Why Don't We Just Use Roundabouts Everywhere?

[@austinmcconnell]

Speaking of roundabouts, if you want to know how to survive a bear attack, consult this handy guide. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHaYfnRnl9lsd5Y

[@coldspade1590]

Wow when i see a bear in a roundabout I’ll have all the knowledge i need

[@strawberryflavouredcloroxb1565]

thank you now i am prepared for bear attacks.

[@Pyxyty]

Very helpful indeed, kind sir

[@1e1001]

Yeah but what about squareabouts?

[@wynautwobbuffet956]

Finally, the real knowledge that we all need. Also I was born in Springfield, sadly I moved

[@TreeeSon34]

When i was stationed in England, I loved roundabouts. Not for the safety factor, but cause if I miss an exit I just go around again lol

[@mustachio2]

yee I get that but you won't miss an exit if there are no exits - so traffic lights. If you turn left instead of right that sounds like a personal problem.

[@trharrington22]

What kills me is when people miss their turn, but then veer across 3 lanes to try to turn. Instead of turning around at the next light or turning into an off street lmao

[@TreeeSon34]

@@mustachio2 the kind of roundabout i mention is that of a highway/freeway type nature. There have been times here in the US where I'll be in a new city and miss an exit, alot of times it's cause I'll have just exited and the GPS will tell me to exit again three lanes over, so it ends up adding another 10-15 min detour onto the journey. The UK will usually have a roundabout that shoots off into different cities. If you miss it you just drive around again and it takes all but a few seconds. UK still has traffic lights on some basic turns.

[@mustachio2]

@@TreeeSon34 oh ok. I hate multi lane roundabouts, in theory they're great but in practice everyone ignores the lanes and just drives wherever they please. Fucking scary as shit having a 2 lane roundabout on a road with a 55mph speed limit. There's one near me and I hate it.

[@TreeeSon34]

@@mustachio2 i understand. Is this in the US cause I'll be honest if it is we have some of the most inconsiderate drivers. I know the cops in the UK will tend to actually enforce certain traffic laws that almost seem negligible here in the US. For instance, we have passing lanes here, but alot of the times people will just use it as a regular lane and drive on it constantly. I know in the UK, at least when i was there, if you spent too much time on there it's likely you'd get pulled over and explained to that the lane is for passing exclusively.

[@narconyx]

I feel like people don't understand that we should just build one really long road, it worked for RTgame in cities: skylines.

[@twotothehalf3725]

It worked great with blimps, though. Are we gonna have to include those in every city's public transport? 'Cause frankly, I'm down for that.

[@sticks4632]

"Worked"

[@Pseudynom]

Sauce?

[@samuelshock6292]

“Country Road, not Roads”

[@kowaletzki]

And put a toll station down every 100 meters

[@JolonDann]

True Story: Our Town got it first roundabout last year, but they put all the yield signs in facing the wrong way.

[@TSDTalks22]

Jolon Dann that sounds like an actual nightmare

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I hope drivers in your town master the art of the blɘiY.

[@Mu51kM4n]

Even the people that build them don't know how to use them. They're stressful

[@daverapp]

@@imveryangryitsnotbutter ...so THAT'S what all those blɘiY signs mean!

[@binarycat1237]

I saw someone stop in the middle of a roundabout, turn on their turn signal, then take the turn.

[@nonsolosoftair8338]

in italy we have a city made out of roundabouts, there are so many that exiting one means entering anotherone. the situation is so intricate that most of the traffic is caused by confused people. it became a meme: "le rotonde di Ravenna" or "the roundabouts of Ravenna". a legend say that in 1970 a bus of german tourists got lost in ravenna, and that they are still there searcing for a way out.

[@GratissTVofficial]

True, i can confirm it.

[@gavind351]

An example of when a good idea becomes a bad idea

[@a-simpler-time]

Same in the uk. And it is quite possibly the worst place. They have this ridiculous thing called a magic roundabout which is just 5 small roundabouts around one bigger roundabout

[@sorrowandsufferin924]

All roads in Ravenna lead to Ravenna :D

[@KulaGGin]

I just looked it up on google maps. There are barely any roundabouts in the city. Only a few closer to the ends of the city. There's still 99 crossroads for each roundabout.

[@wyattgarvin]

Lol I live in Canada and they're building a roundabout in my city. A single roundabout. It's been 2 years and the road is still closed and the roundabout is still under construction.

[@bent8085]

My town tried building a roundabout in one of the two entrances to my neighborhood. It took them 8 months and made leaving the neighborhood a pain in the ass for a while.

[@PhotonBread]

My city just replaced every intersection in the city with roundabouts in like 6-8 years. Now traffic flows smoothly and we are known as the roundabout capital of the US. Look up Carmel, Indiana

[@xsomeNOOBx]

Construction is a racket in Canada.

[@jmcdon4530]

@@PhotonBread I live in Muncie and yes Carmel has a shit ton of round a bouts

[@connorbracey2249]

i live in the uk and they built one on our nearby highway and it was completed in 3 months

[@willowjohnson8553]

There’s no way to not sound sarcastic when I say this, but I’ve actually been DYING for another infrastructure video from you

[@samamamacusb2049]

Felt that.

[@FoXenthusiast42]

Felt that.

[@ΜαργαρίταΔαρζ]

Felt that.

[@marcussmithereens-smithert5409]

Felt that.

[@thomasray]

Felt that

[@blehe38]

Re: "it should only take a couple months" Last year, in my tiny-ass suburban town of about 2,000 people, they announced that they'd be replacing a very minor intersection that's only controlled by two-way stop signs with a roundabout. Its projected completion date isn't until 2024.

[@zurps]

To be fair, your tiny town may not have many available construction workers to actively work on the job. In larger cities it may take over a couple months, but I think 4 years is a bit of a manpower and logistical issue.

[@marcowulliampopirers2216]

you cant compare that shithole with new york

[@jordananderson2728]

@@marcowulliampopirers2216 Someone needs some coffee

[@zeppkfw]

@@marcowulliampopirers2216 new york is kind of a shithole too

[@toomuchglitters7254]

@@zeppkfw kind of? 😂

[@JamarfromAfar]

The guy from strongtowns isn’t necessarily wrong. Making it easier to drive does create induced demand, and even more so when a city lacks public transit, walkability, or cycling infrastructure. The issue with the diverging diamond interchanges is that they aren’t equipped for cycling, walking, and they’re attached to stroads which are another nightmare.

[@johnlawful2272]

1:05 Why does fhwa symbol looks like sasuke dads sharigan

[@allancoelho6905]

​@@johnlawful2272holy f.. it really does

[@leonbabic7185]

I live in Croatia, and few years ago my town replaced almost ALL intersections with roundabouts. Before that we had none. It was quite the undertaking, and several buildings had to be demolished to make space. The thing is, this wasn't done for safety reasons. The main reason was to stop the increasing number of traffic jams that happened because of our seasonal tourism. It worked. No more traffic jams.

[@xcybitt721]

Pog

[@SuperBuildsInMC]

Thing about it is, Croatia is a significantly smaller country than the US and trying to do that here wouldn't work, it would cost too much, take too much time, cause very many problems, and most importantly, most people probably aren't gonna like it either, we've had 4 way stoplight intersections as long as roads have existed, thats not to say they are better, but getting 350+ million people used to having a roundabout at every intersection is gonna be near impossible.

[@leonbabic7185]

@@SuperBuildsInMCYes, obviously. To clarify, I didn't argue about that in my comment. I just wrote about my personal experience of such a transition.

[@joekeller8936]

@@SuperBuildsInMC Carmel Indiana would like to chat with you. Has 125 roundabouts in the city. Roundabouts are a solution many large suburbs are building many of right now. My area of ohio has around 15 or so that I know of

[@Thakar98]

Where in Croatia do you live? I had the chance to drive from Zagreb to Kotor, Montenegro in 2017 just before the tourist season really kicked off and I don't think I've ever had that much fun driving in my life.

[@mikewagner2299]

I swear when major road construction starts, the cones go up and nothing happens for the entire summer. Then, right before fall, the actual construction starts and is finished in 2 days.

[@casparvoncampenhausen5249]

Your incorrect, it actually happens in three stages: Stage 1: blocking everything and tearing up the road (1 week) Step 2: doing absolutely nothing, but still using heavy machinery for some reason (3 months) Step 3: building the new thing (3 days

[@shattered0717]

My city has a lot of cones and I keep seeing "Keep left, right lane closed' or "Keep left, shoulder work ahead" signs. Big flashing signs and the cones forcing you to keep left then all of a sudden nothing. No workers, no road work, nothing everyone just gets back into the right lane because the cones ended.

