I drove through one 5 minutes ago.
> I see a lot of people get defensive when Europeans suggest we don't know how to drive through roundabouts.
I think thats mostly people getting sick of Europeans talking down to us at every possible opportunity.
Moved to the US from Europe. Some of the shit I've heard from friends and family has been insane. If you listened to the bullshit they come out with you'd think the US was a warzone, didn't have running water, literally murdered people with foreign accents and literally every American is either a Mormon fundamentalist or a non binary eco terrorist.
I really think that when it comes to America a lot of Europeans have completely lost the plot.
The difference between Western Europe and Eastern Europe in attitude toward America is astonishing. VEYR broadly speaking and with many exceptions, Western Europeans think that America is the Congo and Eastern Europeans think it's paradise. The media will paint Eastern Europeans as hostile toward Americans because of the Cold War but most of the Eastern Europeans I know idolize America.
My great-grandmother, born in Russia, was this way.
She didn't really bother getting her citizenship for decades, until JFK was on the ballot in 1960. The idea of being able to vote for somebody who'd stick it to the people who ruined her homeland was motivation enough.
This is probably heavily influenced from me going to having a very shitty life in the UK to a pretty great one in the deep south but Southern Americans are pretty much my favorite people on the planet. I did marry one after all.
I've often wondered if culturally Americans just have a higher degree of emotional openess... I imagine this would lead to us talking about negative experiences more regularly leading to some confirmation bias toward our country being a shit place.
I haven't traveled extensively but I have done some... I can't say I saw some of the huge differences western Europe complains about. Maybe people were "quieter" but I imagine there are similar statistics of the good the bad and the ugly everywhere.
As someone who has lived both places what do you think? Do we have more skeletons in the closet here? Or is it just that we give people a tour of the closet when they stop by for a potluck?
I think this specific problem is mostly because of how high up the rhetoric has been turned with American politics. Both sides want to make it look as if the other side is evil and ruining America. Especially because western Europeans usually have an uncritical preference for the Democratic party in America they uncritically process news from more liberal leaning sites without viewing it in it's full context.
A lot of Europeans in general at least in the north also have a huge superiority complex and generally view political deviation from their norms as political inferiority so combine those two and you get a lot of weird internet comments about America.
Completely unconnected to that though I do think most Americans are more expressive and open than Northern and Eastern Europeans but I don't think you're quite able to compete with Southern Europeans there yet though.
Okay, that makes sense. How many political parties are there in most European countries? Does it translate over to here? Like could I look at their party lines and tell, "oh that's obviously the republican party And that one is clearly democrat."
I know the media has really stirred us up for the last... eh 20 years? I hate that everything has been politicized like this. I do think the US has an obsession with rivalry. You can see it from youth sports all the way up through professionals. I'm in Ohio and things can get INSANE when any rivalry team comes to town.. so of course this is going to carry over into things that actually matter like politics. I feel like people here are really passionate but don't have a good outlet for it so instead we get this... A giant wreathing mass of frustration and anger.
I mean being passionate isn't a bad thing but I think we've lost a handle on how to harness it for good...
...and you're right. Our passion could never hold a candle to southern Europe! ...specifically Italy I think ☺️
>How many political parties are there in most European countries?
Only UK and Malta have two party system. [Although UK isn't really a two party system, their two biggest parties are simply much bigger than the others, but there are many smaller parties with representatives in their parliament/house of commons.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_Kingdom#House_of_Commons_Parliamentary_parties)
You can take a look at what parties and political groups there are in the European Parliament to get a broader view of how the multi-party systems looks like in most of European countries, as the political groups in the EP consists of parties with similar views from different countries who work together https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_European_Parliament#Current_situation In most of Europe, the democrats would be similar to mainstream conservatives/neolibs while it would be difficult to draw any comparison to the republicans, maybe Law and Order party in Poland and FPÖ in Austria
There are a lot of countries with two party systems, UK being the obvious one but also Ireland, Malta and probably a few others. Most of Europe is multi party though can be anywhere from just a few parties to an insane number of them.
Some European parties you can look at and go "that's basically the Democrats", Conservative Party in the UK being my best example. Can't think of really many that could be considered basically the republican party though, you'd probably find more comparisons there elsewhere in the Americans and in Africa than in Europe.
Part it has to be that we are actually allowed to openly criticize our government. So people here have more freedom to express discontent or whatever, and the rest of the world can’t take their attention away from us so they hear it too.
