Why is Florida So Gung Ho With Rounabouts

[roadman65]

It seems FDOT is installing these like crazy.  There are plenty around the state, but I took these in Palm Coast along US 1 where three currently exist. The third at Old Plank Road is about being wrapped up and the one at Old Dixie is not photographed here.

[I-55]

It's not just a Florida thing. Roundabouts are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to effectively manage moderate intersection volumes and significant reduce serious crashes without the need for costly traffic control devices. I've noticed a lot more being built in Indiana and I'm sure other states as well

[roadman65]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

[Max Rockatansky]

Why not?  They are vastly superior to the shitty timed lights the state is famous for. 

[vdeane]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

Modern roundabouts and old-school traffic circles/rotaries are not the same thing.  They are much more compact, slower speed, and have uniform rules concerning who yields to who.

[roadman65]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

Modern roundabouts and old-school traffic circles/rotaries are not the same thing.  They are much more compact, slower speed, and have uniform rules concerning who yields to who.

That maybe why they shrunk the Westfield Circle in size as it was redesigned recently.

[Rothman]

Pretty much standard for states to consider roundabouts before even traffic lights nowadays.  World's better off with the diminished delay, too.

[The Ghostbuster]

I have no problem with roundabouts. Of course, I live in a state where there are roundabouts all over the place, so I've long been used to them.

[architect77]

NC is adding them all over the place. Many benefits for sure, but it's the multilane traffic circles that people in the South can't safely navigate. Just keep one lane in the circle and everything's ok.

I miss the MA rotaries with 2 lanes in the circle, because when approaching you don't have to yield and can just barrel into them in the outer lane. I used to zoom up Cape Cod going 50 mph through rotaries, lol.

[jeffandnicole]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

Modern roundabouts and old-school traffic circles/rotaries are not the same thing.  They are much more compact, slower speed, and have uniform rules concerning who yields to who.

That maybe why they shrunk the Westfield Circle in size as it was redesigned recently.

Maybe not as gungho as other states, but there are a fair number of modern roundabouts throughout NJ.

[LilianaUwU]

Maybe not as gungho as other states, but there are a fair number of modern roundabouts throughout NJ.

My hometown of 12k people has gone gungho with roundabouts. They built one.

[froggie]

I miss the MA rotaries with 2 lanes in the circle, because when approaching you don't have to yield and can just barrel into them in the outer lane. I used to zoom up Cape Cod going 50 mph through rotaries, lol.

You rebel you...  

Massachusetts law for decades has explicitly stated that traffic already in the rotary has right-of-way over entering traffic.

[kalvado]

Because unqualified engineers and their managers are eagerly buying into the hype. Also, these are the projects which can be given to "proper" construction companies. Much better project than properly timing a traffic light.
I am not assuming any implications about campaign donations from those companies.

[Rothman]

I miss the MA rotaries with 2 lanes in the circle, because when approaching you don't have to yield and can just barrel into them in the outer lane. I used to zoom up Cape Cod going 50 mph through rotaries, lol.

You rebel you...  

Massachusetts law for decades has explicitly stated that traffic already in the rotary has right-of-way over entering traffic.

Have to go way, way back for traffic not having to yield to traffic in the Concord Rotary, and I'm not even sure my memory is reliable on that actually happening.

[PColumbus73]

The one roundabout I've had a problem with is this one because it's a bottleneck and traffic backs up waiting for the traffic light, often stopping in the roundabout as well.

[GaryV]

There's this nonsensical circle (not a roundabout, I know) in Somerset OH (US 22 at OH 13)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2sJpk9YxRkxhAh919

Note the sign directing you to yield to traffic from the right.

[RoadPelican]

I like roundabouts but the problem is many people don't know how to use them properly. Specifically, the concept of what "yield" means.

From 2014 to 2016, I lived in Avalon Park, Florida, a huge housing development just east of Orlando. I always had to slam on my brakes and beep my horn in the roundabouts because no one would yield to me from the incoming lanes.

They even had those huge light up signs used mainly for road construction at two of the biggest roundabouts in Avalon Park. They read "Traffic Must Yield at Roundabout." This is in addition to the standard Yield Signs at the roundabout entrances.

[1995hoo]

The other problem is the plethora of idiots who consider themselves exempt from using blinkers. Roundabouts work best when you don't have to guess at what the other driver is going to do because he used his blinkers properly to tell you whether he's exiting prior to your entrance. For some reason, people in Florida have a particularly bad problem with knowing how to use their blinkers at all, much less in roundabouts. They seem to think other people are mind-readers.

[vdeane]

The other problem is the plethora of idiots who consider themselves exempt from using blinkers. Roundabouts work best when you don't have to guess at what the other driver is going to do because he used his blinkers properly to tell you whether he's exiting prior to your entrance. For some reason, people in Florida have a particularly bad problem with knowing how to use their blinkers at all, much less in roundabouts. They seem to think other people are mind-readers.

I feel like this concern is overblown.  At the speeds a typical roundabout operates at, if you need to know what they're doing in order to decide what to do, you must be accelerating really slowly.  When I'm at a roundabout, my rule is "if they're at or past the entrance for the leg I'm coming from, stay, if further away, just go, because I'll be long gone by the time they get here, if they ever do".

[paulthemapguy]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

Modern roundabouts and old-school traffic circles/rotaries are not the same thing.  They are much more compact, slower speed, and have uniform rules concerning who yields to who.

Also, roundabouts largely differ from the big old fast rotaries in terms of the traffic volumes they're meant to serve. "Moderate intersection volumes" are exactly what roundabouts are for, as I-55 accurately said earlier:

Roundabouts are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to effectively manage moderate intersection volumes and significant reduce serious crashes without the need for costly traffic control devices.

[Road Hog]

My first experience with roundabouts was in Britain so sometimes I still get a little crossed up looking for traffic from the right instead of the left. But I took to them like fish to water and would love nothing more than to see more.

[kalvado]

Yet in New Jersey, we had traffic circles that were removed for safety as they actually proved to be dangerous. In the eighties the state campaigned to eliminate them and removed several of them.

Modern roundabouts and old-school traffic circles/rotaries are not the same thing.  They are much more compact, slower speed, and have uniform rules concerning who yields to who.

Also, roundabouts largely differ from the big old fast rotaries in terms of the traffic volumes they're meant to serve. "Moderate intersection volumes" are exactly what roundabouts are for, as I-55 accurately said earlier:

Roundabouts are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to effectively manage moderate intersection volumes and significant reduce serious crashes without the need for costly traffic control devices.

Moderate is the keyword.
 I still remember NJDOT guy who came to this forum (!!) looking for guidance on roundabout feasibility for a 70kvpd location.
Apparently there was much more than a single person in NJ DOT not understanding things ..