[@sirjmo]

@@shattered0717 for weeks on end... Or not removing the signs to slow down for months after its already finished.

[@apacheattackhelicopter8410]

Cuz most of the time is probably waiting for supplies and also getting rid of the intersection, but also to piss off locals

[@juju8462]

@Danielle Anderson people can't place cones on a road...?

[@chrismullikin5726]

MoDot: “our 3 pillars are safety service and stability” New York DOT: “pick one”

[@josephgilboy6259]

Well already service is out of the question, it's NY. And in the same vein, it's NY, so you can never completely guarantee safety. This leaves us with stability. I guess it's nice to know the roads aren't going to fall into a bottomless void. Thanks NYDOT!

[@osclopez122]

@@josephgilboy6259 Stability? Have you ever driven on Long Island? lol

[@wansichen3743]

@@osclopez122 hey NY state is more than one city and its outskirt rmb?

[@bonda_racing3579]

@@osclopez122 that's funny. Driving around Brooklyn itself your car will need a realignment by the time you leave.

[@LeadTrumpet1]

Stability doesn’t exist in NYC metro. The northern suburbs are also ridden with potholes. But the rest of the state needs to realize that at least half of NYS population are in the 12 county region of NYC metro. That’s not a ton of land for that many people. More cars and hella more aggressive driving drives the stability of our roads way down. Roads in the rest of the state are significantly better. Granted they have fewer drivers that are much less aggressive.

[@gale212]

Everyone thinks they're a traffic engineer. And everyone thinks it's the other guy that can't drive.

[@darkflamemaster2445]

Pretty sure Austin is the only person I'll listen to talking about directing traffic for several minutes

[@cassondraarnett1248]

I'd also listen to 'Half as Interesting' talk about the subject for several minutes.

[@iDunnoMC]

And CGP Grey

[@surfie007]

You'd love City Beautiful

[@qwertyTRiG]

Tom Scott doesn't usually talk about road infrastructure, but he did recently and it was excellent.

[@tempest_dawn]

Came to recommend a few other channels. I see they've already all been mentioned, so uh yeah consider this a strong +1 to all the other replies.

[@robokast]

why don’t they just use diverging diamonds lol

[@Malmorious]

good one

[@omxls]

umm diverging diamonds.

[@Jai_moss07]

I was gonna comment that

[@funnycatlol2114]

Yooo its robokast

[@user-gb7cl8np3p]

omxls eeee i was going to do that

[@yese3064]

"Why don't we just put roundabouts everywhere?" These people clearly haven't seen drivers in Florida *No one is safe in Florida* *NO ONE*

[@briandavidgilbertclips7223]

No one, brother. Not a single man is safe from the people down here.

[@yese3064]

@@briandavidgilbertclips7223 haha they can put on all the neon they want. Drivers would think it's just another stop sign to run over

[@isaacwright4910]

I Live in FL and got my learner’s permit a couple months ago 😬😬

[@IwasMikeOTR]

Floridaman is always watching

[@datachu]

@@IwasMikeOTR "Tonight at 9: Florida man dresses as the dark night and destroys bad driver's vehicles to make the roads safer"

[@masterprocrastinator8521]

One thing that I hate about the diverging diamond design (that I had to deal with recently), is that when power is out and the lights are blinking red, it's absolute chaos

[@augth]

According to Wikipedia, France has half of the world's roundabouts.

[@imhotep2223]

The other half are in Milton Keynes

[@martynbush3462]

@@imhotep2223 Harlow and Stevenage can claim a share too

[@clintgolub1751]

The roundabout at Euro Disney is phenomenal

[@mathewbrown7304]

france is also 18 times smaller than the us

[@valhar2000]

And Spain has the other half.

[@corsaircarl9582]

About Roundabouts. As a friend of mine in IT once said: "You can spend all your money trying to improve your idiot proofing, they go an end up improving the idiot."

[@jg9249-u8f]

Great saying, not applicable here.

[@Zyvo2]

Joseph G Very much applicable here. Have you ever used google maps and took a wrong turn, only to have maps tell you to make a U-Turn on the next Emergency Vehical Median Pass? I have, and that would only ever happen if someone taught google that path existed, meaning som idiot jumped the median because it was easyer than traveling 0.2 miles to the nearest legal U-Turn light. What I'm saying is people are stupid, and give the drunk or idiot a challenge, you'd better believe they'll find the dumbest way to fail it. Note: Emergency Vehical Median Pass is mainly for Fire Trucks and the people that keep the bushes cut, not to turn around.

[@TheRealFlenuan]

It's a political issue, not a practical one. Replacing all the highway intersections across the US with roundabouts would cost billions upon billions of dollars. Unfortunately at this time Americans value the illusion that "lower taxes = more prosperity and freedom" greater than they value the saving of lives. It's a selfish culture, and, as with most political issues, culture is the underlying problem.

[@aukora129]

@@TheRealFlenuan I'm sorry did you watch the video? it was entirely about how its a practical issue.

[@MoriguTheDead]

@@jg9249-u8f Watch some dash cam compilations. People find a way to crash in all kinds of stupid situations that an average person would assume were nearly impossible to do. I particularly prefer the Australian Dash cam ones for the bonus swearing.

[@jansensharp1246]

Okay sure but have you heard of a “diverging diamond”

[@agrofindastation]

Seriously. It's such a viable option. I don't know why someone so knowledgeable about roads and traffic wouldn't devote a video about such an important topic. ;)

[@charlotteeolsen8397]

😂

[@rathor904]

lmaoo

[@apacheattackhelicopter5823]

flying cars

[@apacheattackhelicopter5823]

agrofindastation is a winky face the only thing needed to call it a joke

[@davidedgar5923]

As a semi driver, I have to say that roundabouts are as much of a curse as a blessing. The removal of traditional intersections greatly increase the danger involved with semi cross traffic. Typically I'm pulling in to the roundabout and some dimwit decides to us the opportunity to cut in front me. I have to be far more vigilant in a Roundy. Additoonally they often aren't big enough to accommodate semis in a single lane.

[@jooot_6850]

Semi truck drivers like you are some real saints. I would have the temptation just to blow through the bastard

[@mamascookin]

Well trucks and normal cars shouldn't even be next to each other in the first place truck routes should be just that truck routes I can't remember the statistic because there is so many these days but I think it was upwards of 50% of deadly crashes are with a semi they should not be on the same road also trucking should only be distributing in a local area from a TRAIN which should also not intersect with roads unfortunately we're still living in an archaic country but one day we'll get around to more efficiency and safety it's just too expensive like he said so waiting for the FUTURE is the only option!

[@davidedgar5923]

@mamascookin that's absolutely t e nonsense. If trucks and cars didn't share road nothing would be able to be delivered. Now there are truck restrictions on certain roads but not all of them. Not even the majority of them. And in those accidents it is typically not the truck that's at fault.

[@mamascookin]

@@davidedgar5923 I'm saying in the hypothetical we could prevent all of that even if the trucks are not at fault by having sperate roads for each I never said anything nonsensical I'm just trying to remedy the issue sorry for getting your knickers in a twist with my utopian brainstorm

[@davidedgar5923]

@@mamascookin you know Utopia means "no place", right. Suggestions that are impossible or unrealistic are useless.

[@mdmobashshir432]

How much stock footage do you need? Austin: "yes"

[@vincentgrass6531]

This video is sponsored by storyblocks...

[@Knightmessenger]

Id like to know how much of the footage was stock and how much was created for this video. And where to find it.

[@GameBangStudios]

@@Knightmessenger all stock bro literally

[@sadmansakib9302]

alternative title: Why Life Is "Not" A Game Of Cities Skylines.

[@Thelurkerbelowsea]

A METEOR HAS STRUCK THE CITY

[@SillySmol]

tbh building a roundabout in C:S brings perspective of how much investments does a roundabout need, also space, planning, destruction. At the end you will most likely find another lock somehwhere else :D

[@jacobrosewater8811]

@@SillySmol yeah i play cs and trying to build a roundabout in an already existing city made me understand why we dont build roundabouts

[@nZifnab]

You mean I can't just demolish 50 buildings on a whim to construct a roundabout in real life? :\

[@fuckinghelenlikewhatthehel2629]

you’re telling me I can’t make a one street city?

[@assiacbn9472]

"Why don't we put roundabout every where?" So you just mean *France*

[@TheOwenMajor]

People say that, but if you actually look at European towns roundabouts make up a small fraction of intersections.

