The first roundabout we encountered was in 1972 in England. We had done our first transatlantic flight and had spent two nights in an airport hotel as our flight was delayed 45 hours. It was a charter the BCTF had put on for teachers wanting to get to Europe. "Charters" were a cheap way to get to Europe but you had to be part of a group that chartered a plane. The BCTF had chartered a plane from a company called Donaldson Airlines. They had two planes and one broke down.
We had rented a car at the airport and since we no longer had a hotel booking in London we decided to drive to the coast. So, we were very jet lagged and then we encountered our first roundabout ever. We thought we were never going to be able to take our turnoff as cars kept cutting us off. So, jet lagged and going round and round for what seemed like forever, but we survived to tell the tale.
From: Nice News
How Roundabouts Can Improve Road Safety and Help the Environment |
| Carmel, Indiana, has 142 roundabouts on its roads, and it’s planning to add even more. That may sound like a headache to the everyday car owner, but Mayor James Brainard has assured residents there’s a method to the (winding) madness that will help pedestrians, bikers, drivers, and the environment. Roundabouts slow traffic while still maintaining a flow of cars, and they don’t require electricity like traffic lights, meaning they still work during blackouts and severe storms. According to former city engineer Michael McBride, getting rid of idling at stop lights removes 5,000 cars’ worth of carbon dioxide and saves drivers $14 million in gas annually. And according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Carmel’s decrease in lights and increase in roundabouts cut injury crashes by nearly half overall, and by 84% at busy intersections. “We’re talking about human lives being saved by roundabout intersections,” McBride told CBS News. “Once the world embraces that, roundabouts will be everywhere.” |
