Left turns..is that a good idea?

One of the first things i noticed when driving in North Carolina was the traffic lights will never have opposite direction left turns go at the same time.

Even with a green arrow, they don't trust Bubba to make a left turn without running into something. Based on my observations, that is a wise decision.
 
IK04 said:
One of the first things i noticed when driving in North Carolina was the traffic lights will never have opposite direction left turns go at the same time.

Even with a green arrow, they don't trust Bubba to make a left turn without running into something. Based on my observations, that is a wise decision.
Click to expand...

it's more the desire to control control control on the part of OCD pinheads.
 
Hang 4 said:
For us older Massholes, we remember when rotaries (no one called them roundabouts in the 60's, we revolted from England that uses that term) changed the right of way. It used to be that entering traffic had the right of way. Once it became clear that the rotary filled up with that scheme, it was changed to the current traffic in the Rotary has the right of way. Life was fun at the Hingham rotary on Route 3A when the rules changed :)
Click to expand...

Bob Noel said:
btw - I've lived in massachusetts all my life... all *mumble* years. There is a reason why I used quotation marks...

decades later, several generation of drivers later, and people still can't figure out who has the right of way.

ok, in massachusetts it's: the wreck has the right of way... or if you make eye contact with the other driver, then you've yielded...

These rules apply more and more as you get closer to boston.
Click to expand...

I'm a Western MAhole, and the geniuses here seem to be making a hobby of trying to cram a rotary into every possible intersection. I refuse to call them roondaboots. o_O

Screwed up intersections combined with some of the worst drivers in the country equals fun times. :rofl:
 
Charlie Golf said:
I'm a Western MAhole, and the geniuses here seem to be making a hobby of trying to cram a rotary into every possible intersection. I refuse to call them roondaboots. o_O

Screwed up intersections combined with some of the worst drivers in the country equals fun times. :rofl:
Click to expand...

The moroons in Cambridge seem to think that every intersection is an excuse for traffic lights. Limited land in Cambridge would prevent the moroons from using rotaries instead of overcontrolling with traffic lights.
 
They call them traffic circles here in my part of NM. So very little traffic out here I just take the shortest route through that weird looking circle thing... clock wise or the other way, what ever works...

 
Am I the only one who doesn’t know what this thread is about and unaware of which thread this one is a spin off of?
 
Two wrongs don't make a right. But 3 rights, makes a left.
 
Is it still considered a left turn if your wheels are pointed to the right?
 
Timbeck2 said:
Am I the only one who doesn’t know what this thread is about and unaware of which thread this one is a spin off of?
Click to expand...

1563f09a1f6a3cc3c80a52a245ed4bfc.jpg
 
Timbeck2 said:
Am I the only one who doesn’t know what this thread is about and unaware of which thread this one is a spin off of?
Click to expand...
Its about left turns...you know, when you get thread drift, and suddenly your thread makes a left turn...
 
Traffic circles here seemingly pop up overnight. I think it’s aliens.
 
Left turns and diverting to look at aviation. The correlation of left turns to accidents while in the pattern is astoundingly high. That is especially true of stall/spin accidents, they are almost always left turns. My conclusion therefore is that left turns are inherently dangerous. The FAA should prohibit left turn, especially in the pattern.

In response to the original question, in aviation, left turns are definitely dangerous.

(/satire mode off)
 
Baked Potato said:
Here, I did a Google search and found this in a document that details each of the roundabouts that were installed in KS in the last couple of decades. The one you mention, 59 and 169, is in this document.
And @Mxfarm, the one on 166 is in it too.
Edit: here's the link to the document:
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/vie...&httpsredir=1&article=4029&context=roadschool
Click to expand...

I can understand roundabouts when you have 3 or 4 converging roads, but in this instance it's just 2 highways that intersect. A single overpass with on/off ramps would have sufficed compared to that quagmire that existed before the roundabout was installed. Luckily I don't travel by car from Salina, KS to Kansas City all that often!
 
SoonerAviator said:
I can understand roundabouts when you have 3 or 4 converging roads, but in this instance it's just 2 highways that intersect. A single overpass with on/off ramps would have sufficed compared to that quagmire that existed before the roundabout was installed. Luckily I don't travel by car from Salina, KS to Kansas City all that often!
Click to expand...
I'm assuming that it's a cost thing. Overpasses are likely more expensive than roundabouts.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I can understand roundabouts when you have 3 or 4 converging roads, but in this instance it's just 2 highways that intersect. A single overpass with on/off ramps would have sufficed compared to that quagmire that existed before the roundabout was installed. Luckily I don't travel by car from Salina, KS to Kansas City all that often!
Click to expand...
And I’d bet it was clearly delineated by stop signs on one highway who had the right of way. Probably somebody complained about having to sit at the stop sign for 30 seconds once.
 
I have no problem with traffic circles. Zero problem.

But....

Having driven in Australia, for some reason, roundabouts give me horrible grief. I can get used to driving in the left lane. I can get used to four way stops. I can get used to signaled intersections. But for whatever reason, negotiating a traffic circle from the wrong way is especially confusing.

Well, that and each time I signal for a right hand turn, the wipers go on. Signal for a left, the wipers go off.
 
Left turns are really dangerous for oncoming motorcycles, since the folks making the turns usually don't see oncoming bikes. I advise folks to treat all left turning vehicles as "hot", that is they're definitely going to turn left, until or unless you make eye contact with the driver, and even then with huge caution. Can't tell you how many crashes I've avoided this way in my 3 and half decades of riding.
 
There are ordinances in Illinois and Iowa that forbit the construction of four way intersections and mandate traffic circles/roundabouts.

They simply don't trust drivers to not run into each other at stop signs and they have the statistics to prove it...
 
IK04 said:
There are ordinances in Illinois and Iowa that forbit the construction of four way intersections and mandate traffic circles/roundabouts.
Click to expand...
Will they be mandating circular runways next?
 
Coming from ma. I have no trouble with rotaries,however they have now been discovered by Florida. And now the fun begins.
 
frfly172 said:
Coming from ma. I have no trouble with rotaries,however they have now been discovered by Florida. And now the fun begins.
Click to expand...

wait until they combine rotaries with traffic lights... nirvana for the control freaks.
 
EdFred said:
The fact that there's a street called Bizarro Ln right there can't be coincidence. What a fustercluck that montrosity is.
Click to expand...
I always assume that devs at google and Apple Maps must hate Boston. Any heuristic they try and come up with for how roads are designed or operate inevitably will get violated here. A city layout designed by cows at best, drunk and blind cows more honestly.
 
I lied slightly about not having a problem with roundabouts. I think single lane roundabouts are fine, but the multi lane roundabouts are just invitations for accidents. Short distance forced merges are bad enough in a straight line.

Oh, and don't get me started on onramp metering lights. We have several with merges so short accidents regularly happen. Accelerating from zero to eighty in two hundred feet is fine in your A6, but big trucks and little econoboxes not so much.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I lied slightly about not having a problem with roundabouts. I think single lane roundabouts are fine, but the multi lane roundabouts are just invitations for accidents. Short distance forced merges are bad enough in a straight line.

Oh, and don't get me started on onramp metering lights. We have several with merges so short accidents regularly happen. Accelerating from zero to eighty in two hundred feet is fine in your A6, but big trucks and little econoboxes not so much.
Click to expand...

I vote for airport runway roundabouts. That way they can run intersecting runways concurrently. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top