[@TheLoughDuck55]

Owen Major my local town of about 12 thousand people in Ireland has 6 roundabouts in a 3-4km stretch of road

[@TheOwenMajor]

@@TheLoughDuck55 And so does my suburb. My point being if you actually look at were Roundabouts are located in Europe they are not simply placed everywere. There are not some magic intersection and have limitiations.

[@AverageAlien]

UK more like

[@bevanfindlay]

New Zealand likes them too. Depending on who is on the city council, you'll either get them being added everywhere or roundabouts being taken out and replaced with traffic signals (which I think is stupid, except where you've got severely unbalanced traffic flows. Roundabouts let you do free u-turns, among other advantages such as safety).

[@dillonvandergriff4124]

One factor I don't often hear but needs to be more widely considered is that roundabouts and ice don't mix. It's very hard to make a continuous turn while on ice.

[@green-6508]

As a person who's from a state that gets slick roads, I can agree making consistent turns is very hard to make in the winter when your driving over ice

[@jdwest34]

So is starting and stopping

[@JackRussel1997]

As long as you have tires made for snow and drive carefully there’s no problem using roundabouts when it’s icy. There’s snow and ice every year here in sweden but we still use roundabouts everywhere

[@supersimme813]

Dumbest thing I have ever heard. Doesn’t the road turn or what? Lmao

[@yootz]

@@jdwest34 ABS and TC exists

[@satan7481]

"just put roundabout everywhere" - Cities: Skylines player

[@myhearn]

Biffa has a lot to answer for, he should be forced now to build a Megalopolis from scratch using only traffic light intersections.

[@shadowshatto]

That dude wasn't a troll, just your average internet user who thinks his day to day average opinion he has come to, is better than the decades upon decades and generations of people before him that specializes in traffic has come up with Literally everyone who thinks something is so easy to do they don't know why it hasn't been done yet.

[@nienke7713]

@@myhearn nah, the considerations in real life are just different than in Cities: Skylines, Biffa doesn't need to worry about the roads being shut of for an extended period of time whilst he updates the roads with all the consequences thereof, doesn't have any cost for demolishing a road, and doesn't even really need to care about safety; all he needs to care about is how efficient the traffic flows, and maybe to some extent the amount of space available, but even that doesn't matter as much as in real life.

[@anidnmeno]

@@myhearn not biffa, but challenge accepted.

[@alfonsrasmus4710]

Honestly in c:s it's not nearly as expensive as irl so it's completely reasonable to out roundabouts on most places

[@eekajmoneybaby9309]

Thought it was awkward when my hometown reworked the entire main street to put in a total of 8 round abouts but it made getting from one side to the other side of town so much more efficient

[@briank10101]

Roundabouts sort of work in medium to light traffic intersections that have near equal traffic from all approaches. They're terrible for fuel economy compared to smart traffic lights keeping flow on main thoroughfares.

[@RGC_animation]

So it was worth it?

[@pavook]

Roundabouts works best for one line traffic. I found it significantly harder driving through 2 lanes with even more traffic. The example on the video looked like it would need like 3 at least... My town also have several of roundabouts and traffic flow is much better at them then at crossroads with signals. There are plans in motion to set a new one in a year or two at one really bad section where one direction has to yield traffic from pretty much every direction causing traffic jams every time at morning and evening right at most job start and end. People are literally taking longer and more obscure routes just to avoid that spot at specific times of the day.

[@JeanPierreWhite]

@@briank10101 If what you are saying is that 'One SIze Fits all' does not apply with traffic controls, I would totally agree with that. AMerica is weird because it over relies on traffic lights for intersections where control is needed.

[@saquoiafighter]

1:50 "There no chance of getting T-boned, or hit another car head-on" *laughs in Russian dashcam*

[@therockisland]

This is exactly what I thought when I saw that part!

[@bobking8101]

Well we weren't talking about Russia,Russia is a different story

[@jojo-jm9gh]

@@bobking8101 Funny enough, people in California can’t use roundabouts

[@athenagreen5390]

My town got a few roundabouts recently. Nobody was really confused, but the roundabouts were in odd places that didn't really need one. But we also have a lot of stroads, so there needs to be a much larger infrastructure change before 'more roundabouts!' implemented.

[@EthanNeal]

Denton, Texas is a perfect case study for how mismanagement can screw with people's lives. There's a roundabout that was recently added at the intersection of Bonnie Brae and Scripture that I happen to pass often. The construction closed the two roads for about a year, and prior to its construction, I used the mediocre, but functional public transportation available to get around. Once construction started, the busses completely avoided that intersection and went far away from the places I need to go. It was so bad that it was the impetus for getting a car. Now that it's open, the intersection sees less traffic overall than it used to, though it might still take another year for the traffic volume to return, but it doesn't change the public transit issues. Just a few miles away at the I-35E/Loop 288 junction, there was construction for several years to widen the interstate. It had been going on for a few years before I moved here, and didn't finish until February of this year. Throughout the last year of the project, you would constantly hear of places closing or moving due to a lack of traffic. One other point I want to add is that both projects took much longer than planned to be complete. The roundabout was supposed to take from May to August 2019 to be built. It wasn't done until mid April 2020, almost 8 months behind schedule. Smaller roads are now being worked on that are much less problematic overall, but those two projects are what not to do when improving traffic flow.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

I am a construction inspector for a municipality I can tell you right now no construction project is identical to another. Every single project has setbacks and obstacles that can completely change a project. That always means money and time which equals more money and usually more time. Which is the reason why large projects must be planned for accordingly.

[@kingofroses302]

Good thing I never go through there on my way to UNT

[@elisbedwyn5088]

I happen to work for Denton Transit, and drove the route in question during this time. It was an absolute mess. We were told by the city, (as you noted), that construction would be completed before UNT's fall semester, and so I informed customers accordingly. When it became apparent construction would take much longer than anticipated, we had to introduce a new route to shuttle passengers to their appointments in the Medical District along Scripture St. The new route hardly had any passengers, but did experience a rush at lunch time, which also happened to coincide with our shift change. This made transferring buses exceedingly difficult. Understandably, we had numerous complaints. Then we were told it would be finished by the new year. Wrong again. It wasn't until the middle of March before Bonnie Brae opened back up, and by then we had to restructure things because of Covid-19, effectively cutting our service in half. But at least we have a new roundabout. Even though that section of Bonnie Brae was hardly ever congested. Denton has poorly managed street construction.

[@shawno8253]

@@dimesonhiseyes9134 This is why whenever someone asks me a timeline for a project whatever it is I always increase the time I think it will take by double Most of the time I have it done "early" but for those times it takes longer I don't have to explain why its taking longer than expected

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

@@shawno8253 with private jobs that's very doable. With government jobs, the timeline is usually already stated with a drop dead date or "X" amount of calendar days and an agreement that the agency can go after liquidated damages in the contract. Now realistically most jobs go longer and liquidated damages isn't usually enforced unless the contractor just drags their feet or is constantly working on other jobs and every project I have had has gone over at least a tiny bit but only a few times has anyone ever tried to go after the contractor.

[@MatiasCibils]

When Austin helps me play cities: skylines

[@danieldosso2455]

I was literally just thinking this!

[@VeeTHis]

Do you play CS with the 'ROUNDABOUTS EVERYWHERE' philosophy? 🤔

[@Nikolaj11]

Can't you just plop down roundabouts as you please in that game?

[@VeeTHis]

@@Nikolaj11 yes, but you need mods for them to actually be correct because CS likes to automatically place down traffic lights or stop signs at intersections.

[@ChaoticDucc]

I was playing c:s when I started watching

[@generalcodsworth4417]

As someone who has played mini motorways, I can say that while roundabouts are faster, retrofitting them into tight areas can be impossible because of the space they need

[@dondy8492]

Indeed. Using them is great but finding the right spot is tough

[@andreeacat7071]

@Andrei Salvaleon Would that mean we need a hospital and a police office connecting to all roads?

[@albnorragibi]

Here in Europe even some villages have roundabouts, which by the way don't require a lot of space, not every roundabout needs to be massive, I have even seen roundabouts which were 3 meters in diameter, but still did the job.

[@iqbalindaryono8984]

@@albnorragibi Well yeah, emphasis on villages. A roundabouts size is relative to the traffic throughput that goes through it, a 3m roundabout wouldn't be able to handle 100 cars a minute. Their safety is offset by the size it requires.

[@_chadrose]

@@andreeacat7071 oh god, if you need to connect all roads, then we can't segregate them by colour then

[@thijstimmermans183]

One thing to note, Just completely revamping an intersection just because it's not quite ideal isn't very cost efficient. What they will usually do, (at least where i'm from), is change an intersection at a time when it would normally need maintenance anyway. that'll reduce the overall cost alot. Being tactical like this is very important.

