American reacts to "Roundabouts Are Safer. So Why Does The U.S. Have So Few Of Them?"

[@Hakuoro88]

I'm a french truck driver. On very small roundabouts, there is nothing in the center, so you can drive over it.

[@laurentpaumier3103]

That's exactly what i wanted to say. 😊

[@vHindenburg]

So are many small town roundabouts in the netherlands, just painted on the ground, they are so easy to make four signs and a half dozen hay bails.

[@helenwood8482]

Or you could learn to drive.

[@Rhianalanthula]

I've been on buses which have to go across mini roundabouts in the UK. Sometimes it's the only way to make a turn.

[@preachercaine]

@@helenwood8482 They are purposely done this way so larger vehicles can drive over them

[@kerouac2]

One of the best things about roundabouts is that if you miss your turn or get lost, you can just go around again.

[@LindaSjoeblom]

Sometimes when I want to go right and the right lane is full of cars that want to go right or straight ahead I choose the left lane, go around the roundabout one time and exit before those cars have even entered the roundabout.

[@CrazyInWeston]

​@@LindaSjoeblomThis is a loophole everyone should be utilising. The queues would get shorter. I do this myself if possible, its perfectly legal.

[@lloydmorganmoore7810]

And yet it's scary how often people still fly across multiple lanes to reach their exit in a panic because they're going to miss it. Boggles the mind.

[@craidiefin]

Or give time for someone to wake up your squad leader who fell asleep and figure out which direction you were supposed to go. If you've seen an apc circle a roundabout for 10 minutes, I'm sorry it was a long week.

[@trorisk]

I think the OP means that if you don't know the city and you're looking for your way, you can walk around quietly to look at the directions on the signs to know where to go. Plus you are in no hurry because there is "no one behind you".

[@eucitizen78]

Let's be honest.🙂 A Person who is not smart enough to understand how a roundabout works should not be allowed to operate a car. 😊

[@em0_tion]

Know your clientele, aim lower - lane discipline! 😂

[@stephenlee5929]

I don't think roundabouts are intuitive. I think you need to be taught. I also think you need consistent rules. I don't think all the US states agree on how roundabouts are supposed to be used.

[@vkdrk]

That's not how they do things in the US. You don't need to understand anything to be able to drive. They want you to drive (it's great for their economy when you do). Also, remember that it's A LOT easier to get a licence in the US and in most states, you can drive ''vehicles'' that would be illegal on European roads because of our strict safety rules. The things you can see driving around Florida or California...lol

[@alanmorgan5472]

America stop means stop!!! In uk stop means, go as slow as possible, then jump in the gap

[@DougBrown-h1n]

@@stephenlee5929 No it's not intuitive, though the only rule you have to get your head round is that vehicles on the roundabout have the right of way - and from that one rule, the rest is just commonsense. It's a bit ironic that the "United" States can't come up with a single set of rules to even govern using roundabouts! From over here in Europe, it seems strange and counterproductive that nationwide infrastructures which are used by all the States, aren't managed at a federal level.

[@malikovajana]

as European I love roundabouts because they are so much faster than intersection, in our country we have little gardens with flowers or with statues in the middle etc :)

[@em0_tion]

Hell yeah! Same in Bulgaria. 👍

[@glennhouben3385]

Belgium to :-)

[@vkdrk]

faster unless you are in the UK. They often put traffic lights there so you still need to stop and wait.

[@arttops2563]

@@vkdrk They exist but mainly they are unsignalled. (High from UK :D)

[@besticouldget]

Same in Finland! :]

[@merion297]

Most people don't recognise the most calming and most safe (safest? sorry) aspects of roundabout, even multilane ones: you CAN be confused. You HAVE time to be confused. WHY? Because it's a roundabout. IF you are not sure where's your exit, or you miss your exit, then simply go a round and try it again. Or again. You don't cause any trouble because you don't, stop. In a crossroad, if you are confused, then you stop. That's a problem. But in a roundabout, you can go round several times until you find your exit (even in complex roundabouts) so the traffic doesn't notice anything.

[@HenrikJansson78]

And also, a very important thing to remember. On every proper roadtrip, a couple of rounds in a roundabout is mandatory. :)

[@merion297]

@@HenrikJansson78 Exactly!! 😁

[@feha92]

@@HenrikJansson78 Yeah, anytime you are abroad and use a car, expect a couple loops in the roundabouts as the kids consult the map for their parent

And if you talke the wrong exit, just wait till the next roundabout and go back.

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

1 too many times around a roundabout and you will be pulled over given a ticket and a warning and be on your way.

[@conallmclaughlin4545]

The problem with lights is, people just do what the light says... They go on green without really paying attention. At a roundabout YOU need to decide when it's safe to go

[@em0_tion]

Imagine driving around in a killing machine and wishing your brain can just shut off! 🤦‍♂😂 Like not paying attention to where you step on a construction site. Crazy concept!

[@HiopX]

Oh no. Personal responsibility

[@Mongolenfreak]

ever seen dshcam videos? it woul'd be greatg if people would stop on a red light... oh the car in front of me drives, so its free to go!

[@lycheemyusic]

@@Mongolenfreak facts

[@Ethan_Cubed]

some roundabouts do have lights though. particularly roundabouts on the motorway

[@RandomNon-interestingguy]

25:25 "I like a mayor who is able to think outside the box" - I was so expecting a "circle" joke

[@frankygiannoni2294]

If roundabouts scare the Americans, I wouldn't imagine their reactions if they had to drive through the magic roundabout in Swindon (England) 😀

[@continental_drift]

I've only seen videos of it but it does look like magic.

[@petergaskin1811]

There used to be one on the far side of Colchester on the old A12, double or maybe even triple. I just about remember that the main road went left. I'm trying to remember from 1975.