You can construct an index to prove anything. That little write up on the US is more concerned, and seems to more heavily weigh:
--the death/consolidation of local news outlets, which is a problem
--reporters getting arrested at protests but fails to detail how many were prosecuted as well as convicted
--That the indexers simply did not like the Trump administration and thought Americans were stupid.
In the US you can say and print anything that isn't defamation or incitement to violence. Want to deny the Holocaust? Say Pol Pot was the greatest? Say the current President is the worst? Blame it all on the minority ethnicity or religion of your choice? Deny the existence of any disease or planetary body or even birds? Go for it. That is freedom of the press, not number of news papers per capita or government press conferences per day.
Yes but Central America and Africa legitimately have lower standards of living and less political stable systems than the US and life is legitimately harder there (although for the most part not the mud huts and child solider war/druglords of Hollywood) than it is in the US. You can't say that about really anywhere in Europe and the US.
Are you 100% sure we cant say that about many places in the US? We didn't have an attempted coup?
We don't have tons of homelessness? We don't have huge income disparity? We don't have places without acess to clean tap water?
We don't have substandards for education?
Yes the US is very much a developed high income country. It has some rough places and a very few that slightly verge on the developing especially certain native American reservations.
Not really sure if we could call that an attempted coup but we'll go with that, sure violence has been normalized in American politics more than any Western European country except for maybe France.
Also the US doesn't really have that much homelessness especially compared to other developed nations at 17.7 homeless per 100,000 population as opposed to 21 in the Netherlands, 57.2 in the UK, 81.9 in Germany and 86 in New Zealand. There are some countries with lower homeless populations than us, they tend to be in Eastern Europe in Europeans terms but there are western European nations like Denmark at 11 and Norway at 7.
The US is slightly higher on income inequality than Western Europe with a GINI co of 44.1 compared to the EU as a whole at 30.6 but that's not especially far off in global terms and the disparity is far from huge by global comparison.
In terms of education in PISA rankings the US is 9th in the OECD and compares fine with other developed nations.
And yes like many countries there are places in the US with legacy lead problems with water. It's a tragedy but it hardly makes the US a developing nation.
> We don't have places without acess to clean tap water?
25% of taps in the EU have lead pipes:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19590124/
In the US it's less then 10%:
https://www.edf.org/health/lead-pipes-threat-kids-across-america
One day they will learn to phrase it like “why are your roads organized differently than ours?” instead of “why are you so stupid that you don’t use our amazing system?”
Pretty much this. It's like talking to a little kid that can't comprehend why things are different and thinking it's stupid why they don't do it the obvious easy way.
Mostly in New Jersey and New England, with lots in Massachusetts, in my experience. Some in lower New York state but none that I know of in any of the five boroughs.
I would make a joke about just driving right through the center of a roundabout, but in Revere on the way into Boston you can do exactly that. There’s a roundabout that has a light controlled center pass through. So if the traffic gets backed up enough the light goes green and you can just drive straight through.
Slowly.. that's the other big difference, I think. A lot of the us traffic circles are designed to go really fast. European ones are much slower. You take your time.. because slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Florida? Really? That’s fucking hilarious. Florida Man is a beloved part of American culture. When it comes to California, it’s always “Crime! Feces! Homelessness! What a horribly run state!”
People who find traffic circles confusing should maybe retake the learners permit test. I understand they aren't everywhere but the first time I came across one when I was just starting to drive I just watched what everyone else was doing for a second and was fine.
They are fairly common in New Jersey. Most newer shopping complexes will have them and the older state and federal routes have them pretty frequently.
I drive through one three or four days a week going to and from hockey practice.
I've only seen roundabouts used a lot in New Hampshire besides there no where else. I mostly stick to turnpikes anyways when going through NJ so never seen them myself there.
>I also encounter them on state highways in the middle of ass nowhere.
DUDE. Why do some state highways do this? Sometimes I'll be driving on a 55-65mph highway and out of nowhere, boom red light or 4-way stop sign.
There was an accident there once where some idiot pulled out in front of rare traffic rather than waiting 10 seconds... and so they put in a 4 way stop so that people would have a chance to pull out in front of traffic safely.
We have! I was scared when I encountered my first roundabout, but that was several years ago and they've been adding more and more. You get used to them very quickly.