[@rqmennn]

My city installed one down the road from where I live. It’s all fun and games until people start ramping through the middle edit: it's been years, and yesterday, they finally put road signs up to block cars. Now we wait for them to be ran over too. edit 2: they were ran over.

[@DaltonPepple]

Wow

[@qfjd]

This is a strong message.

[@disrespecc9678]

I don’t get the joke.

[@mcearl8073]

I disagree. I think it’s not fun and games UNTIL people start ramping the middle.

[@mcearl8073]

@@disrespecc9678 There’s videos all over the internet where someone is speeding and goes straight through a roundabout where there’s often a raised center section causing them to jump the middle section.

[@ToastGhost]

As somebody who doesn't drive I find it fascinating that that diverging diamond video elicited such a reaction for just being a somewhat informative piece of free entertainment that I remember fairly fondly.

[@cadenschmidt6877]

I have been in Wisconsin my entire life and we have TONS of roundabouts, at least by my house. it blew my mind when I learned that it wasn't the norm in America

[@maytrestar]

I find it funny that most of these roundabouts are massive. I’ve seen some that are so small it’s literally a circle painted on the pavement (maybe even with a slight elevation) 😂

[@marco_grt4460]

And even that they work perfectly (bus driver)

[@Alphabunsquad]

Yah you’ll see a lot of these in small towns in America. Usually where we can do them we do

[@TKDDLJ09]

And those we drive just straight over in Denmark 🤣 i did my trailer license test where i had to go through one that tiny, and i had to do it like a roundabout without touches any of the sides. My god i was going so slow, literally just driving on the clutch 🤣

[@BandGGaming]

And those work pretty well for small roads. The East/West arterial or the satellite city I'm in now would probably benefit a lot. The North/South of my old one was 4 lanes each side, so it has to be relatively big

[@SingingSpock]

Because they’re for minor roads. You can’t do that for a major intersection with 6 lane roads. You need a properly designed roundabout

[@codeender5980]

"Roads are just a suggestion" -one of my family members when they think they've found a "shortcut"

[@mikezheng33]

Did you know it's faster to go through the roundabout than around it?

[@dr.syedmuhammadmanazer-ul-414]

@@mikezheng33 Yeah i understand how circles work

[@gabemerritt3139]

@@mikezheng33 It is atleast pi times faster in fact

[@napabilirim]

@@gabemerritt3139 Yeah dude we've learned that in 6th grade

[@jonathanscherpenbach9913]

@@mikezheng33 I unironically know a guy who does that

[@square5775]

Three words: diverging diamonds everywhere. Duh Austin

[@greatninja2590]

not everyone has average IQ to use them

[@redacted7230]

How about square-abouts?

[@jasonhatt4295]

[REDACTED] that sounds fair... and square

[@archdukefranzferdinand567]

Replace highways with diverging diamonds

[@SomeNot]

@[REDACTED] Actually, where i used to live in london, there _was_ a square-about.

[@TheResi42]

Rememeber when i was a kid on holliday in southern france (near Frejus) and in order to reach the freeway we had to go a through a commercial/industrial area and there was like 9 roundabouts on the way, and i commented that it was a stupid amount of reoundabouts, especialy with the GPS constantly telling to take the 2nd exit. But my dad answered by, : "imagine if those were all traffic lights". It sudenly made sense.

[@johnmanfreda2738]

I live in Michigan, where everybody on my Facebook feed complains about too much construction while at the same time complaining about how all of our governors new taxes aren't fixing the roads quick enough. People would never get behind changing intersections to roundabouts in my state

[@johnmanfreda2738]

@Noiseless Sounds pretty much lol

[@swiftfated]

They are over here, right outside my house. Yes people are complaining a lot lol.

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Hello fellow Michiganians.

[@oscodains]

We don’t need roundabouts Michigan lefts fix everything.

[@weregretohio7728]

We're stubborn, lazy, and spoiled. We complain about the way things are but whine and resist change. Nobody wants to pay for anything, no one wants to adapt, they just want to play first-world pretend until it all crashes down around them.

[@LobbsterSockrates]

So it seems like the solution is to continue to create roundabouts where possible on new roads

[@RSIxidor]

I think the counter to this is that if it's a new road (say a suburban development where there aren't currently a lot of houses), they might not expect it to have heavy traffic flow for some time, so the cost of a roundabout still might not be acceptable to the DOT putting the intersection in.

[@JerEditz]

@@RSIxidor funny to say, in my city, we actually built roundabouts when making the suburbs. then again, this suburb is literally only a couple years old

[@RSIxidor]

@@JerEditz That's great! I was really just guessing. I see that the US has installed more DDI than any other country but has always seemed like we refuse roundabouts. I was just guessing that might be the argument some places use. I think we are slowly coming around to it and some states use them a lot more than others. There's a handful even here in DFW but they're almost always tucked away in neighborhoods rather than in higher traffic areas.

[@pinakinkale]

Yea basically that’s what my city has been doing. Especially in suburban areas

[@joost1453]

In my city there are non stop roundabouts at new roads. Not a joke

[@calebhughes975]

As a fellow Missourian, I appreciate your dedication to this. When they first put in the diverging diamond at Dorsett and 270 everyone thought the world was ending, I can't imagine how people would react if they just threw roundabouts down everywhere.

[@lyoukeefen7199]

Even if you ignore the the cost issue entirely, roundabouts can still lock up if there is an uneven amount of traffic. There is one near my house that is infamous for causing a massive uneven backup of cars because traffic is only coming in from two of the three entrances.

[@zyaicob]

Yeah this is usually solved by extra merge lanes. We had a roundabout that was super uneven in Barbados, and most of the congestion happened on a road with 3 immediate exits but 2 lanes (the first left of the roundabout led to a 2 lane road). They quietly fixed it during the pandemic by adding an extra lane to merge into that left and separating the first turn from the rest of the roundabout. It was a problem I had pondered my whole life and suddenly it was fixed with a perfect solution and it just flew under the radar. Traffic management is such a thankless job

[@imm0rtal_k1]

America : roundabouts are expensive My country : we are poor but let's just put a roundabout on a straight road with no intersections for no particular reason

[@theflaminglionhotlionfox2140]

That's probably why your country is poor

[@norma8686]

My country does that too, it's to slow people down. When you have a long straight stretch of road people tend to go too fast, having a roundabout in the middle will make people slow down. It makes the roads safer.

[@theflaminglionhotlionfox2140]

@@norma8686 Doesn't a road bump achieve the same effect?

[@norma8686]

@@theflaminglionhotlionfox2140 It depends on the speed people are driving on that road. In city centers sure they'd work but on long roads outside of towns and cities people drive fast and a bump isn't as visible as a roundabout. Driving at let's say 80km/h and seeing a bump would make drivers brake suddenly. That could cause a chain collision as no one expects a bump in a long straight road.

[@theflaminglionhotlionfox2140]

@@norma8686 well bumps have road signs supposedly

[@machouchacha]

Austin: So, how many roundabouts do you want? The French: Yes.

[@mikelimakilokiloromeo]

Yes - Roundabout?

[@LukeSykpeMan]

_Oui_

[@grammarcenturion4644]

Wii

[@UrtepExela]

In Sweden, they put a tire with a sign in the middle of an intersection, remove the traffic lights and the roundabout is ready.

[@ravinichols3504]

Too bad that would probably only work in a country with a small population :/

[@yudistiraliem135]

@Jericho Kilmanja he’s talking about tire sized roundabouts

[@YandelStedufus]

@Jericho Kilmanja the tire itself would be stolen/run over in like 10 minutes tops if it was put down in the US

[@YandelStedufus]

@Jericho Kilmanja hopefully that will come in 2055 praying 🙏

[@sylvaingoudreau7189]

@@ravinichols3504 u The usa have a small population density on a big part of it's territory.

[@thelawofsteve]

The sponsored ad is hilarious. "Have trouble completing tasks? Try this ten part course in how to complete things." :D

[@toanuva6178]

Me: *Sees 'Roundabout' in notifications* My Brain: *"I'LL BE THE ROUNDABOUT"*

[@mNFroG6]

THE WORDS WILL MAKE YOU OUT N OUT

[@dalfifran7572]

Yes!

[@SnowBaller985]

@@battsiii Call it morning driving through the sound and in and out the valley

[@nighfirst2968]

was waiting for this

[@ObjectManiacJennifer27]

@@SnowBaller985 The music dance and sing

[@mousermind]

"... so that the comments will STOP." Oh, Austin. You poor man. They'll never stop. Nothing you ever do will stop them, aside from maybe filtering the word "roundabout" out of your comments.

