Do Americans Know What A Roundabout Is?

[Az]

BEcause it encourages stopping traffic

oh dear , we wouldn't like that. Let's have all our traffic lights always be green .

Come to a complete stop at a stop sign? Yeah...right

I don't believe you guys !!!!

[Kyle]

There's like three of them in downtown Annapolis. Quite annoying. I'll stick to the suburbs where everything are straight lines or 90 degree turns.

[Felch]

We have one right outside of our school. It's pleasant and nice in times of low traffic, but gets into nasty snarls when traffic is busy.

[Grandpa Troll]

ROUNDABOUT you say..hmm

Lets think,,Oh yeah..I remember from the 70's...one of my Favorite songs..yup..from the group YES

Simply an awesome jam..hmm..for the younger generation, that means K E W L

[Kirnwaffen]

With no Driver's Education:
Licence at 16 (years old)

With Driver's Ed:
Learners permit at 14 1/2
Licence at 15

In Colorado, they just changed the law so that you must be 18 to get a license (I just slipped in in time). Before that though, you could get a learner's permit at 15 with driver's ed, and 15 1/2 without. Here, we require 50 mandatory hours of driving before liscensing (though you can easily cheat). You must also pass a written test (through driver's ed or the DMV) and a practical test (for me, both through driver's ed and the DMV). I imagine people will become better drivers here, as they will now be forced to spend 3 years on a learner's permit before being unleashed. (According to AAA the average person requires 5 years of driving to be at par with the general public)

Edit: And roundabouts: I hate them. Not so much because of anything they do to traffic as that they catch me off guard. I know of two in my area, one of which can actually be quite confusing the first one or two times through.

[MOBIUS]

Roundabouts are GREAT!



Great for keeping the traffic flowing and preventing jams...

The only probs are the odd one which isn't properly considered/built when you're the one waiting to squeeze into a seemingly interminable stream of traffic...

I just drove over 6500 miles in the US (Not Chicago mind you) and don't remember seeing very many at all - there were some in DC and very good they were too!

Oh, they have some in MA too...

[CapitanGarlic]

Oh, yes I forgot to mention something else that might have scared Azazel away. Until about 1999, there was no speed limit on the highways in Montana. My 6th grade english teacher was always telling us about his 100+ MPH drives around the city.

[The Mad Monk]

Ah, Montana...the 'American Autobahn'...

[Dis]

we have a few in our city. we don't call them roundabouts. or do we?

heck if I know

I almost got rear ended in one of them. I was supposed to yield. The guy behind me honked his horn and almost hit me. I was yielding.

next time I won't yield.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by CapitanGarlic
Oh, yes I forgot to mention something else that might have scared Azazel away. Until about 1999, there was no speed limit on the highways in Montana. My 6th grade english teacher was always telling us about his 100+ MPH drives around the city.

That no speed limit deal had only been around since the early 90's I believe. That is when the fed. government did away with the 55 MPH limit and let states make their own limits.