WEBVTT - Roundabouts: The Problem Is You 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:14.240 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.440 and there's Charles w Chuck Bryant, and there's nobody else. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:23.200 Because this is just pitiful man ghost producers left and right. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.200 It doesn't bump you out to be I'm just gonna 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.159 come out and admit it, yes, a little bit. It 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.960 just it just makes the whole thing feel so workman 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.680 like and unimportant. You know. Yeah, with just you and 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.199 me in here, it's uh, I mean, I'm happy to 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.640 be here with you, but you know, like like, um, yeah, 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.239 you know, it's just just another thing that has to 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.599 be done. Record Josh and Chuck. It's not an event anymore. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.760 You know. There's no streamers like there used to be. 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.880 Nobody cares well. Luckily the people who are listening care, yes, 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.800 and you really have to care. If you listened to 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.800 an episode about roundabouts, you know, it's funny that you 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:14.119 picked this one because just two days ago, it's driving home, 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.280 I went through a roundabout in uh, the neighborhood of 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:23.319 Lake Claire, Okay, and I was like, I love roundabouts. 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:28.160 I love roundabouts. I wish Atlanta had more in Atlanta 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.200 has its a decent amount. Now, a lot of them newer. 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:36.040 But I was just thinking about how much I loved roundabouts, 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.240 and the next day you said, let's do one on roundabouts. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.360 That's really interesting, man, Yeah, that is I like that 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.360 kind of um uh not syncretism. That's where Catholicism and 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.320 indigenous religious beliefs merge. I can't remember what it's called, 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.840 but um synchronicity, that's what it is. I like that 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.200 kind of stuff. So I'm right there with you, man. 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.800 I love round about two. And here's why. To me. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.680 The second worst thing in the world after slow driving 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.280 people in the fast lane, which, by the way, you 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.720 can see my Twitter feed Josh underscore um underscore Clark 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.680 for how I feel about um slow drivers in the 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:19.960 fast lane. I haven't. I have a feeling. I know 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.520 what you're about to say, but go ahead. The second, 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.880 the second worst thing that could possibly happen to a 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.519 human being is to sit there at a red light 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.440 when there's no traffic coming. Okay, that's not what I 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:33.840 thought you were gonna say. What did you think I 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:35.919 was gonna say? I thought you were gonna say people 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:37.760 who do not know how to manage a four way 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:43.359 stop sign. Stop. Uh, that the third, I'll put that third. Yeah, 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.040 you're right, I'll put that third. Man. Yeah. It is 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.640 annoying sitting at a traffic light, and it's even more 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.480 annoying these days when you sit for an extra three 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.320 seconds at every stop light because everyone is just finishing 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.959 up that email. Oh man, Yeah, that drives me crazy. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.120 I do. I'm so quick on the horn now. I 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.280 used to be very polite and just like a little hey, 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.000 you might not notice tap tap, But now when I 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.320 see that head down, I just lay it on thick. 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.680 I cannot tell you how proud I am of you 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.080 right now. It's really like, I love it, and I 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.800 usually screen some expletive attached to you. Get off your phone, Chuck, 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.080 you are really coming along, buddy, appreciated. Remember. I remember 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.000 one time when we were driving together years and years ago, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.200 and I was doing I was like shouting at people 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.160 and stuff, and You're like, really, we're doing this, and 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.400 I was like, yeah, it's in this normal. And then 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:39.520 now to hear that you're you're doing the same thing, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.119 I'm I'm glad. I'm actually dialing it back. Apparently, it's 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.640 just kind of transferred over and made its way to you. Yeah, 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.560 I guess it's one of those things. Like um. Anger 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.240 in a car can neither be created nor destroyed. It 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:53.760 just goes from person to person. I just got no 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:59.240 patience for cell phones and driving none. Agree, I'm over it. Well, 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.839 that's another great thing. It's a it's a great thing, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:07.040 slash dangerous thing about introducing roundabouts. The idea that people 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.520 are on their phones now more than ever while they're driving. Um. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.160 Which again, if you're doing that, just just just stop, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.640 just stop. That's so dangerous, it's so reckless and irresponsible. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.960 Stop doing that. Okay. The problem is is if you 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.640 if you have people on phones and you introduce roundabouts, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.000 it's good and it's bad. It's a double edged sword. