I absolutely hate these things, but they can be made to be fun. The suggested speed is 15 mph. I did this one at about 30...now here's the thing...white signs are regulatory...i.e. the 25 mph sign at the exit of the circle is binding...yellow signs are suggested, or informational. The last regulatory sign before the circle is 45 mph...ergo, the actual "limit" through the circle is 45 (I did 40 here on the W last Summer).
https://picasaweb.google.com/109550952480484427597/GoProVideoClips#5894647677553306690
Fun is where you make it!
We have roundabouts everywhere down here. I go through several everyday. Only fun when no traffic around.
I know what you mean. They are building these things all over. Sprouting like mushrooms. Sometimes they will string 3 or 4 together...This one is very lightly used, so there is almost always a chance to drag pegs around it. When it first opened, the Police got called several times in the early morning hours, cause the Hmong kids with their fart can equipped Honda civics were trying to "drift" around it...I used to pass through a real one...Croton-on-Hudson traffic circle..just north of N.Y.C. on the Hudson River...about 1/2 mile across, handling upwards of 50,000 vehicles a day...These are just too small and poorly designed.
Small ones work well on secondary roads but busy roads can be a pain. Ours are not as large as the NYC one you mention. They have actually started to remove them from some locations down here and gone back to lights. They do not seem to work in all locations.
Yep, depending upon which bike I'm riding I drag my boots or foot boards around these some times, :) let me repeat :) .
Removal is what's happening in lots of OTHER states... but here we are just getting them. I wonder how long it will be before we get into sync with the rest of the world. I was coming into one from the South in Freiburg, Germany, back in '04. The damn thing had been there so long the locals had planted grape vines in the middle. As I entered, I had to stop pretty quickly. A delivery truck..one of those MB Sprinter things, had head-oned a car. Supposed to not be possible, but the truck driver went left instead of right, to cut across, instead of having to go all the way around to make a simple left turn....Our own Dept. of Trans. here in Wisconsin is saying that head on and T-bone crashes are down, across the board at these silly things, but side-swipe crashes are up 36%. I don't know about you, but an increase in side swipe crashes, especially on a motorcycle, sounds pretty ugly to me.
Yes but I think I'd prefer to bash the side of a car than go head on. I recently had a woman come out of a give way sign at a T intersection and leave me no room to do anything other than collide. Luckily I slid my back tyre out (not intentional, just braked harder sooner on the rear) which allowed me to hit he side on. With the engine bar I was protected and came away unhurt (the bike is still being repaired). If I had T boned her, or worse she T boned me, I think it would have been different for me.
Nothings perfect.
BTW I always go left on roundabouts, but we drive / ride on the correct side of the road down here.
I too have rotaries all ove Ma. They are dangerous especially when the cars don't honor the yield. All trafic in the rotary has the right of way and the vehicles are supposed to allow those in the rotary to exit or keep going round first. Unfortunately some drivers are just impatient and go when not supposed to. Makes them SO dangerous on 2 wheels.
Dan
It's always seemed like a dumb idea to me. I mean, yea, it keeps traffic from slowing down, but sometimes that's preferable to heavy traffic to just "keep moving" in a cray random never-slowing circle where no one can really tell where the other guy is going. So where did these things start, anyway?
You guys summed up what I think about them, plus one thing...There are so few of them around here, most people from the "rural" part of the state haven't seen them until they go to the "urban" areas, and then SURPRISE!
;D love them.....just get on one during a busy part of the day and just keep going around for like 4 or 5 laps and watch people trying to figure out what you are doing.......makes for an interesting day.......
think the first one was in 0hi0........
I think we invented them, we have thousands of them, singles, doubles, triples, quads..we even have them painted on the road..some I can take at 50mph and others at 30mph others I have to stop for..because we drive on the left the rule is give way to the right so the speed I take the roundabout at depends on how far away I can see the oncoming traffic..There is always a sign to warn me when I am approaching one so I have plenty of time to slow down if I need to..
