<p>I grew up with these things in NJ and nothing got your nerves going like coming to into a busy circle. Now they are bringing them back.</p>
<p>[JS</a> Online: What’s coming ’round the bend](<a href=“http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=772125]JS”>http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=772125)</p>
<p>I avoid them at all costs.</p>
<p>There’s a few around here, and whenever I get directions from Google Maps, if it comes up with a roundabout I always click the little “Avoid” boxes. I HATE them.</p>
<p>Atlantic Monthly just had an article on british versus US traffic rules and signage. The author had a different take on traffic circles:</p>
<p>[Distracting</a> Miss Daisy](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic]Distracting”>Distracting Miss Daisy - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>Traffic circles are a good thing, but…</p>
<p>Excerpt from Dave Barry, April 28, 2008:</p>
<p>“Traffic circles are a good thing, if drivers understand the rules. But this is Miami, where drivers find the concept of ‘‘yield’’ to be more baffling than quantum physics. Some drivers barge into the circle regardless of whether there are cars already in it. Other drivers come to a full stop, even when the circle is empty, eyeing it warily, as if it were a space/time warp that might suck them into another dimension. Still others barge into the circle and THEN stop. (It goes without saying that these same drivers would never dream of stopping at, for example, a stop sign.)”</p>
<p>I was actually looking for an older Barry column on traffic circles, but I didn’t find it. It was hilarious, about his adventures spending his entire European vacation going 'round and 'round a big circle in Rome, Paris, or some other city. </p>
<p>But I do like the circles, although I get nervous in the big scary ones in large cities (5-6 lanes). I just commented in another thread recently that the circles really help to keep the traffic moving in our small German city (pop 20,000 or so). There are only two traffic lights in town, and not many stop signs, but we have lots of circles.</p>
<p>Barrons, if you could navigate the Ellisburg Circle, you won’t have a problem. :)</p>
<p>I mostly remember the ones in Somerville and Flemington, and the Trenton area. I know they had some closer to NYC but I stayed away from that craziness.</p>
<p>We just got some traffic circles in our area. There is a double circle … not exactly connected, but VERY close proximity between the two circles … right near S’s high school. I was pretty sure this would be a disaster. Actually, it has been wonderful. Traffic backups have been eliminated. The speed limit in the circle is 15 mph, and people are very good about slowing down & yielding. I imagine there have been & will be accidents, but there were accidents prior to the circles.</p>
<p>This is a formerly rural area that has been growing by leaps & bounds. The circles seem to work for our purposes.</p>
<p>barrons, I do not think roundabouts in WI or WA would be as hazardous as the ones I observed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. There, an American driver had to be suicidal to attempt navigating one of them. Russian drivers, fueled by beer and their Russian love for speed, did not seem to mind their traffic circles.</p>
<p>There were some talks about replacing a nasty intersection near the Woodinville wine country with a roundabout. To test if the locals could deal with one of these traffic puzzles, a roundabout was first installed by the local high school. So far, so good.</p>
<p>I see a bunch of Washington drivers stoppong at the entry to the circle and waiting for the other person to go–for hours. My worst nightmare. Fourway stops are bad enough here. Nobody knows the person to the right has the right of way rule. Don’t get me started on Washington drivers.</p>
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<p>Ah, okay. I don’t remember those in that area. The Ellisburg was in Cherry Hill, and the ones with which I was familiar were in Cherry Hill(Ellisburg and Race Track), Marlton (the Olga’s circle), Red Lion, and Medford. I think all of them are now gone.</p>
<p>alwaysamom ~ the Red Lion? Is that near Westampton, on the way to Seneca High School? If so, it’s still there as of a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>Somerville and Flemington are famous. Rt. 23 used to have some, but they’ve been gone a long time. We still do have one in Netcong, though.</p>
<p>we have traffic circles on the residential streets- in fact we have one at the end of ours- rarely is there more than one car approaching.
Also a median planter running north/south on the closet 2 lane street( with turn lane)</p>
<p>As far as I can tell not many take care of the median planter, but the one a few houses up is well cared for.
[Local</a> News | Police seek 28-year-old man in fatal traffic circle beating | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008051182_webtrafficcircle14m.html]Local”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008051182_webtrafficcircle14m.html)
But they do make some peoples tempers rise, even though neighborhoods usually have to request them and provide for their upkeep as well</p>
<p>( the biggest problem at a 4 way - seems to be people that don’t even stop)
[Municipal</a> Research News - Spring 2005](<a href=“http://www.mrsc.org/Publications/mrnews/mrnews0305.aspx]Municipal”>http://www.mrsc.org/Publications/mrnews/mrnews0305.aspx)</p>
<p>I am scared of circles. The ones I know were all accidents hotspots. Lots of people died at them.</p>
<p>We have a 2 lane (!) rotary (as we call them here) with 5 roads merging (4 of which are also 2 lane) 2 blocks from my house, which my daughters had to learn to navigate as new drivers in order to go anywhere. After mastering that, normal driving (such as it is - this is Boston) was easy.</p>
<p>The Red Lion Circle’s still there, at least it was last summer (Rt 206, where it crosses 38 or 70).</p>
<p>The last of our circles, Ocean City/Somers Point will be gone within a couple years. Decades of driving this circle and I still don’t know the rules. Maybe because there aren’t any. Catch the faces of the other drivers entering and try to figure out what they’re going to do; that pretty much sums it up. Still, I’ll miss it.</p>
<p>Somerville Circle in NJ is logical, at least, and anyone entering the circle yields to those in the circle already.</p>
<p>Flemington Circle is the dumbest I ever saw, as it has 6 entries, and 3 of them yield to traffic that’s already in the circle, while the other 3 are reversed (traffic IN the circle has to yield to entering traffic!!!)</p>
<p>I love how they call them roundabouts in Mass.</p>
<p>Actually, I have always called them rotaries - not from Massachusetts but have lived here 30-plus years.</p>
<p>Yes, the Red Lion was at the intersection of 70 and 206. Thanks for letting me know that it’s still there. I wonder why they’ve eliminated all the others but not that one.</p>
<p>They also put a roundabout right at the intersection of the two streets that our high school’s parking lots empty onto!! I thought it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard of, but they have worked out remarkably well. They even have a stone mosaic of the school mascot on the circle.</p>
<p>Oh, no… And I thought traffic circles in Seattle were OK.
[Police</a> seek 28-year-old man in fatal traffic circle beating | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008051182_webtrafficcircle14m.html]Police”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008051182_webtrafficcircle14m.html)</p>