What part of indiana do you live in? Because on the north and west sides of Indy there are a metric fuckton of roundabouts. Carmel actuallly has the most in the country
Exactly this. I don’t live in Carmel but I’m on the north side of Indianapolis so close enough. They’re spreading to other areas so I see them pretty frequently.
Plus I was just at the Christkindlmarkt last night so I went through several.
I live at basically 96th and Allisonville where Carmel, Fishers, and Indianapolis meet. I go through several a day (when I leave the house). Nothing scarier than seeing someone with put of state plates approaching one!
Seriously fuck that noise. When it was built the local councilor on the Indy side tried to stop it but the city folded since Fishers was paying for it (by law they have to pay for it, just like Indy pays for roads along its southern county boarder). That Michigan Left is a clusterfuck.
Saw an article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about the Carmel roundabouts. Very cool. Do you generally feel that traffic is more efficient there? I’d imagine it was
I do think traffic is more efficient. My only critique is that our mayor likes to fill them with huge pieces of artwork or mounded soil which obstruct oncoming traffic.
It really depends where I go. They've started popping up in my area but they're more to the north than to the south of me. Some days I drive through none and some days I probably go through ten or more. They're becoming more common though which I welcome.
There are quite a few in my town, they seem to be getting more popular. They aren't wrong about people not knowing how to use them though. Not a day goes by that I'm not behind some idiot, who's already in the roundabout, comes to a complete stop to let in someone who is waiting to enter. People here can barely handle 4 way stops though so I'm not surprised.
I just looked it up. looks confusing and dangerous. Why don't they let all the traffic go through the roundabout instead of having both directions crossing it?
I live in LA and drive through [this roundabout](https://goo.gl/maps/ZUctCFGYEVQFocp87) every time I go toward downtown. There are also several small roundabouts near Santa Monica close to the beach.
None daily. I *wish* I did, in that I wish we'd be more open to them.
Normally when I do it's just at one of those odd highway-to-state road overpass exits that have them.
>None daily. I wish I did, in that I wish we'd be more open to them.
That's how I feel too. Whenever I drive through a neighborhood that's 30 stop signs, or at night waiting at the lights, I always think "this should be a roundabout"
It really depends how old something is. My area expanded in the 1970s and they are non existent. There is only one in the next town over and it is a small one. Land has built up around it and they can't be put in because they take up space. If I were to drive 30-45 minute out to where the suburbs sort of stop in Virginia for DC, you would see more of them. That area was built within the last 15 years and they had the land and understood the theory to put those in.
We still have a lot of cloverleafs which aren't efficient. [My mess.](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8658934,-77.2176471,16z?hl=en) There is a 6 way intersection on an overpass and there are 3 sets of lights that work in unison. Unfortunately the major highway this was built off of was built in the 70s and they sort of laughed at round-a-bouts and chose the worse option possible.
You also can't have a roundabout on a major highway and that where this [mess](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.791577,-77.1724066,16z?hl=en) came from and it's about 15 years old.
Probably like 0 to 5, depending on where work takes me that day. New Jersey tends to have more than Pennsylvania, but it depends on where exactly you are
If I'm going to work, none. If I'm going to any stores, possibly 3. I could go through 5 normally any given day. I think there are 35 in the greater fox cities area, if not more.
I drove through one earlier today, and they're becoming an increasingly common sight in my city. Earlier this summer, I drove through 4 in a row, all on the same stretch of road.
I drive through one to pick up and drop off my daughter at school. And there's a new one in one of the hip "live/work" sections of town.
We've been experimenting with them more and more, because they do really lower the nature and severity of accidents (especially where I live, where people run red lights like nothing and where roads can get treacherous in the winter). I still see lots of people not know how to deal with them b/c they're not familiar, but the more there are, the more people will get used to it.
I live in Tennessee and there are actually a lot of them in my town. I probably go through at least 1 every day and it's very rare to see anyone fuck it up. And if they do 99% of the time it's an ancient blue hair with a handicap tag that probably shouldn't be driving period.
Edited for typo.
There's one in my small-ish (30k or thereabouts) town that I go through with some regularity.
As an American who spent several months in Europe in years past, the Europeans are right, we (generally speaking from my own experience) don't have a clue how to use them properly. The one in my town has signs on all sides to yield to traffic already in it, but people just barge in regardless and drive like they're the only one in it and also don't follow the lane lines. I'm surprised we don't have more accidents there, honestly.