I hate city riding, traffic lights within 20 yards of each other, bus lanes, one way streets, so much traffic you can't see the road direction signs, cameras, no parking, accidents..
I live in a quiet town, about 16000 people and in five minutes I am out in a national park..
John.
Living next door to New Jersey, I've been around them most of my life. They have big ones and small ones. In New Jersey you have aggressively and purposefully enter them, or you'll be mowed down by the cars behind you.
They just installed one around here a year or two ago and, at first, peeps were completely baffled by it. After a while, most peeps got the hang of it. They're fun, as long as everyone follows the yield rules. If not, they can turn into demolition derby . . .which I've also seen happen.
But that's the key factor isn't it...everybody following the rules.
ah more rules to follow..........man
Quote from: DC on July 01, 2013, 07:26:02 AM
Living next door to New Jersey, I've been around them most of my life. They have big ones and small ones. In New Jersey you have aggressively and purposefully enter them, or you'll be mowed down by the cars behind you.
They just installed one around here a year or two ago and, at first, peeps were completely baffled by it. After a while, most peeps got the hang of it. They're fun, as long as everyone follows the yield rules. If not, they can turn into demolition derby . . .which I've also seen happen.
That's the main problem I see with them. Most people get the hang of them, but when somebody new comes along, who maybe isn't as familiar with them, then it's a pretty strange concept to "aggressively and purposefully" (well put), enter them, and the end result may not be so great. Trouble is the one guy is aggressively purposefully, and the other guy is "huh??" and then it's down hill from there.
You are supposed to treat them as you would a T junction, give way to oncoming traffic and if something is already on the roundabout wait until they have passed your entrance..on the larger ones you can go if there is the same amount of space between you and the approaching vehicle as you would allow for oncoming traffic on a T junction or cross road..
It's common sense really..you don't pull out if someone is close enough to have to brake to avoid running into you..
John.
Quote from: John Hopkins on July 01, 2013, 13:21:47 PM
You are supposed to treat them as you would a T junction, give way to oncoming traffic and if something is already on the roundabout wait until they have passed your entrance..on the larger ones you can go if there is the same amount of space between you and the approaching vehicle as you would allow for oncoming traffic on a T junction or cross road..
It's common sense really..you don't pull out if someone is close enough to have to brake to avoid running into you..
John.
Here in the states,..common sense is quickly being replaced with neanderthal like driving. Part of the dumbing down of the American people.
Then there are the kids that want to do a turf job on the grass in the center and end up getting stuck.
Quote from: John Hopkins on June 30, 2013, 07:51:15 AM
I think we invented them, we have thousands of them, singles, doubles, triples, quads..we even have them painted on the road..some I can take at 50mph and others at 30mph others I have to stop for..because we drive on the left the rule is give way to the right so the speed I take the roundabout at depends on how far away I can see the oncoming traffic..There is always a sign to warn me when I am approaching one so I have plenty of time to slow down if I need to..
I hate city riding, traffic lights within 20 yards of each other, bus lanes, one way streets, so much traffic you can't see the road direction signs, cameras, no parking, accidents..
I live in a quiet town, about 16000 people and in five minutes I am out in a national park..
John.
Yep, UK is the "roundabout" capital IMHO.
Several years ago, my wife witnessed a rather abrupt end to some poor slobs vacation; it happened in Dawson Creek, B.C., Mile 'O' of the famed "Alaska Highway'. This poor guy pulled up to the traffic circle, saw the sign pointing 'left' to Alaska, and discovered that hanging a quick left when entering a traffic circle is hazardous to say the least. Head on with a semi. Luckily they were only doing 5-10 mph. Sure wiped out the leading end of that motor-home, though. :D
It seems to me that if something new is being introduced to your roads the government should put adverts on all TV stations explaining how they work..that is what happens here..
John.
. . . but that would be common sense, which we seem to have little of here. ;) ;D
That's exactly what happened at the one in Germany that I witnessed. Picture this: A driver, unused to the traffic circle system texting as they arrive......For the entire driving life of the average motorist, they've been told to yield to the right, and now they have to do something different for a few seconds, out of the blue....