[@bartsimpsonhead]

Also "a" Magic Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead - kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3aVppqdntOKoLc

[@L4NC3_L0T]

That was my first thought as well ^^

[@1966Birger]

I drove that one when working in the UK. It went very smooth :-)

[@johankaewberg8162]

Great scene from a Swedish commercial, scene: Extremely nervous girl doing her license test. Instructor: “And now, straight through the roundabout…” Student proceeds to do literally that.

[@noefillon1749]

My parents once rented a car with a GPS that used to say "Traversez le rond-point" (French) which litteraly means "cross through the roundabout", which was supposed to mean "go straight on". I'm amazed that people thought that was a good choice of vocabulary.

[@feha92]

@@noefillon1749 Wouldn't a more accurate translation be "traverse the roundabout"?

[@qgame4941]

that wording is wild. my (German) GPS tells me to 'leave the roundabout at the n-th exit no matter where I need to go. tbf though I would expect people to understand they can't go through the isle in the middle, although I have seen a few very small roundabouts which are just painted on because cargo vehicles wouldn't get across otherwise, you still aren't allowed then though xD'​@@noefillon1749

[@jensholm5759]

I have an old one for You. A one way street ? But I only drive one way...

[@noefillon1749]

@@feha92 I don't really know the exact nuance behind the word "traverse" in English. What does it mean exactly?

[@AlexFranceParis999]

At 1:12 Ryan: "This is terrifying" 😁 . The huge Arc de Triomphe roundabout in Paris, with 12 avenues, unusual rules (cars entering the roundabout having priority) and high traffic is a nightmare for foreign drivers. But they usually survive this experience 😅

[@braingasim]

USA Ex pat living in the Netherlands, the roundabouts here with bike lanes are VERY safe to use. Pretty much every road has a separate bike lane to let the bike go through. Some even have bike bridges to cross over the busier streets! Worth checking out a video about Bikes in the Netherlands.

[@andyshtroymish4997]

You do know that Netherlands live in the future not only in terms of traffic, don't you?😅

[@feha92]

@@andyshtroymish4997 But also in terms of timezone!

[@WhoStoleMyAlias]

You should visit the Delflandplein in Delft, the most deadly roundabout in the entire world.

[@MB-sb4cz]

6:47 No, you should always be on the inside when turning left. The only exception is when the arrows in your lane tells you otherwise.

[@Baby4Ghost]

Shouldnt that be common sense? Because you dont drive on the right lane, to go left?

[@gerardflynn7382]

Or you could be driving on the left. As in some countries.

[@MB-sb4cz]

@@gerardflynn7382 Yes. It would be interesting if you did that in the US. LOL

[@feha92]

In that image signage told you otherwise, and signage is just as valid as paint in the asphalt. Also, while I overall agree with what you said for 2-lane roundabouts where there is no signage or paint (though I have never seen one that lacks both), I also would like to argue that nothing (on said signage-lacking roundabout) can _forbid_ you from being on the outside despite turning left. It will still work. One of the best perks of roundabouts is that they will still work and be safe even when drivers are confused and end up changing their mind for which exit they will take - or even go multiple loops for whatever reason (changing their mind, seemed unsafe to take exit that first pass, passenger consults their map, etc.)! Yes, it is not ideal, and if they knew they wanted to go left they should have picked the inner lane (and if there were 2 lanes at entrance, used the left lane to signal their intent to enter inner lane), but that doesn't prevent them from behaving as if they were in outer lane because they wanted to go straight when their entered in the prior exit/entrance (and repeat that frame-of-mind each time they pass an exit, until they ended up doing 42 loops around it). In short: what you are describing is only a recommendation (even if it is a very sensible one), and most work like in that image where the outer lane is also _allowed_ to go left, u-turn, or even do loops.

[@MB-sb4cz]

@@feha92 The vehicles on the other entries of the roundabout predicts where you go based on your lane placement, so what you say is ok will impinge traffic and increase probability of accidents which is against the purpose of roundabouts.

[@RoyCousins]

Roundabouts to Americans are what Stairs are to Daleks. 😉

[@Badgersj]

🤣

[@nolaj114]

😂

[@insu_na]

Was just about to say: countries with oil about to build lots of roundabouts to keep out the Americans 😂

[@LuxieDamned]

I laughed more than I should have

[@EdDnB]

⁠@@insu_naThey like to call them… notanamican’about 👍😆

[@phillipescott9764]

In some places in the UK we have ‘spiral lane roundabouts’, where you choose your lane on approach, follow the road markings and emerge at the right exit. They look a bit more complicated but are really very efficient (once you get used to them).

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

those are turbo-roundabouts, the video mentioned them

[@funlovincop]

Regarding a semi-truck at a roundabout, you should always drive staggered with them, they need more space to turn and might not see you well. Driving side by side is just asking for trouble

[@RubberGopher]

Roundabouts are great for reducing idling and speed without the drivers feeling that they are forced to drive slow. The flow is more important than the average speed.

[@petergaskin1811]

If you had more roundabouts, you wouldn't need the rather silly (and dangerous) "turn right on red". All you have to remember is "give way (yield) to traffic coming from your left.

[@gerardflynn7382]

​@@petergaskin1811Plus turning right on red is for the US only. In Europe you will be arrested for turning right on red.

[@markthirkell7056]

The flow literally IS the average speed.

[@zwieseler]

Americans' greatest fear is..... change...

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Americans' greatest fear is.... common sense

[@heinv.frohnau505]

Or is it rather the fear of having to think for yourself?

[@MrThomashorst]

thats typical for all human😉

[@ryanwuzer]

tell that to Obama!