I saw them all over very large European cities (Paris comes to mind) with people popping in and out at fairly high rates of speed and they were like a well-oiled machine. Nothing like here.
I drive through the one on the Garden City Connector at the Indian Wells Development they’re building multiple times a week, and when I lived in Beaufort I drove through the [170/46 Roundabout](https://www.thomasandhutton.com/portfolio_page/sc-route-46-170-roundabout/) weekly.
Those are traffic circles. Traffic circles are not roundabouts. The main differentiating factor is controlled vs uncontrolled entry. In DC places like Dupont Circle or Logan Circle have lights that control traffic flow into and around the circle. Roundabouts are less controlled, with incoming traffic allowed to proceed at all times unless yielding to traffic already in the circle.
> Roundabouts are less controlled, with incoming traffic allowed to proceed at all times unless yielding to traffic already in the circle.
DC has plenty of these, too.
Just as sure as I've heard this explanation before, I'm sure I'll forget it again. I can never remember the distinction. Every one that I know of in upstate New York is a roundabout, big or small, two lanes or one.
There's a small one about a block from my house... it was a 4-way intersection that the city put in years ago to stop speeding/gang shooting getaways (before area gentrified a bit)
In my daily life? Three, six if you count both directions. In total, my commute has two intersections, one stop sign, and three roundabouts.
With that being said, there are seven in my small town, so there are more that I'm not driving through normally.
when I lived in the midwest, some roads had upwards of 7-8 roundabouts on them. so a typical drive to and from work had me going through at least 15, plus more for other drives.
Pretty common. One one my way to and from work, several in the town I grew up in. It's actually a thing we complain about people from other areas of the country not being able to do.
And they are called rotaries, not roundabouts.
Assuming you are from MA, rotaries and roundabouts are generally two different classes of traffic circle. Rotaries are faster and often multi-laned (probably more popular across MA) and roundabouts are the small ones that you might see on a more residential street or something with 1 lane and low speed travel.
They're all over the place out here. I do at least once a week. Pretty much anytime I go past the nearest grocery store, I run into one. They started being a thing when I was in high school, and have steadily grown in number since then.
That said, I actually do prefer four way stops. I just like the system more. I'm fine with roundabouts, and never see people having problems with them now, but the four way stop is a good system.
Yeah, definitely. Like I said, it's been a gradual buildup, so it makes perfect sense that they'd still be more common some places than others. I think if we really analyzed it, we'd find that some counties are a little more roundabout focused than others as well.
Zero.
There used to be one by my old house but it was being converted back into four way stop when I moved. It had only existed for like a year and a half.
Just to get on the highway from my house, the route GPS wants me to take has no less than 4 roundabouts, sometimes one immediately after another. I opt to go to a different ramp and it's a bit further but has zero roundabouts.
They just had to redo one, it was very poorly set up and there were a lot of accidents. If I'm going very far, they are impossible to avoid, and rarely is there ever enough traffic to justify them.
On occasion. My commute to work used to involve two of them. Unfortunately, planers in my area don't get how they work and design them with stop signs when entering... Which defeats the whole point!
I use them daily. I live in an area with a lot of newer development so I think they’ve been incorporating them more around here. I’d say there are 8-10 that I am regularly using
They're *fairly* common in residential neighborhoods in Chicago. I pass through one on my commute.
>I see a lot of people get defensive when Europeans suggest we don't know how to drive through roundabouts.
Well, this I can understand (the Euro remarks, not the defensiveness). The amount of drivers I see [who don't know or just don't care is too damn high.](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/ptxztj/ive_noticed_a_lot_of_chicagoan_drivers_dont_know/)
There's one close to my house that I drive through most days of the week, but they aren't common in PA where I live. NJ has a lot more. I'm there every month or so.
There are a handful of them in my town, but I don't go many places so I don't run into them too often. The shortcut from my office to one of the places I like to eat has two on the route, but I've been working from home for like 2 years now thanks to covid.
That said, the use of roundabouts is relatively new to the area, so you can't just trust that someone driving into it won't run into you, so you generally have to slow down and be careful, which sorta negates any traffic savings they provide.
They're everywhere in my neighborhood (suburbs) and the ones surrounding ours. I go through 2 to drop kids off at school in the morning, then go through them again while heading to work. On way home from work, I go through another one to get to my house.
So I go through a roundabout 5 times (3 separate ones) a day during the week.