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.960 It's good because if they have even a shred of 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.360 survival instinct, they'll just drop their phone right to the 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.839 floorboard and grab the wheel with both hands and terror 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.960 and panic because suddenly something is different and they have 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.360 to really pay attention. That's one of the great things 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:47.960 about a roundabout. It makes you pay attention. Right. The 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.159 problem ideally, if you don't have that survival instinct and 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.480 you don't drop your phone, then all of a sudden, 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.080 conditions suddenly change and you might find yourself in an 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.840 accident with somebody else. Fortune, at least roundabouts their designs 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.760 so that the accident will be minimal compared to one 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.960 that you may have gotten into at a lighted intersection, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:15.000 for sure. However, there is a newer roundabout over an 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.120 Emery Village. I don't know if you've seen that one yet, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.840 And that Emory Villages is tough because it was a 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.159 needed one because it's I don't know how many points. 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.360 I feel like it's a like one of those kind 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.360 of weird five way intersections. So those kinds of intersections 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.560 are screaming for roundabouts, so they finally built one. It's 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.880 very pretty, very functional. But just yesterday I was driving 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.400 through that one, thinking I love roundabouts, and this dude 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.240 just barreled through and did not yield, almost hit me. Uh, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.200 And I had a few choice words for him. But 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.680 I'm like, roundabouts to me are so intuitive. Our article 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.640 says are counterintuitive. I disagree. I did too. I think 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.719 there's nothing more intuitive than not to just go barreling 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:03.080 into a worldly go round circle of cars, which this 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.760 guy did, right, But what's What's ironic is if if 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.839 he had done that, and say like the nineteen fifties 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.440 in the United States, he would have been in the right, 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.440 you would have been in the wrong, which is just 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.920 crazy to me when I did that. Do you want 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.920 to do you want to start with some history about roundabouts, because, 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.880 believe it or not, everybody they have some history. Yeah, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.360 I mean, should we quickly say what they are? We're 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.320 doing that thing again? You're right? So a roundabout is 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.560 um frequently called a traffic circle over in the UK, 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.040 and I think in other parts of Europe they call 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:43.720 it a gyratory, a one way gyratory um and sometimes 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.120 previously they were called rotaries. But what it is is 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.760 it is a instead of an intersection where say two 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.719 or more roads cross, rather than just having it be 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.880 all right angles, you take that intersection and kind of 0:06:57.920 --> 0:06:59.880 break it out and put a circle in the middle. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.120 And now all of a sudden, everybody going through that 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.840 intersection has to go around the circle. Whether you want 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.960 to go right, straight, left, or do you turn, you've 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.600 got a circle to to circumnavigate. And there's a lot 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.640 of reasons to do this. It slows people down, it 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.200 makes them pay attention, ideally, UM, it cuts down on 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:25.720 congestion and UM, I think it's just much safer than 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.000 a lighted intersection. So that's that's what a roundabout is 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:33.760 a round about specifically. Also, Chuck, it's a UM it's 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:40.800 a specific kind of This traffic implementation has has specific 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.760 traits that we'll talk about that make it unique among 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:49.240 traffic flow management things involving circles, which I think is 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.360 the technical term. Yeah, like if you don't have them 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.440 in your town, which is possible. We'll get to some 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.160 USA stats at some point, but you can think of 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:03.680 as a tiny little circular expressway with different exits yea, 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.080 all along the way. So as you approach one, if 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:08.680 you want to go straight, if you want to just 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.000 keep going straight, you have to enter the roundabout and 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.920 go halfway around and then take your little exit to 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.760 continue straight. If you want to take a left, then 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.080 you have to drive all the way around the circle 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.200 and then get off taking a right. If that makes sense. Yeah, 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.480 this article says it's a two hundred and seventy degree turn. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.439 Yeah that that that that tracks. I think I won't 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.840 contest that. Uh, all right, so I think we can 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.760 do history now. Man, that was a really great description 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:45.480 of a roundabout man, which with the tiny uh circular expressway. Yeah, Like, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.800 we have the perimeter here in Atlanta, like a lot 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.319 of city sub perimeters around the city, and this is 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.640 just like a tiny little perimeter. Yeah. Yeah, I guess 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:59.520 that's a really good way to put it. Thanks. So. Um, 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.120 if we're going back to the beginning of roundabouts, most 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.520 people would expect to find them in Europe, because everybody's 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:13.400 seen National Lampoon's European Vacation with the very famous roundabout scene. Right. Um. Actually, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:18.800 the first contours of what would become roundabouts are found 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:23.040 in Washington, d C. In Europe's defense, they were designed 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.199 by a European, Pierre Loenfont, who designed Washington d C. 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.600 He actually worked in some traffic circles, which is weird 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.480 because there was no such thing as cars at the 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.800 end of the eighteenth century, so it's very odd that 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.600 he worked traffic circles in But by god, he worked 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.360 in traffic circles. There were horses and buggies. Imagine there 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.760 was I wonder if there was horse and buggy traffic, surely, right, 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.680 I don't know. I'm not sure why he created these circles. