The British are WEIRD

[telkanuru]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...dabout_eng.svg

[parrythis]

Well, what do you expect from a country that drives on the wrong side of the road?

[HDG]

Blimey!

[Gav]

You have to see it in real life.

I also think that the first of these came from another country...

[ESLyon]

I wonder how many accidents happen there a day...

[telkanuru]

This one is by my house and is pretty terrible.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...,0.009012&z=18

[sabreur]

I've driven through the Swindon magic round-about.

The one thing about driving on the "wrong side of the road...." Right of way makes a lot more sense. Because the people you have to yield to are coming FROM the right and it is much easier to see them. In a left-hand drive car, you have to look through the passenger side window to see people approaching from the right.

Doesn't really matter in the US, where you don't have many unmarked intersections, but in Germany, there are many unmarked intersections where you have to know the rules of right of way.

[TBean]

People ***** about the rotaries in Massachusetts, and they have nothing on that deathtrap. Yikes.

[Mr.MightyMouse]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...dabout_eng.svg

No biggie, you should see some country roads in Slovakia.

[Inquartata]

Doesn't really matter in the US, where you don't have many unmarked intersections, but in Germany, there are many unmarked intersections where you have to know the rules of right of way.

"Why don't you just remove Harol"---er, I mean, why don't you just mark your intersections? What happened to that famous German over-engineering mentioned on another thread?

[jeff]

People ***** about the rotaries in Massachusetts, and they have nothing on that deathtrap. Yikes.

this thing beats the Chelmsford 5-way intersection for inspired lunacy

[SabreReedfrost]

oh dear god...

[Wallance]

I could imagine someone caught in the middle unable to find the way out...

[Inquartata]

And that's when the minotaur gets you.

[Elendae]

Doesn't really matter in the US, where you don't have many unmarked intersections, but in Germany, there are many unmarked intersections where you have to know the rules of right of way.

I'm glad I won't be driving when I'm in Germany next year.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

There are quite a lot of circles in DC that are... inspired.

I'm starting to get at least the idea of some the NW circles, mostly ones along Massachusetts Ave, mostly Dupont- "Intersection of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire Avenues, and 19th and P streets, with an underpass for Connecticut Avenue and an express lane for Massachusetts Avenue"

I can manage driving in Western MA (remember the Smith Club Nationals thread that was all "wtf is up with drivers and pedestrians??".. yeah.) I can do driving in RI (challenging). I've got Cambridge down, and Boston is mostly on. But Virginia/DC is weird, possibly because most people aren't from here originally, so there isn't one driving style to get used to.

[Rabid Monk]

These two are in my city.

The first is the Pembina-Osborne junction. It has been named (appropriately): "Confusion Corner". Think it looks straightforward? Try turning left from Osborne (a.k.a. (at various points along its length) Dunkirk, Dakota, Colony, Balmoral, Isabal and Salter) Northwestbound onto Pembina Southwestbound (a.k.a. McMillan, a.k.a. Rte 42).

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...sioncorner.jpg

It isn't unknown to get cars coming the wrong way through the bus loop (labelled in red). How they get in there I've no idea. (The obvious choice, looking at the image, would be from Corydon. But trust me on this, that would take serious inventiveness.). It's just the nature of the corner.
Oh, and the section right before Osborne where Pembina Northeastbound splits? It becomes two lanes on the left, and two on the right. Only one of the two lanes on the left is for turning. The other one goes straight through, like the ones on the right. There's no reason for it (as opposed to not splitting Pembina). It's just an extra section of separated road to add to the confusion.


But, for all that, it's not that bad. Once you know it, it's fairly routine.

The worst intersection in my city (that I've found so far) is this:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...pringfield.jpg

Assuming you can manage to pronounce Lagimodiere, realize this:
As you come down Springfield (from the left of the screen) approaching Lagimodiere, you have two lanes each way. On the other side of Lag, Springfield has one lane each way. Neither lane is marked as a dedicated turning lane, meaning cars from each will filter into one lane as they cross the intersection (this, by the way, is not the only intersection in WInnipeg with this feature, merely the largest). This is in addition to the fact that you are crossing three roads. So, do you stay in the left (median) lane, wait behind people turning left, and hope that the guy in the right (curb) lane doesn't crash into you as you both try to squeeze into the one lane? Or do you go into the right lane, and hope that the guy in the left lane is actually turning left? Bear in mind that this is Winnipeg, so you can't rely on people using turn signals.


By comparison, I think that traffic circle in the first post is straightforward. We could use amore in my city. We only have a few, all along one small stratch of road hidden away form the busy streets, in the downtown nightclub district. I think they're there to confuse people who try to drive home from the club after a few too many (last time I was in the area (as DD for a friend), I saw one poor sap destroy his wheel by losing control and slamming on the gas in one of the roundabouts. I just laughed).