I think that would be a better rule than those "map" signs that a newbie doesn't have the time to process. I know that when I was visiting here, I had no idea what those signs were indicating. Fortunately, I did not have an accident while I was figuring out what was proper. Now, I just have to deal with other people that don't know what they are supposed to do in the RBs.

When I am turning leftwards in the RBs, my turn single mechanism resists locking into place to indicate a right turn. I have to hold it in place to fully indicate.

Turn Signal Usage Would Help
 

I think people who use their turn signals in the roundabouts considerably help others negotiating the roundabouts.

Absolutely. This is the ONLY way. Mikey, "use either lane" is the root of the problem. That has people crossing over from the inside to turn right or go straight. And, by the way, TURN SIGNALS are standard equipment on your car for a good reason. Even though Florida drivers rarely use them, they can be a big help.

'...doesn't have time..."? Funny, - I always find that I MUST MAKE THE TIME to learn about the important things like rules and regs!

The round about problem could be corrected by posting a sign or painting arrows that state right lane must turn right. In so doing the driver in the inside lane can either turn right or go straight

Don Mc Grae
 

As an UK resident with loads of experience of roundabouts and an ex Villager, the answer to me is simple- EVERYONE enter the roundabout in the inside (RIGHT HAND ) lane, and everyone exits from the RIGHT HAND LANE- this keeps everyone in a controlled situation t and nobody gets hurt. I recall in 2014 a SMART car ( with a not so smart driver!!0 was in the outside lane ( LEFT HAND LANE) who decide to exit the roundabout and consequently was side swiped by a much bigger car in the RIGHT HAND lane- how stupid was the person in the smart car eh!! KEEP IT SIMPLE folks, stay behind each other in the RIGHT HAND LANE and NOBODY gets hurt!

Which would in effect turn the right lane into a first exit only lane, thus all other traffic entering from 2 lanes would be forced to merge into the left lane---sounds like a recipe for disaster

And this "solution" just turns the RBs into a single lane as suggested by others. The answer is simple----YIELD. This means YIELD to traffic in both lanes already in the RB, YIELD to the bozo cutting in front of you to exit from the left lane, and better yet, do not ride side by side with anyone in a RB.
Rule 1: 2 cars cannot occupy the same space at the same time
Rule 2: Something like 70% of ALL accidents have the same cause---failure to YIELD the right of way. I was hoping that by the average age of the TV drivers, we would have lost the "me first" attitude. (That would be the same attitude that causes drivers to race ahead of a golf cart to beat them to a merge, the same attitude that leads to roping off seats at the squares, the same attitude that makes drivers turn on red and cut you off, etc.)

Maybe nobody gets hurt (that's far from a certainty) but you've effectively halved the capacity of all connected roadways. Simply can't be done.

and BTW, I thought you had right and left mixed up until I realized that everyone in the UK drives on the WRONG side of the road (lol):smiley:

Are you turning left from the right lane???
 

The signs are very clear. Imagine you are going down a 4 lane road. 2 lanes in each direction. You need to turn left, do you turn left from the right lane? NO. Well this is true in the circles. Very simple isn't.

Wonderful.............90 posts and counting.

IMO ... get rid of the dual lanes ... single lane roundabouts ... yield to vehicles already in the roundabout ... majority of vehicles wait for a clearing to enter anyways

Bad idea as it cuts the bandwidth through the Roundabout in half. Just pay attention to the signs that indicated which lane you should be in.

There are no roundabouts in The Villages. What we call traffic circles are really just round intersections. If you treat them that way, you will never have a problem. There are no law in FL specific to driving in them except it's illegal to drive on the center divider. The lines in the "round" intersection mark the travel lanes just as though the road were straight and by law requires signaling before crossing them. You cannot drive willy nilly through them as you please, like it or not.

Actually, it doesn't cut the bandwidth in half. That would only be the case if all drivers maximized all the space in both lanes in the RBs and the RBs were completely filled to capacity.