[@ryanwuzer]

following up on my comment because I realize I'm old as dirt and people outside the US might not know Obama won his first election on a platform of "change" with the tagline "Change." (he didn't actually change much lol)

[@stevieinselby]

The mini-roundabout at 3:06 (just a circle of paint) is basically our equivalent to the 4-way stop, except that there's no requirement to actually stop if you can see there's nothing coming from your right. 6:50, if you're turning left then approach in the left-hand lane ... that's what it's for! If you turn left from the right-hand lane then you're at risk of causing an accident because other drivers won't be expecting you to do that, so drivers entering the roundabout may pull out in front of you or drivers going the same way as you may sideswipe you. 8:45, with smaller roundabouts, there may be an 'apron' on the central island that is designed to allow the rear wheels of long rigs to overrun it, while still being rough enough to discourage car drivers from taking a racing line and cutting across it. 22:30, the turbo roundabout looks confusing from the air, but when you're in it you just follow your lane and it takes you through it without any great hassle or confusion - the key bit is getting in the correct lane on the approach! 24:10, the pinched roundabout is used because it only needs one bridge over the freeway underneath rather than two, making it cheaper to build and maintain. Functionally it is just like any other roundabout, just not circular.

[@SuperSerialnumber]

or left if you drive on the right side of the road :)

[@alanbicknell7696]

The trouble with mini roundabouts is that most motorists don't actually treat them as such and instead drive straight over them sometimes causing collisions.

[@grahvis]

@@alanbicknell7696 . Which, unless the size of the vehicle makes it physically impossible, is a traffic offence.

[@em0_tion]

Not reinventing hot water, but seeing what works for others and adapting it to your environment? Genius! Unheard of! 😂

[@markthirkell7056]

But first they must have eyes to see!

[@andypandy9013]

Even your TV show Myth Busters showed that roundabouts are way safer and faster than intersections.

[@Ethan_Cubed]

pretty sure Ryan didnt make myth busters but okay.

[@andypandy9013]

@Ethan_Cubed By "your" I meant the USA, not him.

[@deadpoetoftheyear]

In my city in Sweden of 100,000 we have 60 roundabouts. Most are small but they really help the flow of traffic.

[@sander_bouwhuis]

I'm from The Netherlands (Western Europe), and we have many roundabouts and I LOOOOOOOVE them! No useless waiting, and you can adjust your speed on approach, so you waste less fuel.

[@Stormyyyy...]

sounds nice :)

[@Badgersj]

I was driving behind an American friend as he came to his first roundabout. We were going right but he went into the left hand lane and drove round. It was interesting to see the muddle he caused as he cut across people trying to turn off. Somehow the traffic flow just works if everyone sticks to the correct lane - left (outside lane) if you're going left or straight across. Right (inside lane) if you're turning right. When you want to come off at the right hand lane there just is space for you to come across when you need to turn off - unless there is a snarl-up and everyone has stopped, or you meet my American friend in the wrong lane!

[@darkiee69]

Le me guess, you're British..

[@Badgersj]

@@darkiee69 How on earth did you work that one out?!!

[@darkiee69]

@@Badgersj Going left in the outside lane, and right in the inside lane. The opposite of most other countries. So you're driving on the left side of the road. You could've been an Aussie too, but they don't have badgers. 😁

[@patje89]

Even better for a town is to "rent" out the center of the roundabout. Allow a company to place a "default" commercial sign in trade for placing and maintaining the greenery and outskirts of the roundabout. Its starting to become very common in the Netherlands. It saves the municipality over 3000-5000 euro's p.y. p/roundabout maintenance costs which adds on over the lifespan of a roundabout if you have multiple.

[@Icemourne_]

Turbo roundabout can look confusing from above but if you choose the right lane then entering it will be hard to f up

[@annemarie7682]

i live near a little city ,about 27.000 persons we have 14 roundabout some with art ,a sun with gold on it , an ufo , etc , they are wonderful to drive in ,

[@Chris-Lynch]

If you’re driving and approach a standard roundabout, it’s honestly self-explanatory and completely intuitive. More complex roundabouts require checking the signs and possibly putting yourself in the right lane. Tiny roundabouts are excellent. And all over the UK. They basically replace the 4 way stop and have 3 times the maximum volume before traffic starts to back up! The fundamental problem with the “traffic circle” and probably why it’s hated in the US. Actually until recently, this was also true at the Arc de Triamph - and it’s just about right of way! He gave right of way to traffic joining. There is a certain logic to that but ultimately it tends to mean you can get on but never off because you got stuck in the innermost lane!

[@icetwo]

The small roundabouts are sometimes a problem. On normal-sized roundabouts there is a small green area with grass or flowers or something like that in the middle. often with works of art. They can be seen from afar. I once drove over a small roundabout in driving school because I didn't see it because it didn't have any green space. That was just an elevated area where (trucks and buses) drove over. My driving instructor said: take the second exit at the roundabout. And then I thought to myself: There will be a roundabout behind there and I have to take the second exit. By the time I had finished thinking about it, I had already driven over it and took the first exit (which led straight ahead).

[@SuperfluousIndividual]

Outside lane when exiting. Inside lanes when not exiting - there's specific rules for this according to the number or exits and lanes, for example, 3 lanes with 5 exits means you take the middle lane if you want the 2nd or 3rd exit and the inside for the 4th and 5th, but most people won't be upset at that. The important rule is the outside lane. You only take that one if you're exiting or if it's impossible to get in the middle lane, and that's because occupying the outside lane blocks people from leaving the roundabout as well. The dynamics are complex on big roundabouts, but experience them enough and they're not the monster everyone makes them out to be. Drivers in the roundabout ALWAYS have priority, no matter what. It's like being rear-ended (and yes, some people do abuse it for fraud as well, just like brake checking, where they speed up to hit you when entering when you had more than enough space to get in if they weren't a bunch of cucks). You do NOT stop inside a roundabout, unless traffic, obviously. Keep looping until you find your exit if you're lost. Bikes should NEVER drive between lanes inside a roundabout. Doing so is probably the fastest way to get to a hospital. As for trucks, just give them space and let them do their thing.