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:56.520 If it wasn't for traffic flow, or if it wasn't 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.360 just for aesthetics, It's possible it was for aesthetics to 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.360 although it was probably some weirdo Mason thing that has 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.520 to do with taking over the world in five centuries 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.040 from now or something. I just think it's funny. I 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.680 never really thought about uh in a big city like Washington, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.640 d C. In the eight hundreds, sitting in a long 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.680 line of horse and buggy traffic, like, oh, for God's sakes, 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.480 this guy, this guy in front of me, he's sitting 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.640 there writing a writing a letter with a with a 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.880 fountain band right settle the used to settle the get 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:36.360 off your paper, Get off your paper. They'd have a quill, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.679 is what it is? Yeah, what I say, fountain pin? 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.800 Yeah No, you said ballpoint. I think I'm pretty sure 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.640 you said baldpoint. We'll rewind and find out one day. 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.520 So du Pont Circle the very famous and beautiful and 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.880 I really like that area of d C. DuPont Circle 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.360 is was, I believe, kind of the first big one 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.880 in the United States, right, yes, And so people say, okay, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.000 all right, whatever year lam Font designed one in Washington, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.760 d C. And that's that's that's it. That that became 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.840 the first one later on, But that doesn't really count 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:13.200 because he wasn't really anticipating cars. So surely the first 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:17.080 one really is in Europe, right it? Actually, no, that's 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:21.000 not correct either. No, in nineteen o five Brian Eno, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.199 Oh wait, not Brian Eno, his brother Bill, Yeah, Bill 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:29.800 william Eno. Uh, in nineteen o five constructed He was 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.760 a businessman, and I don't think he constructed it, but 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:37.000 he designed at least and implemented the very famous Columbus 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.600 Circle in New York City, which everyone, as far as 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.959 automy automobiles go, consider the first traffic circle in the 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.160 United States. Yes, so definitively the first traffic circle, the 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:55.160 first circular means of directing traffic around a circle circularly 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:59.480 four cars, right, it finds it's its place in history 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.720 in nine you know, five in New York City. And 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.920 then the first one came in in the UK at least, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.320 if not Europe, four years later. Um, the British one 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:15.880 way gyratory uh in Letchworth Garden City. That's adorable, Letchworth 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.440 Garden City. Doesn't it make you feel like everybody dresses 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.400 like undertakers there and they have like you know, like 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:30.239 claw fingers or something. Letchworth welcomed with. Yeah. So uh okay, 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.800 So finally Europe gets on board with the traffic circle 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.720 in the early twentieth century. Yeah. We should point out 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:41.520 though that with those earlier roundabouts, uh, they were not 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.800 like we see today. They didn't have this gradual sort 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.800 of flow emotion. It was sort of a circle with 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.440 the sharp right angles where you enter an exit, which 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.800 is is not flowy an intuitive, No, it's not. And 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:02.839 there's this other thing too, so um if around about, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:07.880 so you can kind of interchange roundabout and traffic circle 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.920 and then something else called rotary. It's all a circle 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.920 where traffic is meant to go basically one way around it, 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.040 and there's exits that are actually streets that form up 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.160 the intersection. Right, All of those things have that element, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.880 those elements in common where what the differences between like 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:29.440 rotaries and traffic circles and roundabouts is the rules. Right, 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.200 So when they when traffic really started and people started 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.960 building these, especially in America and the in Europe, um, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.200 like in the twenties, thirties, forties, when they really started 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.520 to begin to take off, the rules were different, and 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.079 they had it dead wrong. And it was a really simple, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.240 a really simple traffic rule that they had going on 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.400 that was screwing everything up. And what it was was 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.680 that if you were in the traffic circle, if somebody 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:03.400 was eating to get in the traffics circle, you yielded 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.520 to the person coming into the circle. It's just so backwards, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.360 literally backwards, totally backwards. They basically had a fifty fifty 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.960 chance of coming up with the right rule, and they 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:19.480 chose the wrong way. And for decades people got nightmare 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:24.080 headaches from traffic circles, which back then were called rotaries. Yeah, 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.120 they had congestion, they had a lot of accidents. And 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.520 this was in the like nineteen thirties through the mid 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.920 nineteen fifties. For close to thirty years, they were just like, well, 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.880 we just can't figure out what's wrong here. There's just 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.720 something wrong and I can't put my finger. It's crazy. Finally, 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.760 in England in nineteen sixty six they went, why don't 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.200 we just reverse that and reverse the yield. That's literally 