alt Hacker NewsHaving driven in the UK and coming back to the US I miss all of the roundabouts. Any reason (aside from contractor profits) towns use 4-way traffic light systems vs a roundabout and some yield signs?
Replies
wffurr • today at 8:05 PM
Come to Massachusetts, we have a lot of roundabouts and even a few old style two lane rotaries.
snarf21 • today at 7:54 PM
Space/land; you have to displace and buy the four corner properties (at least) to put one in.
0x3f • today at 6:02 PM
Having driven in both, Americans don't take naturally to roundabouts and it would be difficult to teach all the existing drivers about them. Same in the UK when they add new rules: most drivers remain completely unaware of them.
Traffic lights can be tuned to create "green waves" that allows for efficient flow of traffic along arteries through a city. You can adjust the timing throughout the day to help alleviate congestion. In rural areas, heavy machinery/commercial vehicles may need to make a very wide turn through the intersection. Traffic circles are fine for a lot of applications but they aren't strictly better than lights in all circumstances.