[@giselavaleazar8768]

Roundabouts for double lane roads here (Lelystad, Netherlands) are all of the turbo variety, so you don't need to think at all. You're guided into the right direction. You only need to sort left for left and right for straight/right and off you go.

[@Koen030NL]

That crazy roundabout @22:23 is not the normal for a bicycle friendly roundabout in The Netherlands. I believe most roundabouts overhere have a protected bike lane and pedestrian crossing (with a safety island in between the lanes) and they are very safe. And you are right, they are most efficient in more rural areas.

[@EveryCloud9999]

Roundabouts are great and really efficient. That’s until some idiots in the UK recently decided most of them now have the need for traffic lights to be added to them 🤷‍♂️

[@bronwyn6415]

Really, what's the point, I live in Adelaide south Australia and I hope I never see them here, totally defeats the purpose. I love roundabouts saves so much time.

[@leDespicable]

@@bronwyn6415 The only advante I can think of is that they'd cause less fatalities than regular intersections with traffic lights, since cars can't run red lights at high speeds and T-bone someone else

[@bronwyn6415]

@@leDespicable In Adelaide,SA it's mostly smooth sailing, the flow of traffic is good.

[@ondrejvasak1054]

Any time you have a random question why something is different in the US than other places, 90% of these, explanation is profits. The other 10% go back to racism. 😞

[@Herzschreiber]

wow, the one leading over the highway made my day!

[@Din1984]

You might want to look up "The Magic Roundabout" in Swindon. The designers must've been on something creating this!

[@Liggliluff]

(5:55) What he talked about was at the shaper the angle you have to enter it at, the slower you have to go to enter and leave. This isn't the size of the circle. He used the word "tighter" in this context.

[@namorhamsantorin]

Spot on. It is about the radius of the entry curve and the join to the flow around the centre. If you narrow the lane slightly on approach, and have a curve (or 2) as you enter the driver will generally and naturally slow down. On larger roundabouts you can then make the exist more tangential so the drivers can exit faster, returning to the main road speed.

[@Mirrorgirl492]

I've never understood what is so terrifying about giving way to another vehicle, especially when everyone else is giving way too.

[@jamesrhoades7061]

The first UK Roundabout was built in the Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire .England in1909. It's still in use till this day!

[@Mx-Alba]

2: Nantes, France. I've lived there. I can confirm. LOTS OF ROUNDABOUTS!

[@Liggliluff]

(24:04) There's plenty of those in Sweden and Europe for motorways. They can be weirdly shaped, but they still are roundabouts in the core because it's still just a single lap around and you have to yield to enter. It might look weird from above, but looks normal when you drive.

[@Steven.P.]

i'm french and my city have 43 roundabouts for 8,600 inhabitants

[@iseeyou3129]

thats a village not city

[@Steven.P.]

@@iseeyou3129 we don't make distinction in France, we have one word "ville" which can be used for every city, town, village ..., Paris with 2.1m inhabitants or Rochefourchat with 1 inhabitant the smallest city in France

[@Defianthuman]

8:50 here at Rowan University there is a somewhat major road(still 25mph) that cuts the campus in half, it has a lower middle section so that the tandems can run over the middle but only slightly.

[@Pellayson]

The best way to understand a roundabout is to think of it as 1 side of a carriageway (similar to a motor way) with all of the junctions on 1 side. You join it from one junction and leave via another junction. TTTT

[@Janduin45]

I sometimes try to explain it like that to people, but it seems I either do a shitty job or it's a real hard concept to imagine.

[@feha92]

@@Janduin45 Do you tell them to start thinking with Portals, and that the "carriageway" is a one-way street? Because that is what his sketch is missing: "OTTTTTB" (O is orange portal, B is blue portal, T is a t-junction where the top is a one-way road with priority).

[@scyphe]

I learned how to drive in a roundabout when I took my license. After going through roundabouts a couple of times when you've gotten your license it becomes second nature and you don't think about how it works. A decade ago they replaced a whole bunch of light intersections with roundabout and it's a lot smoother (and faster) to get from point A to point B.

[@Ausecko1]

My Aussie town of about 25000 people has no traffic lights, only give way signs (usually T junctions) or roundabouts. I assume it's because of the cost of maintaining traffic lights, especially in an area prone to cyclones.

[@Hakitosama]

the tighter the circle, the more centrifugal force. If you take a small roundabout too fast, you'll end up on the flank 10:59 they are bright, they are constently lit and you have the whole coordination between them to take into account

[@CM-ey7nq]

Even as someone from a Norwegian relatively small town I've comfortably done rundabouts in most major European cities and even the dreaded one in Paris. No worries at all. Never in London, though. Can't quite wrap my head around "the wrong side" (sorry) driving there. I can do just fine in the English coutryside, but in the larger cities I prefer public transport :)

[@jongustavsson5874]

Gotta say though, as a Swede with a high number of Norwegian tourists in my area in summer, every damn year there's at least one Norwegian that turns left into the roundabout and goes against traffic. Every year.

[@torejorgensen5344]

@@jongustavsson5874 😳 I don't quite understand how that is possible, because I feel we have roundabouts everywhere. We even have roundabouts inside tunnels, which can be a bit irritating if you are using a GPS to find your way and it has lost connection with the satellites so it doesn't tell you which exit you are supposed to take. Norwegians turning left in a roundabout either has to come from a very rural area, have lost their mind or for some reason think it is fun to create chaos in Sweden.