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.400 all they had to do was you as you approach 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.200 a traffic circle, you are yielding. Once you're in the 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.880 traffic circle. You're fine, and that chain everything changed everything 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.240 all of a sudden, like they had they used to 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.000 have to call in cops to undo the gridlock that 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.720 would form in these traffic circles because of this um 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.760 and they changed this this flow of traffic pattern. The 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.000 old one was called we've theory, where the people in 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.080 the circle would stop and the people coming in would 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.680 would weave into whatever lane they wanted to. It was 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:25.480 just madness. And then they went to gap theory, which 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.840 is you basically get in where you fit in when 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.200 you're coming into the circle, and everybody else in the 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.920 circles like, just get out of my way. I'm in 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:35.840 the circle. I've got the right of way. And like 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:37.960 you said, it changed everything, and all of a sudden, 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:45.000 these um like delays and congestion dropped by like half overnight. Yeah, 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:52.360 capacity increased by crashes and delays decreased by and everyone went, wow, 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.880 I can't believe it took us thirty years to think 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.640 of this. Yes, and it took off big time in 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:02.800 Britain after that. But because of the hullabaloo in the 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.640 United States previously, there was a long time where the 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.720 US was like another you know, twenty plus years where 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.280 the US was still like, na, I'm not I'm not 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:16.080 falling for this traffic circle thing again. Yeah, because I 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.360 mean they had built rotaries all over the place in 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.560 the United States, but they they worked so poorly because 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:26.160 of that one stupid rule that by the time America 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.880 gave up on it and the time Britain picked up 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.480 on that rule change, America had said like we're done 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.720 with these. They they were actually tearing out their old 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:41.160 rotaries and putting in um new for you know, for uh, 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:45.440 like a traffic lighted intersection. Like we marched down with 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:51.600 their pitchforks and their torches and stop signs, and they 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.720 and jackhammers destroyed these traffic circles and smash stop signs 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.080 through human bodies into the ground. It took I think 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.440 and OHI, California lovely, OHI. Uh, that was a proposal 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.000 for just a little three legged roundabout, and everyone in 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.920 OHI is pretty laid back area. They were like no, 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.520 and so they didn't do it. And then two years later, 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.920 finally in Summerland, Nevada, everybody, I'm sorry Nevada, everybody got 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.080 on board. And I think they had a couple of 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.720 them in a planned community there. Well, that's why I 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.360 think it went through is because the community was being 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.600 built from the ground up, so there was nobody to 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.040 say no. So they were just they moved in and 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:40.160 they were there. So so that was nine when America 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:44.639 got its first actual roundabout. And again it's because of 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.480 that one stupid rule that had just plagued everybody and 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.760 driven them crazy starting in the thirties up to about 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.560 the fifties. And I saw one other reason why America 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.000 didn't have roundabouts tu chuck um after World War Two, 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.920 when Eisenhower was over there, Um he saw a lot 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:09.800 of gridlock in Paris, especially around the Plasta Plasta till Gyratory, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.600 the one that's around the Lark de Triomph, you know, 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.160 which is huge. It's like a twelve lane traffic circle. 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.399 And he saw it was gridlocked all the time. But 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.880 then he saw in Germany how fast the Auto bonn 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.719 had gotten the Nazis around. So America got interstates instead 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:29.199 of traffic circles. Because Eisenhower was basically the architect of 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:34.480 America's interstate system. Oh wow, that was the other reason. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.359 I saw another thing. I was reading an article in 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.639 UH I think I can't remember where it was, but 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.280 it was basically like why it might have been priceonomics, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.520 why America has been so reticent and there is another theory, 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.480 uh that this one and this was a bit I 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.280 don't know. They call it controversial. It's really not that 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:54.879 big of a deal, but they say the roundabout is 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.800 said to have flourished in Britain because it requires the 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.400 British virtues of compromising cooperation. And they said the US 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.720 is more aggressive and confrontational in culture and may explain 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.000 why the roundabout has not been more widely adopted. M yeah, 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.720 I mean it is a group cooperation moving through a roundabout, 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.040 for sure, Whereas with a traffic light, it's the traffic 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:18.960 light says stop, the traffic light says go, and all 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:20.959 you have to do is know whether you're allowed to, 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.040 whether you have the right away or not to punch 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.040 it right. And I actually saw there's a there's something 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:31.720 called the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society's the guy who runs 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.080 that says that traffic lights are fascist because they tell 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.840 you to stop or go it any given point in time, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:42.280 whereas a roundabout is much more group cooperative and people 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.040 make their own decisions together as a collective. Yeah, that's 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.200 why it's weird that in o Hi they would there 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:50.800 was an outcry in the eighties. I guess they were 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.480 just so new that they didn't get it. I think 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:56.439 that's and I think that's ultimately why people don't like 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.760 roundabouts there. It's a new thing, and everybody was raised 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:01.600 with their traffic lights, and they know what they're doing 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:03.760 with traffic lights, and this is a big, new, scary thing, 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.000 and we're not in the mood to learn a new thing. