I get motion sick on straight american midwestern roads that all exactly one half mile apart. I can handle a standard american roundabout, barely.
This thing seems impossible.
3 Likes
You may want to ask the Rail, Air and Marine Accident Investigation Branches to change their name.
Or are drivers of cars uniquely more culpable than those of other forms of transport?
2 Likes
It is routine for British drivers to never encounter a stop sign ever. Technically they should know what to do when encountered, but it is such a rare occurrence that the memory is probably filed away in their heads along with all the things they learnt at school and never needed.
Not that any of that is an excuse for ignoring them. The video says that the original Give Way signs (Yield in the US) were also ignored.
I think the rules for nimbys and jobsworths are “if there is a rule or law then extend it beyond common sense, if there isn’t then make one up and blame health and safety/the nanny state”
8 Likes
“STOP” is so ambiguous, and actually reading the sign it is such an impediment.
5 Likes
As I said, it isn’t an excuse for ignoring it, but we know the current system isn’t working.
5 Likes
Stop signs are pretty rare. I am not sure where the nearest one is to me. British circular signs are for information (even speed limits are ‘for information’) and triangular ones are warnings. Yes, it’s in the Highway Code, and you shouldn’t zoom though it, but I would have thought the more familiar, triangular ‘Give Way’ sign would be more effective.
I have just been looking this up. The old practice of using “Halt” or “Slow” at Major Road Ahead signs was discontinued in 1965 at the recommendation of the Worboys Committee. Instead of replacing all the old “Halt” signs with the new Vienna Convention " Stop " sign (which could be octagonal) , “Give Way” became the standard sign at UK priority junctions.
3 Likes
I wear jeans when I ride, not lycra, although my underwear is stretchy, shiny, and very form-fitting.
Drivers, stay off your phones, please.
10 Likes
That’s just depressing.
I suppose they’ve turned the old Hobbs End tube station into a Tesco?
5 Likes
The STOP signs have a white border. Everyone knows that means that they’re optional. /s
2 Likes
More roundabouts have shown up in NC over the years. Typically I don’t mind them. It does seem that planners are getting smarter with the design though. I see newer ones where traffic flow is offset on the circle. Meaning that the road or direction with highest flow has the least amount of curve, while the other directions incur a greater angular change. They work pretty well at not kill all your speed but maintaining a good flow and pace.
3 Likes
Hell naw. That’s some bullshit right there. Everyone is playing follow the leader. I’d be sweating and swearing the entire time I drove through that…in fact I’d go out of my way to not go through that.
3 Likes
The problem with the Give Way signs was that in a constant bearing decreasing range situation, it was possible for the cyclist to be obscured behind a driver’s A-pillar, so they would think that the road was clear.
1 Like
So what do knifeless refractory half-orcs call places where two roads cross?
wtAf is that nonsense?!? I, mean… can we kill it with fire?
Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?
When the car already in the roundabout has the right away, everyone about to enter should be slowing down enough so they can stop if there’s already a car in there. Along with the roundabout reducing the speed of all vehicles enough that if there is a collision, it should be minor and not deadly.
Having a priority type path through the circle that doesn’t prioritize cars already in the circle sounds like an old school NJ traffic circle. One where the path of the major road through the circle has the right away and cars already in the circle must stop to allow cars entering from the major road. Those things can be terrifying, especially at speed, when you get stuck half way across the circle from the minor road and cannot find a break to get the rest of the way across as cars back up behind you. Thankfully, they’ve eliminated most of these over the years.
4 Likes
In addition, many newer cars have very stout A-pillars that badly block the oblique forward line of sight.
2 Likes
Some of that, especially nimby and jobsworth, is exaggerated by the additional problem of the New Forest having another level of officialdom protecting the common land.
1 Like
I wish that were the case. Where I live in Maine it’s insane. I can’t go more than a couple miles without seeing at least one driver blatantly run a red light or stop sign. There have been several quite harrowing moments.
1 Like
“The Continuous Autovehicular Carousel of Perpetual Movement Access” usually, why, is that weird?
6 Likes
I don’t believe that stop signs in the UK are routinely ignored. They certainly aren’t here in London. Optional pelican crossings, (HAWK beacons?) queue jumping using the straight ahead lane to turn right, failure to understand the “give way” rules at mini roundabouts, yes. But stop signs not so much. Perhaps it’s a rural thing.
Everyone’s missing the quintessentially British solution to this which is more cameras. Send enough penalty notices and the word will get around.
5 Likes