[@jongustavsson5874]

@@torejorgensen5344 hehe. Yeah, I'm not saying it ALL Norwegians by any stretch, but we manage to get the dudes that don't get them.

[@witext]

I freaking love roundabouts, every time i use one I'm like "the person who made this deserves the noble peace price" cuz genuinely, they're so good the biggest thing is that they bring down speed which means that even if accidents happen, they are much less likely to be fatal

[@lolsaXx]

The problem is that most americans dont know how to use them, that is when they are un-safe. Yes they are safer but only when used properly. I hope american driving schools and tests improve in the future.

[@bitkomet]

Outside of using the centres as ramps, no, they are safer even when used incorrectly. Compared to driving through an intersection and getting T-boned, in a roundabout it is more similar to changing lanes without looking. Still not great but the angle of impact is shallower, which means less kinetic force is applied to each car compared to a T-bone accident where the perfect 90 degree angle for maximum carnage is had. The speed is also naturally slower as people drive in a curve rather than straight.

[@MissSJ4429]

What isn’t mentioned is that in the UK most major roundabouts have traffic lights as well. In my town we have two of these. Up until a few years ago they were just regular roundabouts but when there is a lot of congestion they just don’t work as well. So as these roundabouts are part of a really busy route between the A43, A5 and motorways M1 and M40, it just got ridiculous so they made the roundabouts larger and installed traffic lights to regulate them.

[@corjp]

The Arc de Triompf in Paris is scary as hell for me as a Dutch person. I HAD to drive it twice in one weekend and got almost hit by others several times.( Thank the profets for brakes) Everybody honks their horn and just close their eyes and drive ( seems like it)

[@LornaCook]

On some of the larger roundabouts where there is alot of traffic we also have lights around them , it keeps the flow more even

[@Steffe]

I rode my bicycle through a roundabout ten minutes ago. It was me, a few cars and also a truck there at the same time. Smooth sailing. Americans should be able to handle that one thinks.

[@stevekenilworth]

using excuse of cyclists to remove them its a step backwards. follow the rules cyclist never have an issue, so many not all but the one doing the tour de france well they think they are the tight wearing ones they do all they can not to stop. stick to rules and if space tight use more lane so no one can pass and move back left when road widens. ive had deal with big trucking route ones and use them how a car uses them you will not have an issue , i cycled 30 miles a day when younger that over 10k miles a year that was min and ive never had issue on one, many cyclists also do not do defensive driving and put them self in danger and when goes wrong they complain, stick to rules read road ahead correctly and position correct you will not have an issue.

[@DeepThought9999]

That traffic light controlled intersection shown when the announcer talks about traffic light maintenance (11:05) is in the Sydney Australia Central Business District. Corner of Young and Bridge Streets looking north down Young Street towards Circular Quay. A couple of Govvie natural gas-powered buses waiting at the red lights, helplessly watching the timetable running away from them right at the start of their routes.

[@Joanne-t6j]

I’m in Australia, there are roundabouts everywhere. The only trouble is when the roundabout is small sometimes my indicators won’t work.

[@nolaj114]

I know what you mean..I have three fingers on the wheel and two on the indicator sometimes 😅

[@Big5ocks]

I assume you mean when indicating to exit mostly? Yeah, you just have to get used to doing it manually

[@shazzm9252]

I hate it when you are supposed to indicate left to exit but the roundabout is too small - if there is a copper behind me I get nervous that he will pull me over because I did not have enough time / road / roundabout left to indicate as I am leaving.

[@Joanne-t6j]

@@shazzm9252 Exactly!

[@hadesdogs4366]

Not to mention the fact that you’d have to have a power cable running out in the middle of nowhere just to power a couple of lights

[@dogwithwigwamz.7320]

I`m 60 years old and cannot remember a time when England had no roundabouts. `Passed my driving test in 1984 and thank God for roundabouts. There should be far more of them -leading to far fewer traffic lights. Traffic lights will suspend progress along your road whether or not any traffic is contra-indicated. Ie, you`ll stay at Red Light whether or not other traffic is there or not. With roundabouts, if there`s no traffic it`s go....!

[@ralphhillier676]

I am 97 years old I cannot remember a time either. I was 8 when I rode my bike around them in London.

[@robhingston]

Yes, but a lot of major roundabouts does have traffic lights

[@tomnicholson2115]

​@@robhingston You aren't the only one saying this, but you don't explain that you find these roundabouts with lights in high traffic areas, for instance these one a few miles from me, where a duel carriageway and a minor road all join a motorway, (the slip roads of the motorway) but the lights on that roundabout are only in use at the busiest times of the day, the rest of the time it's used without lights the same as any other roundabout.

[@JoshAston23]

​@@ralphhillier676if you really are 97 (the internet is a difficult place to judge sarcasm), then that is incredible and you deserve some sort of medal for learning to use modern technology

[@missharry5727]

I learnt to drive in Basingstoke in the 1980s. The town had the nickname "Doughnut City" because of the number of roundabouts. If I need to go to my local Sainsburys (UK supermarket chain), which is maybe three miles away, I have to navigate 5 roundabouts.

[@2testtest2]

Where i live, we have lots of tiny roundabouts. The smallest are just a painted on circle in a regular intersection. They don't really require you to slow down much at all if you go straight, but if you need to turn, of course they do slow you down. They are mostly used where the speed limit is low anyways. When the roundabouts get just a little bit bigger, you really need to slow down. To accommodate trucks and other long vehicles like busses, these roundabouts have very wide lanes, basically two lanes in the most extreme cases, even though there is only one lane in and out.

[@patsydf]

You did not show the most famous roundabout in the UK, the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Far more complex yet very effective, with the same principle of giving way to the right.

[@bronwyn6415]

Never been to England but I have seen pictures of this roundabout, it does look a bit scary but your right just follow the road rules.