[@twinkiesmaster69]

Roundy bouty

[@cloudgummykasi7642]

Circly traffic bois

[@NimhLabs]

It is clearly the work of an Enemy Stand User.

[@mexicodonkey2024]

Round-a-bout

[@PileOfStones]

Spherical turntable

[@AaronTsuii]

Re: "it should only take a couple months" Everyone thought that when my (pretty big) town's library had to be rebuilt it would only take a couple months. It started in 2012, and just barely ended. and we're only a short drive away from one of the biggest cities on the West Coast.

[@mementoargentum7733]

I'm worried about my public library who had to tear down the main branch a little over a year ago. They said that the building would be finished in like 2024 but who knows if that's true?

[@akronimm862]

It took a town in my area almost two years to implement a roundabout where two very busy roads meet. It’s still not done, as of writing this comment.

[@ianboswell]

I experienced a diverging diamond in Florida and it was awesome! Our roundabouts here almost always feel less safe than a standard intersection because nobody seems to understand what lane they should be in.

[@argh523]

That's normal as long as you have people with little experience using them. Even once you have lots of them, older people will still find them weird to use for decades. But eventually it becomes normal. Here in Switzerland, we've been building them for over half a century. They where already a normal part of traffic for me as a child, but people where still talking about them regularly, discussing things that happened on these damn roundabouts. Then it just stopped being an issue. The last time I heard someone bring up roundabout problems was a decade ago.

[@Spectarium]

I had to do a roundabout correctly to pass my drivers test

[@nimrod06]

There is a driver license test that is supposed to teach drivers to use the easiest type of intersection, but somehow in the US it just fails to deliver.

[@dandre3K]

@@nimrod06Roundabouts shouldn’t have lanes.

[@takkun215]

"why don't we use roundabouts everywhere?" Is this some sort of American joke I'm too British to understand?

[@josjoererg]

idk man

[@MetaBloxer]

According to the human factor issue from the video... yes

[@calaverx11]

It's not a joke, there are some people out there who really think it's that simple. I'm willing to bet the person who said "Americans are too dumb" is American. (TBH we are really fuckin dumb.)

[@Aimless6]

From an earlier vid: Traffic Circles (Place de la Concorde style). Done that, didn't work. And it soured American civil engineers to circles for all eternity. Since they have the right of way, drivers would slam into the intersection at full speed. Causing major t-bone collisions.

[@mikealberts993]

IS THIS VIDEO A JOJO REFERENCE

[@samuelswihart4285]

Austin is correct on the economical impact of road construction. My mom had a small massage/aesthetician studio on a one direction, two lane road in our downtown area and it killed her and some of the neighboring businesses as well. The city gave no help to their businesses for shutting them down past the due date either.

[@Coolsomeone234]

Austin could do a similar video on why two way street conversions is also a bad thing

[@TheMilitantHorse]

"It'll only take a few months..." It took my state 6 years to do 3 miles of a highway expansion. They were over budget. It's not quick to make or fix roads lol.

[@paxundpeace9970]

Less then one year for a almost 2 kilometers of city road with multiple intersection and two new roundabouts

[@denimchicken104]

The roundabout they put in by my neighborhood took 3-4 months.

[@paxundpeace9970]

@@denimchicken104 slow workers

[@denimchicken104]

@@paxundpeace9970 sure seemed like it

[@roy_hks]

My town literally replaced an already existing intersection with a roundabout in 3 weeks. But they’ve also built 2 new highways (10 and 20 miles) in only about a year. Gosh, I love Dutch infrastructure

[@leetownsend]

In Spain, they build roundabouts and then teach drivers to use them incorrectly, thus rendering their construction a pointless and very expensive waste of time. They actually slow down the flow of traffic, if anything.

[@tobiaschaparro2372]

This is just a very roundabout way of saying "it's more complicated than that" Edit: oMg sEnKs fOR sO meNi LAiks

[@yaboi7773]

I see what you did there with that pun

[@deadbymeme2311]

@@yaboi7773 tbf, youll need a dead man to not understand that pun

[@MrMonkeybat]

Yep, lots of word salad in this vid that says very little. It sounds like he works in the sector which likely makes him a suffered from bureaucratic brain disease. Aas mistakes in a system build up over time people will allow their thinking to go through all sorts of convolutions to avoid noticing the fact that themselves and their friends, with all their training and years of experience are acting like a total bunch of idiots. So applying Occams Razor to the issue on the one hand with a lot of waffle and on the other we have a much simpler explanation: Americans are idiots!

[@killianoshaughnessy1174]

God damnit, Tobías. 😂

[@edward4840]

MrMonkeybat sorry mate, as much as I agree that Americans are idiots - this video (while occasionally a touch waffly), he does address the issue and explain why at so many different angles. It's always more complicated. It's easier said than done

[@purplefire2834]

4:41 "only a few months" Oh... Wow... I don't even know how to respond to that. This person has clearly never paid attention to how long it takes their city to do anything...

[@MRSpanplayer1999]

generic username :v oh my that really sounds like my little Caribbean country Guyana 😂😂

[@mmouse1886]

No it's a Union Problem, the US has never just made what Unions demanded into a standardised minimum pass requirements for Health and Safety. So Unions still act like every Company wants to beat it's workers to death so they extort and beat companies into the ground the minute they get a toehold out of line. Like the Praetorian Guard, you either cave to them or get killed by them.

[@harvkent8017]

I live in England and they put a cut through in the roundabout to ease congestion and it took a year to dig up some dirt and then re-tarmac the road into the roundabout

[@aduptuniform2647]

I agree with u, road construction takes a long time, my city Cincinnati is redo the bridges between Ohio and Kentucky ands going to take about 4 years, they have been at it for about 1

[@Manie230]

If I remember correctly the roundabout that got built at the entrance to my neighborhood was finished very quickly. But to be honest tagaus probably because the street is one of the most used truck roads every trucker that has been to my town at least once will always drive that road because it’s faster and is almost completely dead during working hours.

[@Yitewewoteli-dQw4w9WgXcQ]

This guy: there's no traffic lights on roundabouts Me: *cries in British*

[@durkado6318]

And sometimes we only have traffic lights on half the roundabout, or we have part time signals...

[@MaddJakd]

D.C. says hello..............

[@tylerjohn3414]

@@MaddJakd Oh dear lord, I forgot how bad DC traffic is. 7 roads to pull onto in one intersection, stop signs only used at certain times of day,..

[@pietropietro]

I don't want to be too technical, but if it has a traffic light it is not called a "roundabout" but a "traffic circle"

[@valhar2000]

That's because roundabouts have a relatively low traffic throughput. If you put too many cars on them they will choke, and then you need traffic lights to enable the flow again. The fact is that roundabouts have advantages and disadvantages; they will work well in some intersections and poorly in others.

[@ObsidianHunter99]

When my state went to replace an intersection with a roundabout on one of the 55mph state highways they had to first build a road for everyone to drive on that took them around the existing intersection while the work crews did their thing and built up the new roundabout, it approx. 2-3 months and the only reason no on had to take a detour was because of that little temporary route they built.

[@masterowl45]

Moral of the story: Don’t challenge Austin because he knows his stuff.

[@54321jcc]

MasterOwl45 I don’t think that’s what he wants you to take away. If I remember correctly he made a video just about stuff he’s gotten wrong because everyone get some stuff wrong. Though he obviously puts a lot of time in his video. I think if anything the moral is, if there’s an obvious fix that hasn’t been implemented for a while, there is probably a reason why.

[@iDunnoMC]

The card game video exists

[@brennanperry8001]

He just does research. I could make a video that makes me look just as educated in a couple of days.

[@masterowl45]

Ok just for the record I understand he's not perfect and that it's easy to sound educated. It's was just supposed to be a joke and a compliment to the research he did.

[@wieter4094]

@@brennanperry8001 you act like doing research only makes you seem like you're educated

[@Rachel-vz7yg]

Re: the Human factor: We had to widen an intersection in my town, and the cheaper option actually was the roundabout. They put one in and folks had a huge fit about muh tax dollars, etc. Then no one bothered to figure out how to properly drive through one and they blamed the Mayor for the frequent fender benders. It's only two lanes. I saw someone drive in the opposite direction on it. I'm glad we have it because it is truly better then what we had. But if you put in a roundabout at the intersection in the US be prepared to for stupidity and dumb takes on it.

