you see a car in either lane, you must yield.

One more thing... Don't enter the roundabout at the same time as another car who may be next to you as you approach the roundabout.

Hope this helps.

After driving in downtown Boston for 40 years, Manhattan for a little while and Manila, The Philippines for a year, the Villages is a piece of cake. It is one of the easiest most driver friendly places I've ever driven.

Come to a complete stop at stop signs with ur car and cart!

tips for driving in the villages
 

I always assume the other driver is going to do something stupid so I try to be aware of them and I always count to 3 at a stop sign, learned that in drivers ed when I was 16.

This will help you to undestand the roundabouts:
http://sumtercountyfl.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3939

This goes for anyone, anywhere.......Use your dang TURN SIGNALS.

For those totally unaware that your vehicle is equipped with such.....it's the little lever on the left hand side of your steering column. Push it UP for a right turn; DOWN for a left turn. It's not hard & takes very little physical effort. Most important, it gives other drivers on the road around you a good clue about your INTENTIONS.

I've seen countless times car drivers not know what to do when there is golf cart traffic to their right in the cart lane and they want to make a right turn. They stop, they wave at the cart driver, they speed up to pass the cart. Just like a golf cart enters the car lane to make a left turn, you should move to your right and enter the golf cart lane before making your right turn. This way the golf cart driver and you the car driver will know each other's sequence. So next time you need to make a right turn, put on your right turn signal and slide over to the right a short ways before the intersection in a good position with carts ahead and behind you. You'll find that making right turns will become a cinch.

:agree:
I see more wasted time from signal errors than any other thing.
Please with dark chocolate peanut butter cups on it....know that your signal makes all the difference in aiding the flow of traffic because you are communicating your intention to those around you.

If you wait too late to signal, or even brake first, it's just about the same as not signaling as far as being a good communicator. You lost a chance to give people a heads up so they might enter the street you are on while you slow down to turn. Now they'll wait for 6 more cars, 3 carts and a concrete truck.

Expect the unexpected at least that's what they informed in defensive driving school.

I agree that blinkers in cars are there for a reason as well as seat belts. :smiley:

I don't know that I agree with this. All carts must exit the golf cart lane before an intersection anyway, so there is really no golf cart lane up at the intersection. The intersection would consist of a line of golf carts (who have exited when the golf cart lane disappeared) and cars, all in one lane. I can't think of any four-lane roads that have golf cart lanes, so what need would there be to get into a golf cart lane before an intersection on a single lane street?

Umm... all Michiganders are exempt from this rule.

This might be helpful

https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/...11442322_n.jpg

Your reply tells me you don't understand and probably aren't doing a right turn properly. The next time you're southbound on St. Charles and want to make a right turn on Tamarind Grove Blvd, what are those golf carts southbound on your right going to do? They aren't going to exit the road just because you want to make a right turn. This pertains to when cars and carts share the same roadway. Happens anywhere there is a painted cart lane to the right.

So remember, just like a golf cart enters the car lane to make a left turn, you should move to your right and enter the golf cart lane before making your right turn. This way the golf cart driver and you the car driver will know each others sequence.

I think everyone issued a resident ID card (and renters getting the owner's ID card transferred to them) should first have to attend a one-time class on "Driving in The Villages 101".

It would cover
- everything in this linked Roundabout Brochure, and especially the advisory "DO NOT ENTER next to a vehicle in the roundabout, as that vehicle may be exiting at the next exit" (http://sumtercountyfl.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3939 )
- everything about driving golf carts on multi-modal paths and diamond lanes;
- the ramifications of speeding in a non-street legal cart and what the fines add up to;
- tunnels and turning into them squarely instead of cutting diagonally across the other driver's lane;
- and all the things people complain about on these threads;
- what a turn signal is for;
- and everything else that's unique about driving in this huge place.

They are VALID complaints but people can be taught!

Yes, yes, yes!

I did not know to do this. thanks.

Okay, now I see what you mean. However, I do not turn right when there is a golf cart in the lane beside me, or even close behind. They have the right of way because they're on the right. I still would not enter a golf cart lane in my car. I thought they were for carts only. They're not even wide enough for a car.

Could we hear what others do in this situation?

Cyndy also has a point. As Rev Tavye says, "You are both right."

That is a good suggestion as illustrated on several roundabout signs:024:

Please do NOT DRIVE your autos in the GOLF CART tunnels!

Several times a year they have to be extracted !

I have noticed that having a little dog in your lap while driving is popular here.

In some cases, primarily on the main roads such a Morse, the golf carts must exit the golf cart lane and merge with car traffic before approaching the intersection. The reason for that is probably what you're talking about.

One of the problems that I see pretty much every where, is that drivers don't know the right of way rules for intersections. I can't tell you how many times I've approached an intersection and a car that has either gotten their before me or is on my right sits there and waits for me to go. When I finally decide that they are going to go first, I begin to proceed and, of course, they begin to proceed at the same time. Then we play the little start stop game until one of us goes. It's very simple the car that gets to the intersection first has the right of way. If two cars get there at the same time the one on the right has the right of way. It's simple but I would bet that over half the people on the road don't understand it.

Besides that we only know how to make Michigan left turns

That's right! You go THROUGH the intersection first... how to do that in a roundabout?!

Can you just post the right of way rules? thanks.
Kitty