[@SalisburyKarateClub]

Retired bus driver, quite often I would be driving an articulated bus, with a dual roundabout they can be a headache, cars trying to squeeze past you to get in front, makes it rather diffcult.

[@rachealbrown2166]

The traffic around the Arc de Triomphe always looks terrifying!

[@Thurgosh_OG]

Especially if you are a pedestrian trying to get to it, across that.

[@FritzPinguin]

But it always worked very well for me on my visits to Paris. Just image a traffic-lighted intersection with that lot of roads, it would be a nightmare.

[@arthur_p_dent]

Oddly enough, that is actually an old fashioned "traffic circle" where traffic entering the circle has priority, not a modern roundabout where vehicles already in the circle have the right of way. Very odd that it works regardless. Presumably that's due to the low speeds driven.

[@darkknight8139]

It's not confusing because you are American (7:00), it is because it is something you are not used to. Here in The Netherlands, there are many roundabouts. We learn to cycle when we are about 4 years old, and learn to cycle all on our own when we are around 8-10 years old. Then, you learn how roundabouts work, because your parents teach you. And it is tought at school after that. And then you cycle to school every day, using roundabouts every day. When you get a driver's licence, you get lessons about roundabouts and right of way many times. That way, you get used to them. We also have traditional crossroads with or without lights, so we learn those as well. In towns, they are usually replaced by roundabouts.

[@MrGrahawk]

In the UK traffic lights have been added to many roundabouts as the roads are so busy you would rarely get the chance to enter the roundabout.

[@andyshtroymish4997]

Interestingly, same problem in Israel(pretty small in terms of population and, aside from Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, relatively sparse) - you can EASILY sit on the entrance, giving a go to a pedestrian/occupier from the left interchangeably, for up to minute. And if you're, let's say, fifth-sixth in the line, at the rush hour pretty much multiply that time! Obviously we do have intersections with "additional" right turns in the cities(just like big ones on the highways) but it causes another issue: your "incline" after the right turn(one lane road, let me remind you) is often used as a bus-stop which clogs the traffic even more... But indeed, roundabouts usually make traffic movement... Smoother? In comparison to lighted intersection or "major/minor" one.

[@thefiestaguy8831]

Most of the roundabouts you mention are actually only on motorway exits/entrances. I live on the edge of London and there are probably 20+ roundabouts within a 5 mile radius of my house. NONE of them are traffic light controlled.

[@MrGrahawk]

@@thefiestaguy8831 Lots on ring roads and main routes around and through cities and towns around here. Some roundabouts converted to "hamburgers" with routes going through the original middle of the roundabout.

[@bronwyn6415]

Yes I guess that would be a problem, maybe if the roundabout was larger, but then I guess that would be too costly needing to remove existing buildings.

[@andyshtroymish4997]

@@bronwyn6415 traffic problems are not solved with simple lane adding. Europe as a whole have similar to USA's population on a smaller space. Public transportation helps much better even on great distances, you simply make it affordable and comfortable for most of the population so ppl choose not to spend extra on a private vehicles en masse.

[@martandrmc]

And then they call me a madman when I tell them that roundabouts here in Greece are backwards for having cars inside the circle yield for the ones entering...

[@stanleywiggins5047]

The Myth Busters did a simple test, comparing 4 way STOP sine & a 4 way round about. The round about had about 30% more traffic through than the Stop.

[@neilcampbell2222]

They did it badly. At quiet traffic density yield causes least delay. At medium density roundabouts work best. The point is that multiple vehicles can enter at the same time. But at high traffic densities vehicles end up stopping rather than just slowing down. At very high traffic densities they can be worse than traffic lights with a box junction. The main point is design, you need to restrict vision by landscaping/planting and turn radius to slow the speed to about half of the approach speed.

[@MiyaHollands]

A multi-lane roundabout tip: Think of it as the face of a clock, that is relative to tour approach. Therefore your 12 o'clock being the equivalent to going straight. If the exit you wish to take is on the right of 12 o'clock, use the right lane. If that exits to the left of 12 o'clock, use the left lane. This is a very simplified tip, which works whether you drive on the left, or right. But it's a good starting point for assessing the junction in hand

[@ritalino7323]

Fun fact! I actually was in a motocycle accident cause of a guy who decided to cut a roundabout and go straigh! Only broke one arm! 🤭[PT]

[@Rhianalanthula]

I remember covering roundabouts when learning to drive in '89/90. I know the Driving Test in the UK has been updated since, but I'm sure they would keep that in. If all else fails, we can refresh our knowledge by reading the most up-to-date copy of the Highway Code.

[@FHB71]

As a German I envy the roundabouts in the UK and in the Netherlands where there are very often markings so, you simply need to follow directions and end up at the correct/intended exit. In Germany they (in case they have more than one lane in the roundabout) do not have markings, that confuses people and I think those people should not hold a license. I am a big fan of roundabouts that have spiraling markings. We also have a distinction between bicycle lanes inside and outside of the roundabout depending on where the sign for the roundabout it located and bicycles sometimes are also only allowed to ride in the direction of the roundabout.

[@marieo305]

15:27 it makes sense to have them in rural area's. You no onger have to pay for the upkeep of traffic lights in these area's but you still have the traffic slowdown ( and safety) on a crossing from a roundabout.

[@alenfranjic3124]

8:28 it's not like you don't have enough space in 'murica 😂

[@WillosPlay]

For a French person (or someone from another country), this is a video about "carrefour à sens giratoire". We also have a slightly different type of roundabout called a "rond-point," where vehicles entering the intersection have priority, meaning you must stop if there is a car at the entry point even if you're already inside the circle.