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.959 So get that plan out of here and give us 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.760 a stupid, dumb traffic light that we're gonna have to 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.040 sit at at one in the morning, even though there's 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.520 no one in sight, and lose our minds and then 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.320 you finally get sick of it inside to run the 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.320 light and out of nowhere there's a cop behind you. Yeah. 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.840 All right, let's take a break, okay, and we'll talk 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:49.920 more about roundabouts right after this. Okay, So we should 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.320 talk a little bit about how to design a round about. 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.440 If you have a neighborhood that you have under your control, Um, 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.840 maybe you're gonna want to put a roundabout in after 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.200 you listen to this episod. So so if so, there's 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.760 some some things, some design principles that you want to 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.720 fall off if you're the king of your neighborhood or 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:13.479 the dictator. Sure, why not? Apparently, according to our article, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:18.320 there are five characteristics, one of which I wouldn't even 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:22.800 count as something you would need to. Uh, well, I'll 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:24.680 just say that the big dumb, dumb one that should 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:27.159 be assumed. I'm gonna see if I can pick it out. Okay, 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:32.119 all right, I bet you well. First you enter, the 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:37.359 entry is controlled by a yield sign. Okay, that's that's smart. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.919 But there are no signs or anything else you have 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.399 to do while inside the circle. The circle use your 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.480 turn signal. Yeah, that's the one thing you're supposed to do. 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.640 But everything else is like thunder dome like no rules. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.800 Actually that's not true. There's plenty of rules, plenty of rules. 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.919 The second one is vehicles inside the roadway always have 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.720 the right of way. That's a big one. Again, that's 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:02.720 gap theory. You get in where you fit in if 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.320 you're coming into the circle, because everybody else in the 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.320 circle already has the right of way. Did you make 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.760 up get in where you fit in? I mean, I've 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:14.160 heard it before. But as far as traffic circles go, yes, 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.919 because that's a that's a heck of a slogan. I 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.560 think it's I think that is probably what's going to 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.960 lead America to a deep and abiding love of roundabout 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:30.679 think so we love things that rhyme. Yeah, we're dumb culture. Third, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:35.240 pedestrians can only cross the legs of the intersection. Uh, 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:37.520 and you can only do it behind the yield sign. 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:42.720 So does that make sense to people? Yeah? Like you, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:46.359 you're not supposed to cross to the center island. I 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.040 have a little story about that. Actually, the very famous 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.520 Arc a Triumph in Paris, France, that's the one I 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:53.960 was talking about, the plus ta ta Okay, is that 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:57.440 what it's called. Yeah, that's the name of the traffic circle. Yeah. 0:22:57.480 --> 0:22:59.600 When I've the very first time I went to a 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.520 pair of us when I was, oh, I don't know, 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.560 twenty two years old, my friend, uh Brett and I 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:09.639 were standing on the outside looking at the Arc de 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.160 Triomph and all of that traffic and how many lanes 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:16.679 is that? Did you say? Twelve? Okay, twelve? But there 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.639 are no lines, right, It's just twelve space for twelve cars. 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.520 Think about that, like we don't even have twelve lane 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.040 highways in the United States as big as our highways are. Yeah. 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:29.680 So we're standing there and we're looking across and we're 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:32.840 looking at the traffic. We're like, man, I don't know 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:36.280 about this. Uh. And then we see an elderly woman 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.160 standing under the arch and I was like, dude, if 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:42.280 she can get over there, we can get over there. 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:47.880 And we did the frogger dash across the street, made 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.840 it in one piece, and then realized that there's an 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:56.680 underground walkway. I have the exact same story. Really, yep, yep. 0:23:56.760 --> 0:23:58.840 When I was there with my family, my sister and 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:01.560 I tried to we we've made it across, but then 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:05.639 we're like, how is this legal? Why, Like, couldn't Paris 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:07.919 have come up with a better way? Yeah, it's the 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:11.840 answer is yes, and they did. That's pretty funny. I 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.760 bet we're not alone as Americans. I'm thinking that happens 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:20.240 multiple times a day. All right. So the fourth one 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:25.040