[@mementoargentum7733]

I live right next to a roundabout that was only put in about 6 or 7 years ago. When they announced that they were going to put it in, a LOT of people complained. (To be fair, I know that the roundabout was the best option for this intersection because they originally had stop signs, then bumped it up to traffic lights, and STILL had Accidents all over the place) Now people drive it like it's been there forever and it Really does help with traffic flow for this street. I do know that the only reason they did put one in here was because they needed to rebuild the bridge leading to it (the thing was Literally falling apart and was no longer safe to drive on) and because of that they had to rip up a lot of the pavement anyway so that the new bridge would work better. Plus, they had just torn down the projects that were right next to the street so they had plenty of space to put in the roundabout without disturbing the nearby businesses. There have been some incredibly stupid people who drive the roundabout here as well, but it's far less because this one is used by ambulances as the straight route to the nearby hospital so police frequently drive it. Sorry about the rant, I just wanted to add a comment to someone who actually lived in the US who experienced a roundabout being put in like I did ^_^

[@yosbo9060]

It's worth noting that US driving courses don't teach the rules for using a roundabout -- at least not in my state. I've only run into one in my life, and I was utterly confused. Even today, after watching videos on the subject, I know if I ever see another one I'll be dumbfounded again. It's just so visually unfamiliar, it doesn't surprise me that people struggle with them

[@gunswinger3110]

Weird, in my country they teach you how to use a roundabout when getting your driver's license and our roads often have roundabouts

[@bevanfindlay]

@@yosbo9060 You make a good point about education. Objectively, a roundabout is actually simpler to use than many other intersections (I an yet to have anyone explain to me how a 4-way stop sign is supposed to work - including US drivers who used them all the time!) On a roundabout, you simply look at who is approaching from your left (or right if driving on the left hand side) and give way (yield) to that traffic. When you see a gap, you can go. Multi-lane roundabouts are more complicated, but even there the rules are relatively simple. I think the problem people have is that they attempt to understand everything at once and freeze, rather than only focusing on what directly affects you (I assume this anyway; I can work out what everyone needs to be doing on the entire roundabout out to three cars back on all approaches in about half a second, which is why I don't understand when people get stressed about them, but I've learned that's not something everyone can do).

[@petelee2477]

@@yosbo9060 I've never seen a round about before driving one and I found it relatively easy to drive. There were massive arrows pointing in the direction I'm supposed to go and the flow of traffic was in a circle. Didn't see where this would be confusing at all.

[@ineskt6361]

Unfortunately in Algeria, roundabouts are causing more problems than solving it, since A LOT of the drivers here don't respect the priorities and just drive like they are alone in the roads

[@denimchicken104]

Yep. That’s the trouble with a system that relies on YIELD signs. They’re meaningless to far too many people.

[@LilliD3]

@@denimchicken104 tjen the only way to save that are ramps because the red light is also only a signe

[@denimchicken104]

@@LilliD3 red lights are more absolute. Even the careless driver tends to stop at a red light. But with a yield sign, it seems like 10% of drivers just don’t know what it means or don’t care.

[@Karamarika]

Roundabouts are great for one lane roads. Anymore than that and they are just a pain. They put up 3 roundabouts on a road in my town, all with at least 2 lanes of traffic. We all avoid that road as much as possible because of the roundabouts. This is in the US, btw. People in other countries love to pretend like we don't have roundabouts here. We have had them in my town for probably close to 20 years now.

[@LilliD3]

@@Karamarika and as a European I will never understand why you avoid them. We have a bunch of 2 lane roundabouts here, even some 3 lane ones and they are really not problematic. I also don't understand why you build them so incredibly large in the USA, here they are mostly relatively small and don't have that big of a footprint. By building them large you actually loose the benefits of having to slow down on them.

[@jeffersonian4]

Arguments here are (for the most part) not great, as it does nothing to answer the most potent counterpoint: it's already used with wide success in other 1st-world countries. If these countries routinely launch roundabouts, there's no (obvious) compelling reason why the US can't do the same. ------ His best points are about cost and re-routing traffic. I will answer both of these: 1) Cost is only an issue if we are short-sighted. By planning ahead and prioritizing long-term results, we can have roundabouts with the only downside being it will take longer to implement them. However, once the city plan catches up, there will no longer be any time downside. 2) Traffic is re-routed for ANY road construction project. Civil engineers routinely provide solutions to this exact problem, and roundabout implementation is no different

[@tlpineapple1]

To further expand upon your cost counterpoint. Signalized intersections are not cheap to build, and while a roundabout may cost slightly more upfront, a signalized intersection needs to be powered 24/7, resulting in significant upkeep fees. Further, even if we ignore the likelyhood that those increased accidents are likely to hit the infrastructure at some point requiring repairs, a signalized intersection has greater speeds resulting in more roadwear requiring more maintenance over time

[@xeruexe1624]

Too bad America is too stupid to use FLYING CARS. It's 2020 people, we should all be driving DeLoreans at this point.

[@coldscythe2398]

They exist but they take too much gas

[@buritsuu]

Or they could just get a virus that causes a pandemic so people would stay home! Oh wait....

[@Favmir]

Flying cars is one of the stupiest ideas ever

[@etherealessence]

Well... as someone who actually is driving a DeLorean... its not all it was made out to be. Fucking thing can't even hit 70mph let alone 88 >:(

[@bandit5747]

planes exist. they can also taxi.

[@PepeTheFrog2016.]

I searched for Roundabout the JoJo ending song but I found your video. Don't regret clicking.

[@thefaithless]

I searched roundabout for this video and found the JoJo song.

[@Cheezmonka]

Please listen to more from YES as well.

[@m_milos]

@@Cheezmonka YES. I really loved Roundabout when I started JoJo, so I checked out the whole Fragile album, and I liked/loved every song.

[@Caleonn]

Roundabouts are Jojo references ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️

[@jaysefgames1155]

@@Caleonn they're YES references. YES is referenced in JoJo

[@Sealdrop]

swiss person here: we've replaced all roads with roundabouts

[@simonparatte1910]

We also have a lot of money for roads ^^

[@rydoggo]

You have a lot of money.

[@wtfman-k3g]

considering the fact the usa is the richest country it shouldn't be that hard, but you also have to consider that USA is a highly populated country and very big with lots of roads

[@simonparatte1910]

@@a.wadderphiltyr1559 totally worth it, now we have roundabouts :)

[@SlimSnipes]

Ya but michigan is bigger then your country

[@choppergirl]

All the Americans I know love roundabouts in small towns. We just got our second somewhere else in the area, after the first was demolished and a traffic light was put in. Literally, the round about was the only thing special about that small town, and when they demolished it, the town lost whatever little character it had left. Now, we probably don't like multilane roundabouts. I had to run on foot across the one around the Arc de Triumph in Paris, and it was like a game of frogger. I think I had to drive around the same thing as well and it was quite confusing. A one lane round about though is dead simple to understand and dead efficient.

[@bbgun061]

There's still way too much new construction that *doesn't* include roundabouts, though.

[@makuu-hita]

i mean if you heard some cases roundabouts arent better

[@linkhidalgogato]

@@makuu-hita almost all of the video was talking about how changing into them would be expensive but rrally only reason to not use roundabout more often in new stuff is that yall too stupid to around a circle

[@NotGabeAgain]

Isn't it weird how the focus of the video is roundabouts? Hmmm... Big think... 🤔

[@liviapearls6436]

"Roundabout" does not sound like a word anymore.

[@liberpolo5540]

LMAO

[@myrothiosthegullible6315]

"Bring your vehicle to a complete stop before proceeding" I like this part 10:11

[@nadinewesterveld5597]

And here I thought they were decorations! Any chance he'll tell us what those blinky lights on cars do next? I’m assuming they're only supposed to be used at Christmas... They're portable Christmas lights, right?

[@weepingdalek2568]

@@nadinewesterveld5597 I thought they were meant to be used to make light shows at night

[@theRealKira591]

@@weepingdalek2568 Weren't they meant to say "pls dont ram into me I have cats aboard"?

[@danielhale1]

Important to note, if you are installing a roundabout, have a good idea of the traffic patterns current and future businesses will create. Roundabouts can create Starvation Scenarios where one path has a constant stream of cars which totally block access to all other paths into the roundabout. If a movie theater or sports arena etc is built by your roundabout, 3 of the 4 directions are going to be gridlocked for about a half hour or hour or more every time a movie ends, game finishes, or otherwise the flood gates open. 4-way stops and traffic lights are fair: they at least allow the other traffic a chance to get through the light. A roundabout improperly built to handle the load is a regular disaster, and lets one traffic flow dominate everyone else until it dries up.