[@i-klaus]

There are worse things than new roundabouts: In the 1960s, all of Sweden's neighboring countries drove on the right. Sweden drove on the left. Although the Swedish population rejected right-hand traffic, the government ignored the referendum and changed the direction of travel. After a four-year image campaign, Sweden has been driving on the right since September 3, 1967. One circumstance made it easier for the Swedes to change sides. The cars drove on the left, but the steering wheels were also on the left, because the Swedish automobile industry primarily produces for export to countries with right-hand traffic. Greetings from the Black Forest.

[@kieronimo1]

In the UK, in busy areas, we also have traffic lights on roundabouts, and it works really well.

[@ad61video]

Instead of intersections we have more and more mini roundabouts especially of much used streets, it is is so much safer.

[@shizukaakatatsu22]

"Why is this roundabout shaped like a bean" This is often used when two roads with different speeds or sizes meet. On the long side you don't have to slow down as much as on the shorter side, so cars get through the roundabout faster on the road with higher speed which is usually also the road with more throughtraffic. The same for the last roundabout in the video with an hourglass shape. The main road going straight across the highway has more gradual curves to get cars right through while traffic from the highway ramps joining the roundabout is slowed down so the drivers have time to look out for traffic and join when it is safe to do so.

[@brianduffin5405]

Gives me the feeling lights are on nobody's home

[@PhilipSibley-f3u]

Here in Spain drivers are taught to only use the outer lane for ALL exits on a roundabout (or Glorietta!) even though there may be an inner lane! Also they are taught to only indicate when they reach their exit (if then!!) which can be heart stopping if you come from the U.K.! The DGT has even issued an update to the regulations which says “don’t use the U.K. method”, or words to that effect! The placing of traffic lights at roundabouts is usually because they’ve also installed pedestrian crossings, though not always! As for bike accidents, when they don’t respect traffic lights anyway, what make planners think installing them instead of a roundabout will be safer?

[@brian0410]

I’m American and I love roundabouts. I never see accidents at the 2 next to my house. But the intersections by my house have accidents all the time 😒 roundabouts are easy

[@SomeReallyUniqueName]

A town near me has a roundabout, like the 8-looking one you wondered over, around a section of a creek. Sides have like 1/2 km length. But one way on each side and you can only do right turns. Also many have slip-lanes where extra lanes connect two adjacent entry/exits. Also a hack employed by some is, if you are plannig to take the first exit, to already use your Turn signal when entering. That signals people waiting to enter your intentions.

[@MaryRaine929]

🏆✨Congrats to Indiana on this win! In my hometown Bremen in Germany we have a roundabout in the city called „der Stern“ (the star). It‘s a one lane roundabout with an extra lane for bicycles and a tram running right through the middle, plus you have to watch out for pedestrians. It‘s pure horror for every learner driver, when your driving instructor says: „Today we drive the star!“ You got your pants full for the whole ride…😆

[@WhoStoleMyAlias]

Ha! We have one in Delft, The Netherlands, that beats yours by a mile. It has a tram that corners through the middle and a bus that goes right through the middle. Except for the tram and bus lane the center is raised to block all view to any traffic approaching from the opposite side, including the tram and bus. The bicycle path around is octagonal and also bidirectional, which effectively means that you can't seen them coming towards you because of the raised center and you can't see them coming from behind because they disappear from your side mirror.

[@MaryRaine929]

@@WhoStoleMyAlias 🤣 Touché!

[@WhoStoleMyAlias]

@@MaryRaine929 Doesn't feel like a win... 😭

[@Knucklelui6]

2:13 As a Spaniard (Sevillian) it amazes me that Spain has 11 cities on this top

[@Jakob-j7y]

but even in the film " the truman story" there is a roundabout.....😂

[@feha92]

7:00 it is indeed because of you being that. That sign (and the talker) is quite clear: if you encounter a roundabout with the setup and signage as shown on the image, you CAN take the right lane and enter the outer ring to then take the left ("third") exit. But if you take the left lane you MUST get into the inner ring and take the left (third) exit. This is to improve the flow by having people intending to quickly leave the roundabout be able to stay on its outside and avoid having to cross lanes which would increase the complexity of the traffic situation if they did. While people wanting to take the last exit (and you can always leave even later, such as same exit you entered through, or even do multiple laps if issues occur - better than stopping to wait and cause congestion, in many cases) can cross lanes to avoid blocking those people from entering etc. Everything is also simpler as you generally only ever need to consider the traffic to your left ("further inside roundabout"), apart from when it is time to actually exit it (in which case ppl to your right will automatically be paying attention to you merging into and past their lanes). Do note that a roundabout can still have multiple lanes despite the exits/entrances having a single lane (unlike that image). Which lane inside the roundabout you take then still depends on your intended exit. And sometimes (when entrance/exit has multiple lanes) the signage says that right lane is only if you intend to turn off immediately, while the left entrance-lane is the one that can take any exit (opposite of the one in the image). Those roundabouts generally seem a bit double-laned, but are in fact designed to have the right entrance-lane connect to the right exit-lane following it, and if you exit from the roundabout you should take the left exit-lane. Essentially, the right entrance- and exit-lanes are not entirely part of the roundabout (even though they are both in practice and often signage) and can be considered to be entirely separate (sometimes signage reflects this, in which case you would often see a full line drawn on the asphalt to delineate that lane from the actual roundabout. However, as lanes within the roundabout increases, as well as number of entrances/exits, even I would agree that it becomes comples. I distinctly remember one example being a stupid-large roundabout in... I think it was belgium? Which I never drove in myself, but I were a passenger when a car did, and it did feel hectic. Most I have driven in is a roundabout with 3 lanes iirc, and I suspect that anything further would feel somewhat imposing to drive in (rather, even 3 is somewhat, if it isn't designed like that one was where outermost one is essentially detached like I described earlier - though if it *is* detached like that it's arguably nicer than a normal 2-laner).