Quote from: John Hopkins on July 03, 2013, 04:30:19 AM
It seems to me that if something new is being introduced to your roads the government should put adverts on all TV stations explaining how they work..that is what happens here..
John.
That info is in most driver test manuals, so the government figures you should still remember from the test you took at 16. Roundabouts aren't NEW in the USA, just rare. 8)
Quote from: Troll on July 03, 2013, 07:15:10 AM
That's exactly what happened at the one in Germany that I witnessed. Picture this: A driver, unused to the traffic circle system texting as they arrive......For the entire driving life of the average motorist, they've been told to yield to the right, and now they have to do something different for a few seconds, out of the blue....
But surely if you drive on the right you yield to the left..T junction you give way to the oncoming traffic which is approaching from your left..traffic on the main road keeps going and doesn't stop every time someone want's to pull out on their right..roundabouts are the same as approaching a T junction from the downward stroke of the T towards the top section..if you make a circle out of the top sections of the T with the downward strokes of the T as the spokes that is a roundabout..
John.
My problem was driving my American GT-6 (left hand drive), on the LEFT side of the road and coming to a roundabout... only had a split second to make the decision whether I was supposed to go left or right ... fortunately... no traffic !
You had a GT-6? Cool. I worked for an MG/Triumph/Austin dealer, last place before I moved to Wisconsin...Always felt the MGC was a better overall car....but a fast Spitfire was fun to drive...We sold TVRs, too...but they always felt "kit car"..
This is worse than any roundabout..
Another stupid thing we invented.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/SpaghettiJunctionGA.jpg/225px-SpaghettiJunctionGA.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Junction&h=148&w=225&sz=13&tbnid=ckuDGlIH3ht8TM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=127&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dspaghetti%2Bjunction%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=spaghetti+junction&usg=__uCywkProEpJKyk8bzEn9DSxscZA=&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ei=JDzVUfioHqKY0AXM94DIDg&ved=0CDMQ9QEwBA
John.
Quote from: Troll on July 03, 2013, 18:56:28 PM
You had a GT-6? Cool. I worked for an MG/Triumph/Austin dealer, last place before I moved to Wisconsin...Always felt the MGC was a better overall car....but a fast Spitfire was fun to drive...We sold TVRs, too...but they always felt "kit car"..
Yeah the Triumph GT-6 was the poor man's XKE (had one of those too!). I could raise the "bonnet" sit on the tire and work on anything on the engine. Balancing strombergs was always fun too... I wouldn't mind finding another one.
This is the ONLY way to balance multiple carbs. I used to have a bunch of adapters for various configurations, like dual 2bbls on Mercedes Benz...and dual throat webers. This is better than the vacuum ports because it actually synchronizes air flow to the engine through the carb. You could compensate for low compression (up to a point) with this tool. The little funny looking tool laying in the box is a jet centering tool for use primarily with SUs, but it would work for Strombergs, too. SUs adjusted by moving the jet up or down in the emulsion tube, and Strombergs moved the needle up or down in the slide. I've had this tool since the late 60s....lotsa air through it.
Yep, that's what I had!!
so what software do you use for editing your video's, and does it allow for dubbing music over the video in post?
I've been playing with several different applications, and found that you don't need to spend any money to get good results. The resident editor in Win 7, Live movie maker, will allow you to do the editing and titles/still pics/music track/sound level adjustment right there. It does a good job. The only complaint I have with it is that it encodes everything in .wma. I have a couple of others I use to transcode the video to a more compact wrapper. Format Factory is a free, light weight converter that will do some of the editing you mentioned. Their web site appears to be down, right now, so here's an alternative: http://download.cnet.com/FormatFactory/3000-2194_4-10968547.html
The elephant in the room is Divx...Free software that does an outstanding transcoding job. http://www.divx.com/
Windows DVD maker does a good job of converting any video file it supports to DVD format, and burn it to a DVD that will work in your DVD player...