[@jolynecujoh9518]

"why don't we just use roundabouts everywhere" because everyone will just keep on waiting for the next episode, obviously

[@fleur5782]

hehehe

[@whoisheiforgothisname2103]

*Me having Zeppeli PTSD flashback*

[@ManjotSingh-sf2ri]

**is that a jojo reference**

[@paraminator8270]

:)

[@justajobro1266]

They should use it in the end of part 6

[@i3d3]

There's also the mini-roundabout that's used in the UK. For low-to-medium traffic roads, we just paint a solid white circle and place signs on all approaches instructing to treat it as a roundabout (i.e. yield to the right (that'd be left in the US)). Works great for long vehicles as well since no physical barrier in the middle allows them to make a turn even if they go over it. This can basically be painted on an existing intersections after removing the traffic lights.

[@nicholasavasthi9879]

Depending on the US city that may not be an option. In northern cities the roads are fully covered in a layer of densely packed snow 3-5 months out of the year so any paint becomes invisible. It would work for sunbelt or coastal cities though.

[@darylvandorst3032]

No we yield to the right where we drive on the right side of the road. In the Netherlands at least

[@i3d3]

@@darylvandorst3032 I am aware of the yield to the right rules which, as far as I'm aware, are Geneva convention standards regardless of traffic direction, but that's mostly for uncontrolled junctions. In RHT, on roundabouts you'd yield to the left because that's where traffic going around the roundabout is coming from, so effectively the yield to the right rule is superseded.

[@darylvandorst3032]

@@i3d3 ah you got me there, had a little confusion. Now I understand, thank you

[@sparxdev]

"Why Don't We Just Use Roundabouts Everywhere?" *laughs in German*

[@nonautemrexchristus5637]

*Laughs in everywhere in the UK*

[@alexbenavidez4500]

I can count six roundabouts off the top of my head within ten minutes of my house lmao Every intersection is a roundabout in my town in England

[@megarusso]

@@alexbenavidez4500I know right, I can walk to four or five within 10 minutes

[@mollof7893]

@@alexbenavidez4500 I'm jealous. There are 3 rounds abouts 20 minutes away, in the middle of nowehre but none in my town with a lot of trafic.

[@juliamaria3807]

we've got so many roundabouts, on my typical school day our bus passes 9 in 30min. two of them are within 5 seconds of each other.

[@crazydave1]

A small intersection in my neighborhood was turned into a roundabout recently. Took about a month for a single lane 4-way intersection with no traffic lights on a flat road that was never popular in the first place.

[@fluxsmith_]

They’re great unless you build them the way my town did; two lanes in, two lanes out, and 1.5 lanes wide!

[@someusername1452]

Maybe for bikes?

[@ia115]

You in indiana?

[@benoitrochon589]

Or like I saw here... Roundabout with stop signs to go it, or even lights. Sometimes in the roundabout there is a light! Wtf!!!

[@broggie123]

@@benoitrochon589 yeah uk has a few like that

[@CYounger4U]

90% of the people who commented about the roundabouts are Europeans and one of the main reason why we have them is that our traffic systems are so different compared to the states. the most notable difference is how our highway systems work and the rules and ettecka is very different making our roads safer among the different setups. interesting to have a video comparing European roads and USA roads cos when visiting the states i saw a significant difference

[@sino_diogenes]

ETTEKA ettiquette?

[@hobog]

Roundabouts would objectively improve a lot of highway and road intersections in north America. Unfortunately, constructing them is too disruptive

[@pjotrh]

The European roads weren’t too different in the 80s. Europe has seen more infrastructure improvements in the last 30 years then the USA has seen since 1950.

[@CYounger4U]

@@sino_diogenes lmao, tad dyslexic

[@itchypit6413]

Also cause the us is almost as big as the entire continent of Europe

[@foxythunder481]

Austin straight up throwing shade on commenters, and I love it

[@foopington]

Converting every intersection to a roundabout would drive me insane

[@thobiex]

I suppose roundabouts are more difficult and expensive when you have 16 lane intersections

[@zportal2089]

But why have 16 lanes in the first place?

[@jacksonmorley6998]

@@zportal2089 cause there’s so much traffic even a roundabout couldn’t handle

[@sullfolife]

french be like "bitch please" ; Arch of triumph

[@marleyjames566]

@@SD352-68 that’s not how it works there is set traffic just sprinkled out on the lanes

[@racecardriverrr4201]

@@marleyjames566 the more lanes, the more traffic that decides to use the road, hense more vehicles sprinkled per lane

[@WatsonandSherlock]

Austin: "traffic only goes in one direction" Me: flashback to all the times I saw people go the wrong way through a roundabout on my college campus and the one time there was a fender bender in the middle where we had bushes O.O

[@emilyfrahm4118]

Yup, I got backed into by a semi last time I was in a roundabout. I still support them, but people not knowing how they work is a huge issue

[@savannahsnyder6185]

how does one mess up driving so bad they go the wrong way in a roundabout

[@WatsonandSherlock]

@@savannahsnyder6185 college kids are stupid

[@gnomsrepnay]

@@savannahsnyder6185 how does one mess up driving so bad they plow right through the middle of a roundabout at the same time

[@WatsonandSherlock]

@@gnomsrepnay college kids at 1am are worse

[@uwu_senpai]

AustinMcConnel: NOOOOOOOO, you cannot just put roundabout everywhere. French government: haha contruction company go brrrrrrr

[@aaronhe6877]

video game: it's already done

[@mathewbrown7304]

lets just ignore the fact that the united states is 18 times larger than france?

[@meltingzero3853]

@@mathewbrown7304 whoosh Person whose name I can't read was making a joke based on the meme "money printer go brrr". Wasn't an actual argument on France being smarter than Austin.

[@Hodoss]

@Mathew Brown Let’s just ignore the fact that the US GDP is 8 times bigger than France’s?

[@uwu_senpai]

@@mathewbrown7304 France has half of the world's roundabout. At this point the size of the US doesn't matter.

[@nickbono8]

The one thing I don’t like about roundabouts is, if the traffic flow is heavy, there are limited breaks in between cars. Traffic lights inherently put cars into “packs” which allows for breaks in the flow. I ran into this when I visited New Zealand, I was trying to take an unprotected turn across traffic but there was a roundabout 100 yard away. I sat and waited for a break in the flow to cross but it took forever since roundabouts don’t stop the flow. I had about 4 cars behind me waiting to turn as well. After waiting for way too long I finally had to gun it and make a semi-unsafe turn. Whereas a traffic light would have stopped the traffic 100 yards away and allowed a break long enough for me to cross and maybe the other people behind me as well. But other than that, I really like roundabouts.

[@sawderf741]

Never really gave it that much thought.

[@thegoldstandard721]

Roundabouts are easy

[@johnmanfreda2738]

I would also like to add that here in metro Detroit, we had our biggest east to west interstate completely redone recently and it had a devastating effect on all the local east to west roads. Our City of Warren actually declared a state of emergency. So you do have to be careful with what you shut down and how you do it

[@GummyDinosaursify]

Metro Detroit is a mess to begin with, to be fair.

[@monolithaxdxo1665]

Hey Buddy. I'm in hazel park and yeah it's bad. I didn't know about the state of emergency though. That crazy

[@scrap5051]

Can’t have shit in Detroit

[@Steampunkkids]

John Manfreda, my parents live in the MidWest. Their city closed down the ENTIRE main road (both directions) for one year. It killed ALL of the business along that road because no one could physically get to the stores. It was a mess

[@gpaderx6105]

" Oh you're now giving the orders, captain?"

[@vitorgas1]

"Today we are going to address the roundabout issue once and for all so that the comments will stop" Oh, my sweet summer child

[@elderrusty541]

The comments will never stop, because people think that just because they’re American they’re automatically geniuses and that they’re automatically right I wrote this when I was tired and forgot to put not in front of Americans

[@MaximNightFury]

Bless his heart...

[@sticks4632]

@@elderrusty541 you do know europeans are the ones that suggest it right?

[@elderrusty541]

Sticksel Pixel gaming I forgot to write not Americans, it happens all the time with me

[@Alexrider02]

"There's no chance you'll get T-boned" Tell that to the three different SUVs and trucks that have all come within feet or inches of T-boning me while I was in a roundabout and they decided to enter without yielding. And then honk at me even though I had the right of way. Because, you know, 'Murika.

[@Xershade]

Yeah that's the same issue with normal intersections, people don't do what they're supposed to do then complain. Friend was turning left once, normally left yields to the person going straight. However in this case the jackass was coming out a subdivision and had a stop sign, they still honked at my friend who didn't have one and therefore had the right away. And don't get me started on the 99.99% of people who ignore the stop signs near my house, NEXT TO A SCHOOL.

