The kind of thing you most definetly do not want to encounter whilst driving.

Increasingly being installed where three or more roads converge, and traffic lights would be impractical. The idea is that you yield to traffic already on the roundabout; those to your right have priority.

But the problem arises when you want to take the last exit from the roundabout, in which case you're suppoed to move right in, next to the island, and then move back out when you reach your exit.

It really doesn't help when you stall at the entrance to one, either. (I tend to do that repeatedly).

The most straightforward, simple and commonsense thing to arrive on the road since the cats eye.

This simple idea is loathed and derided by all who rarely encounter them (mainly merkins).

seanni, below, offers the best imaginable writeup on roundabouts. I can only add that in France priority is bizzarely given to those joining the roundabout rather than those already on it.

Roundabouts are a means of traffic control at road junctions. They are an alternative to stop signs or traffic lights and are commonly used in European countries. A roundabout takes the form of a circular island occupying the centre of an intersection.

In Britain, vehicles approaching the roundabout are required to reduce speed and yield to traffic already travelling around the roundabout. Vehicles travelling around the roundabout circulate in a clockwise direction, leaving the roundabout at the required exit. The idea behind roundabouts is to ease the flow of traffic. Depending on traffic density and the size of surrounding roads, roundabouts can have single or multiple traffic lanes. In the latter case, lane control is vital to avoid collisions.

Roundabouts at busy junctions sometimes have traffic lights installed at it's entrances or even around the roundabout itself in order to regulate traffic flow. These traffic lights normally operate at peak periods only. This almost seems like an admission of defeat.

I am driving along with my (now ex-)girlfriend. She has just returned to the US from a year long stay in her home country, New Zealand. We're on our way back from a fancy restaurant: it is late, and there is hardly anyone on the streets.

We approach a rotary and without hesitation, she makes a smooth clockwise turn. Without even blinking her eyes, she continues the trip. I look towards an oncoming car, and I can see the white in the eyes of the driver. He is as astonished and frightened as I am.

The following day, I tell this frightening experience to my friend S. I never have to explain him much; half a sentence is usually enough for the whole story:

me: "So we were approaching the roundabout..."
S.: "You know that's a very British term, don't you?"
me: "Well, we took it very British"

That same fear and astonishment I saw in the eyes of the oncoming driver, I can see in S.'s eyes.

One thing to realize is that roundabouts and traffic circles (also called diverters and rotaries) are not the same thing.

The roundabout was invented in England in 1966 and is used all over Europe, Asia and Australia to great effect. For many Americans, it epitomizes European driving. The traffic circle is much older, dating to late 19th century USA (although some claim it was a French invention) and is most commonly found in North America, being a widely maligned and hated mechanism.

So what are the differences? There are 2 primary differences. A traffic circle is designed to allow traffic through as fast as possible. Meaning that approaches and exits are kept as straight lines. This means that traffic through them is very fast and very dangerous. Whereas with a roundabout, curves are expressly added at the entrance points, to ensure that traffic slows down. This promotes a much saner, and safer, progression through the intersection. Also, a traffic circle has no special provisions to force right of way. Sometimes traffic lights are added at entry points, which just frustrates drivers (although to be honest, some roundabouts employ these as well). Sometimes one road will always have the right of way, while others will have stop signs, which just engenders confusion, as well as meaning that cars on side roads may have to wait for unreasonable lengths of time before being able to progress through the intersection. And all too often, no signage at all is employed, meaning that the standard rule of "yield to the right" takes precedence. In countries where driving is on the right, this is disastrous, as it means traffic entering the circle has precedence over traffic already in the circle. A quick pencil and paper analysis will show that this ensures gridlock if the roads are at all busy.

In a roundabout, cars in the circle always have right of way over cars entering.

The traffic circle was originally called by the unwieldy term gyratory circle until the 1920's, when an American named Logan Pearsall Smith, who was on the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English, suggested the replacement "roundabout". The name change caught on pretty much everywhere that English is spoken, except North America, which preferred some of the terms mentioned above. They were popular on both sides of the Atlantic, with great concentrations of them in New England, until the 1950's, when the ever-increasing volumes of traffic made them both very cumbersome and dangerous. American engineers began the process of removing them, preferring traffic lights and four way stops instead.

In Europe, rather than remove them, civil engineers sought to improve them. Cumulative suggestions and improvements were applied to existing roundabouts until in 1966, the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire, England came up with a concise set of guidelines for roundabouts in England. Among the revised standards were:
    - Yield sign for entering vehicles.
    - Vehicles in the roundabout have priority over the entering vehicle.
    - Use deflection to maintain low speed operation through roundabout.
    - No parking is allowed on the circulating roadway.
    - No pedestrian activities take place on the central island.
    - No at-grade carriageways through the central island.
    - Splitter island for entering roadways.

While not all roundabouts follow these standards to the letter (specifically, the last one suffers from arbitrary use), they were in theory adopted by the British government for all roundabouts in the country. Other countries around the world started adopting these same (or similar) guides, and modifying their roundabouts to adhere to them.

Numerous studies have shown that the newer style allows for higher traffic volumes more efficiently and safely than even the traffic light, and so they are starting to be re-adopted in North America. Progress is slow, especially in places like New England, where the ubiquitous old-style traffic circles garnered the most enemies, but it is happening. Colorado seems to be taking the lead in installing the most, and best, roundabouts in recent years. Colorado also employs impressive signage, even better than European signs, indicating well in advance which lanes cars should be in to leave at the proper exit. This is not much of an issue for drivers who are familiar with the way a roundabout works, but for many American drivers (who are not), it alleviates the biggest source of frustration and confusion relating to the roundabouts.

The biggest flaw of roundabouts is that they are rather unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists, who often have a long way to go around them, and may have to contend with unreasonably fast traffic leaving the intersection.
In Britain (elsewhere?), the roundabout is a children's toy found in parks, made of metal, wood or (less commonly) plastic. Roundabouts are usually just circular plates which spin around 360 degrees about 5cm from the ground.

Usually these have some form of moulded seat on them, useful because these things can get quite fast and a small child would take about three seconds to go whipping off at high speed if not stopped. They are generally fun when drunk, and available at most play parks around the country.

To operate a roundabout, either sit on it and get someone to push it round, or push it round yourself and then hop on. If misjudged, the second technique can be mondo maxima painful.

...chapter three of The Tin Woodman of

































"What sound is so sweet
As the straw from the wheat
When it crunkles so tender and low?
It is yellow and bright,
So it gives me delight
To crinkle wherever I go.

"Sweet, fresh, golden Straw!
There is surely no flaw
In a stuffing so clean and compact.
It creaks when I walk,
And it thrills when I talk,
And its fragrance is fine, for a fact.

"To cut me don't hurt,
For I've no blood to squirt,
And I therefore can suffer no pain;
The straw that I use
Doesn't lump up or bruise
Though it's pounded again and again!

"I know it is said
That my beautiful head
Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran,
But my thoughts are so good
I'd not change, if I could,
For the brains of a common meat man.

"Content with my lot,
I'm glad that I'm not
Like others I meet day by day
If my insides get musty,
Or mussed-up, or dusty,
I get newly stuffed right away.”

...chapter three of The Tin Woodman of

Round"a*bout` (?), a.


Circuitous; going round; indirect; as, roundabout speech.

We have taken a terrible roundabout road. Burke.


Encircling; enveloping; comprehensive.

"Large, sound, roundabout sense."



© Webster 1913.

Round"a*bout`, n.





A dance performed in a circle.








© Webster 1913.

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