[@ChrisRedfield--]

A traditional downtown, a nice living environment for the inhabitants. European city's are like that.

[@bechirbenothman5453]

@3:00 you spoke about the small roundabout, here we have some that are literally just painted on a plain surface, nothing getting out of the ground xD. If you don't know they are there, you would use it just like a normal road intersection. @6:40 No, you can't do that. When doing 270° or more (going left or doing a U turn) you must take the most inner lane. otherwise you'll be cutting others' lanes. Obviously the rules change depending on the number of lanes and exists the roundabout has. @8:38 for semitrucks (and buses), smaller roundabouts usually have a secondary inner lane made of small rocks that make it unusable for cars but usefull for trailers. they are used when designers want a small single lane roundabout with a possibility for long vehicules to go in. We have some interesting designs for roundabouts here in France. I can send you pictures if you want to review ;)

[@micade2518]

Where there's a will, there's a way!

[@coraliemoller3896]

I’m in Sydney, Australia. In very narrow streets, the roundabouts are mostly a flat circle with a small height increase above the road surface on the edges, and a bit of a little bump in the middle. It is painted to make it visible from a bit further away and has leading signs so all vehicles need to slow and give way at the painted line. It’s like a small crest on a roadway. So a semi would be able to manoeuvre over the outside edge of the structure without overbalancing. A big loaded truck might have to drive straight over it and then steer towards the lane in the correct direction of travel. Other drivers should be able to see the truck easily and leave some room for it to manoeuvre.

[@sabinedalianis2629]

We used our roundabouts to display sculptures.

[@squarecircle1473]

"As many roundabouts per capita as guns per capita" LMAO this is such a funny stat! 😄

[@miztazed]

This will never ever go into a american brain. Same like the metric system or stick shift.

[@Molikai]

Indeed. Modern technology is far beyond them, considering they can't even handle the 19th century stuff!

[@trinaroach2832]

They have some in South Jersey, so I was semi-prepared for them when I started driving in Europe.

[@jordanledoux197]

??? Stick shift? I've never heard this one. I'm an American who had my first car as a stick, and I'm a millennial, not an elderly American.

[@leDespicable]

@@jordanledoux197 But manual cars are not very widespread in the US compared to many other places, especially Europe. Driving automatic cars has been popular and basically the standard in America for decades, while the numbers of Automatic cars sold is only now slowly starting to exceed the sales of manual cars in Europe.

[@amhp333]

MASSIVE ROUNDABOUT CON: You don’t get a dopamine boost from speeding through green lights and potentially racing from the cops after a hit and run

[@royivarlarsen7519]

in Norway we have a lot of roundabouts, and the traffic gets a much better flow especially in rush hour traffic, everyone who drives a car in Norway has no problems with roundabouts except people over 70 🙂

[@ralphhillier676]

Oh Dear! I was driving a motor vehicle at 95 years old, two years ago, no problems. You will get there!!

[@Xanthopteryx]

We in Sweden sometimes combine lights with roundabouts. That to help pedestrians cross in a safer way.

[@derekgoulding6040]

When has America ever cared about road safety?

[@JoannDavi]

When has any nation not named the USA ever cared about its national safety?

[@JohnDoe-xz1mw]

exactly, road safety is unpatriotic!

[@grahvis]

How can you say that, with some six lane intersections, they provide flags for pedestrians to carry to help motorists, driving at speed, to see them using the cross walks.

[@MaryRaine929]

Now, obviously… 😊

[@Zaju]

Yeah, and would it be the point of making them safer? So people would survive roads just to be killed in some mass shooting?

[@sleepingcity85]

6:40 Ideally if you handling a big road and they plit even in three directions you would use as many lanes approching the circle as there are exits minus one. So drivers can pikc their ahead of the circle. drivers want to go right (1. exit) use right lane, drivers go through will use middle lane (2. exit) and drivers that want to exit to the left use the left lane (3. exit). Drivers in the circle dont have to change lanes anymore /which can be scary in a roundabout). This can be combined with lights (e.g. in Berlin, the "Großer Stern") The roundabut is usually designed like the house of a snail and will always bring you out of your chosen exit, no matter what (except you make a mistake). This what thy want to show in the video, but they failed a little bit, bc thats just a normal two lane roundabout, not a snail one. You can absoluty change lane in that one

[@yossal2608]

I'm from the UK. It is only a case of getting comfortable with them. Although not usually a problem they take up a greater surface area than intersections. built-up cities here such as London, have a lot of traffic lights because they don't have the surface area.

[@Muck006]

Roundabouts work well as "entry points into a city" ... where people come with high speed and need to slow down and a roundabout can do that job and there is usually enough space to build them. This is especially true for big trucks ... and the one difference between Europe and USA is that we have PEDESTRIANS that are endangered in those situations.

[@TheIFerreiraoliveira]

Roundabouts are EVERYWHERE here in brazil. Im surprised there are few in us, lmao.

[@jackie_v8]

what dose it matter to have the most if you don't know how to use them :'D

[@nolaj114]

😅

[@Americaninparis2012]

That roundabout surrounding Arc de Triomphe is terrifying. Even though there are stop lights, people but especially taxi drivers, zip through them like they're in F1 race. The key in a huge roundabout like that is to pick your lane depending on how soon you will be exiting.

[@watfordjc]

Whilst watching John Wick 4 I came to a conclusion: some roundabouts look so scary you can't make them look scarier by adding assassins and guns.

[@gazlator]

Heh! Many years ago on a holiday coach trip through Paris (from England) I asked the driver how he coped with the Arc de Triomphe as part of his job. He said it was easy. He just shut his eyes, shouted "Geronimo!" and went....