[@asder538]

His claim of no T-bones is obviously false, every enter point has a T-bone conflict point. The big improvent however is the no head to head collisions, which js true.

[@copperlaktronics6705]

If it happened 3 different times then maybe you’re to blame here

[@Eyes0penNoFear]

@@asder538 I've seen multiple people drive backwards on a roundabout so there's definitely still the possibility of a head on collision. My favorite was when a semi tried going the wrong way one time. Fortunately everyone got out of his way so he didn't kill anyone, but it took some doing to get him moved out of the way, and then clean up the traffic jam.

[@calaverx11]

That's what he was talking about at the end, the human factor. Humans are idiots, plain and simple. A roundabout without lights is just a continuous, unbroken straight line to some people, who will just drive right over and through the center like it's not even there.

[@jwbranham2009]

I applaud your simple and accurate presentation of this very complex and important subject. I am impressed with how interesting you make these videos!

[@theafr0842]

The real roundabout was the friends we made along the way

[@spiralspark8523]

Best comment

[@veronen4525]

"I'll be the roundabout-"

[@cherrypepsi2815]

ayyy at least one person knows that song

[@LuEz49]

Yup

[@atomicspartan131]

To be continued...

[@nenk0u]

The words will make you out 'n' out

[@OfficialGiraffe]

I spend the day your wayyyyyyyy....

[@vinrock]

Theres a big ass roundabout in the philippines in quezon city and its insane. It's super dangerous and during rush hour the traffic is bumper to bumper

[@blitzn00dle50]

holy shit that's huge I can also see that clearly people respect the painted bicycle gutter and that's why I'm seeing nobody use it

[@zyaicob]

Yeah when they make roundabouts too big it's so stupid and self defeating

[@fayyaznashwan8059]

Same deal with the "monumen selamat datang" in jakarta, my friend got t boned by a mini van that day (she's ok now don't worry) it was a stupidly big roundabout, till this day I still don't want to drive in that heck of a roundabout

[@SkullCandy5671]

The Champs Elysess in Paris is a perfect example of a overbloated roundabout being super dangerous

[@TainaElisabeth]

at a certain point it’s really just a curved road with T intersections

[@almightycinder]

To give an example of how expensive it can be to make a roundabout: they made one in my hometown of Issaquah, WA about a decade ago. There's a two mile or so long road called Gilman Blvd parallel to the freeway, with only three cut throughs to the other side of the freeway. They put the roundabout in the middle one. It took about three years to build. No joke. During that time, the other two routes were just busier for three years. Also keep in mind that this is an area where rush hour can be like four hours long.

[@youreviltwin]

0:48 Austin: "Today we are going to address the roundabout issue once and for all so that the comments will stop." KZbin HiveMind: "Oh yeah? Watch this."

[@merlintym1928]

KZbin doesn't have a hive mind it's at best a schizophrenic conglomerate

[@Helperbot-2000]

When the video only shows supermassive and least efficient roundabout its important to criticise

[@stevenyoung9738]

@@Helperbot-2000 there be the hivemind

[@olican101]

It's because he's pretending that roundabouts are more expensive. In reality, they are cheaper. Traffic lights are expensive to maintain and run.

[@Soapy-chan]

​@@olican101so you just ignore what he said, nice

[@sweetlikepapaya442]

I’m glad you touched on the “human factor”. Back in my hometown in Missouri, we had three roundabouts and so many people do not understand it and hated it.

[@nienke7713]

The lack of understanding roundabouts by the US public also becomes obvious if you've ever played Cities: Skylines without any mods and tried to use one of their prefab roundabouts which aren't at all set up to function like a proper roundabout and instead are more set up as a circular road with several intersections

[@mememaster695]

Do Americans not get taught how to use roundabouts when they get their license? I'm British and one of the first things I learned after how to change gears and how to take a turn was how to use a roundabout, so it's shocking to me that there are people with driver's licenses who don't know how roundabouts work.

[@Kimmie6772]

@@mememaster695 theres a lot of people that will never encounter a roundabout in their lives or at least not commonly enough that they will remember how to maneuver one. That's why it's not really taught. It's a relatively rare design choice in the US where everything is a grid besides the suburb.

[@mememaster695]

@@Kimmie6772 It's hard to imagine driving without seeing a single roundabout, it's hard to go a mile in the UK without using one, I have to take four separate roundabouts just to get out of my neighbourhood, nevermind the crazy distances Americans drive

[@frenchthattoast]

In my town we had a shitty little intersection where people were all the time getting in accidents over stupid shit. They put a roundabout there and hasn’t been an accident since. But everyone around here bitches about it…. Like it’s one roundabout it our whole city lol

[@handsoapinc]

I feel like Austin has to deal constantly with the fact that a lot of his viewer base does not understand his videos.

[@DM-kv9kj]

He just sounds like he needs his diaper changing tbh.

[@Nillowo]

@@DM-kv9kj spotted the viewer base that doesn’t understand his videos

[@ronaldpettifurd5957]

@@DM-kv9kj r/woooosh

[@handsoapinc]

@@ronaldpettifurd5957 Imagine being the exact kind of person this video makes fun of, and not even realizing it.

[@ronaldpettifurd5957]

@@handsoapinc clueless... smh

[@JeanPierreWhite]

Recently took a trip to Sedona. There isn't a single stop light in Sedona, they have roundabouts everywhere. They have also eliminated a lot of unprotected left turns as well. Very safe city. It was wonderful to be able to drive without having to stop and watch others stopped and waiting as well. The traffic just flowed.

[@frafraplanner9277]

That's one of my favourite parts about Sedona

[@colinschroyer]

My city recently announced that they were implementing a roundabout in our town, and it’s going to cost ~$3.0 Million to make. And that’s just ONE INTERSECTION, in ONE TOWN, in ONE COUNTY, in ONE STATE. So yeah, you have a point Austin!

[@smaldomagana4219]

1234 did you watch the video?

[@griffinkelley2301]

1234 At least the trains ran on time

[@romanlinnik7441]

@1234 Lmao. You never saw roads in Russia, Kazakhstan, some other Eastern European countries. NA/Western Europe roads are a blessing.

[@IONATVS]

@1234 I’m presuming 3/4 of that is the eminent domain costs for reimbursing whoever owned the shops around the intersection that need to be demolished. In the US, if the government takes your land, they are constitutionally required to pay you the fair market value you could’ve sold it for if they didn’t take it from you, as estimated by a neutral third party property assessor. To install a roundabout at a 4-way intersection in a city center, that’s at least 4 street corners that have to be demolished, probably each with a business in what would’ve been prime storefront locations-or entrenched homeowners that have been beating back such businesses trying to buy their beloved family homestead for *years*-before they got the axe. And while it may stall progress somewhat, reimbursing people for the fact that you’re destroying their home or business for the common good is simply the right thing to do.

[@evathegrand]

I shouldn't have to tell you that that's an immense amount of money and that it actually costs a lot less to make? Funny how everything that's government related suddenly becomes a lot more expensive in the US than in the rest of the world.

[@esdgolf323]

I'm a roadway engineer and this video was amazing! The main reason roundabouts are not used to replace a traditional intersection is cost. Things like acquiring right-of-way and relocating utilities are costly. Additionally, you have to deal with NIMBY's and people who want nothing to change. If I had all the money, land, and time, I would put roundabouts at every qualified intersection.

[@sorenkair]

Also, the diverging diamond looks cooler.

[@thezipcreator]

the true reason to use diverging diamond

[@thespaghettiman3821]

Agreed

[@aarons8711]

+++

[@rakha8812]

Opinion alert: Roundabout looks cleaner and more minimalistic therefore cooler.

[@AltName7]

@@rakha8812 mininalism =/= cool (Doom logo vs Doom 2016 logo)

[@eragon78]

The real solution is to focus cities less around cars and more around public transit and biking or walk ability. This reduces traffic which makes the roads safer for everyone, and it means that a road being down for a bit doesnt cause people's ability to get around to completely halt. Changes to housing requirements also helps. More mixed density housing plans can allow for more high and medium density housing near city centers, and allowing high and meidum density housing in city outskirts also helps this issue as well. You can fit more people closer to the city center reducing the need for people to use cars leading to less traffic as well. Plus, if you design cities around hte concept of being walkable or bikable, it means most shopping locations are going to be within a 20 ish minute walk of most people's places of residency which can help them stay open even if construction is happening nearby. So yea, the real solution is to slowly transition cities away from car focused infrastructure, and move more and more towards public transit and walkability/biking wherever possible.

[@theninjamaster67]

Fuck yah someone gets it!