I would add that you will see solid and dashed lines in the Roundabouts. Apparently, crossing a solid single line is discouraged but not illegal. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. Learned something new today.

Whatever. It cuts the maximum bandwidth in half. Regardless, it would create a bottleneck with 2 lanes feeding down to one. Happy?

Heheh. Yeah. And there are no interchanges on interstate highways...just intersections with overpasses. :)

Good one:BigApplause:

Two rules for modern roundabouts that are not well communicated:

do not pass other vehicles in a multi-lane circular roadway.
yield to all lanes in a multi-lane circular roadway

Not following these two rules is usually what causes most crashes at multi-lane modern roundabouts.

[QUOTE=ScottRAB;1086476]Two rules for modern roundabouts that are not well communicated:

yield to all lanes in a multi-lane circular roadway

I assume you mean UPON ENTERING
Otherwise, it reminds me of a law still on the books in Kansas from 1870's----"When two trains approach an intersection of track, both must stop and neither can start until the other one does"

I think exiting from the inside is just plain crazy, not to mention hazardous.
How about installing a sign BEFORE all entries that says "Merge right before entering roundabout", and having one lane only. As far as I know the only reason for two lanes is to accommodate emergency vehicles.

Sorry. It's the engineer in me. Two lanes feeding into the single lane RB may or may not create a bottleneck. Again, it is a capacity thing. I think for about 90% of the time, a single lane RB would move traffic smoothly. In the winter, during rush hour, one may experience a backup...

OOOOO I love that!! It would be way less scarey than what we have now. (especially in season)

Of course it is a capacity issue. I believe it would have an impact much of the time.

Yep. Single lane is simply not viable.

At Hilton Head Island, a solution that has worked for many tears is requiring you to be in the right hand lane to exit a traffic circle. If you are in the right hand lane, you must exit the circle at the next fork. You cannot exit from the center lane. In other words, there is only one lane exiting a circle, though it can immediately expand to two lanes

These circles are probably too small for that. It would require about 2/3 of the cars to change lanes in the RBs.

Roundabout Solution can be found
 

in these previous threads. In addition to these there are many more threads with 40-60 posts.
Enjoy!

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ght=round+bout 207 posts

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ght=round+bout 52 posts

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ght=round+bout 156 posts

There is nothing wrong with the roundabouts as they currently are. If people would look at the signs placed before entering each roundabout and follow the paths shown (remembering that a vehicle in the inside lane that entered the roundabout earlier can turn right), there would be no problem.

Yes. The signs are perfect. Basically, just remember that a car can use either lane to exit or continue around, depending on where it entered the RB. How simple. I wonder why there is so much confusion.

This is not true. According to the signs (on the roundabout near where I live anyway), for the first exit you should be in the right hand lane and not the left hand lane. If you are going straight through the roundabout, either lane is OK. If you are going 270 degrees around you should be in the left hand lane. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

That's from your perspective. The vehicle that got onto the RB from another street sees it differently, thus a car can exit, or not, from either lane. now, if you can keep track of everyone and where they entered, you're doing pretty good.

It doesn't really matter as a car in the RB has the right of way over cars trying to enter the RB. At the bottom of the RBs it goes down to one lane so a car in the RB already (and not exiting before it goes down to one lane) can then position into the correct lane for an exit (and they have the right of way over cars trying to enter). If I enter from my Villages and plan to exit immediately then I will be in the right hand lane. If I am going in the opposite direction (270 degrees) I can enter either lane as I know from the signs that either lane can go straight through. I don't see an issue. Works great for the vast majority of people. Those who have problems with the RBs will probably have problems with any form of intersection.

The easiest explanation I ever read was, think of a 4-way stop for two 2 lane roads intersecting. If you were making a right turn you would be in the right lane. If you were going straight, you could be in either lane. If you were turning left, you would be in the left lane. Same idea but convert it to a circle, now you have it.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications...mages/fig4.gif

Read the previous 112 posts!

We have a new Roundabout on US Hwy 59 at Detroit Lakes. There is one lane only..busy highway

How many lanes on the approaching roadways?