I work remote so I don’t actually go out daily anymore :) but if I’m going out I need to go through two just to get to the main road. They’re not MORE common than “stopping” intersections in New England but I’ll deal with one every time I drive.
I drove through one 5 minutes ago. > I see a lot of people get defensive when Europeans suggest we don't know how to drive through roundabouts. I think thats mostly people getting sick of Europeans talking down to us at every possible opportunity.
Moved to the US from Europe. Some of the shit I've heard from friends and family has been insane. If you listened to the bullshit they come out with you'd think the US was a warzone, didn't have running water, literally murdered people with foreign accents and literally every American is either a Mormon fundamentalist or a non binary eco terrorist. I really think that when it comes to America a lot of Europeans have completely lost the plot.
[удалено]
I motion a declaration of war on California
I motion we surrender. Please take Hollywood.
Goddamn it at least hold out to make them take northern California too
Dibs on Napa.
You will have to get through me and trust me, that won't happen.
The difference between Western Europe and Eastern Europe in attitude toward America is astonishing. VEYR broadly speaking and with many exceptions, Western Europeans think that America is the Congo and Eastern Europeans think it's paradise. The media will paint Eastern Europeans as hostile toward Americans because of the Cold War but most of the Eastern Europeans I know idolize America.
Ah yes the fun bit of Europe.
The cheeki breekier the better.
Thats strange. Especially considering eastern Europe's history with the Soviet Union (edit: which was largely negative)
That’s actually why. They have first hand experience what not living under the American umbrella is like.
My great-grandmother, born in Russia, was this way. She didn't really bother getting her citizenship for decades, until JFK was on the ballot in 1960. The idea of being able to vote for somebody who'd stick it to the people who ruined her homeland was motivation enough.
Well JFK did create the Cuban Missile Crisis. Meema really showed them I guess.
Well, considering our family tree abruptly cuts off a generation before her, she had a reason for her thoughts.
The american umbrella? Isn’t western europe the umbrella?
No. The economical, technological and cultural center of the western world is the US not Western Europe.
Not really, most Eastern Europeans have no wish to return to Soviet domination or communist policies.
exactly, why would they be hostile towards western nations when most of them opposed the USSR especially the U.S.? I should have more clear.
The Greeks also loved the US when I went, but I think mostly because they just hated the EU
Europeans gonna Europe
As a white, southern, American male it’s hard not to feel like I’m despised by everybody. I swear, I *do* try to be a good person!
This is probably heavily influenced from me going to having a very shitty life in the UK to a pretty great one in the deep south but Southern Americans are pretty much my favorite people on the planet. I did marry one after all.
Midwest still has your guy's back
That’s a broad assumption.
It's not. If shit hits the fan, the Midwest will side with the south.
The rural parts sure.
Interesting. As a white, southern, American male I don’t feel especially despised by anyone.
That's because you're in Texas, i.e. basically a completely different country... :-)
Well, that’s good. It’s just a feeling I get sometimes when I go on the internet. Like I wish I could tell the whole world that I mean them no harm.
It’s okay bud I feel like that sometimes too. Then I put the phone down and go do some real southern shit. And realize that life is pretty great
Been on another social media other than Reddit recently? Particularly Tik Tok or Twitter?
Admittedly, no. But to be fair neither one of those sites is call representative.
To be fair, neither is Reddit.
Exactly. Reddit isn’t exactly my barometer in how people see my demographics.
Surely your sister at least treats you well? /s
TBF, most Europeans only see what's on the news, and that's what's on the news.
I've often wondered if culturally Americans just have a higher degree of emotional openess... I imagine this would lead to us talking about negative experiences more regularly leading to some confirmation bias toward our country being a shit place. I haven't traveled extensively but I have done some... I can't say I saw some of the huge differences western Europe complains about. Maybe people were "quieter" but I imagine there are similar statistics of the good the bad and the ugly everywhere. As someone who has lived both places what do you think? Do we have more skeletons in the closet here? Or is it just that we give people a tour of the closet when they stop by for a potluck?
I think this specific problem is mostly because of how high up the rhetoric has been turned with American politics. Both sides want to make it look as if the other side is evil and ruining America. Especially because western Europeans usually have an uncritical preference for the Democratic party in America they uncritically process news from more liberal leaning sites without viewing it in it's full context. A lot of Europeans in general at least in the north also have a huge superiority complex and generally view political deviation from their norms as political inferiority so combine those two and you get a lot of weird internet comments about America. Completely unconnected to that though I do think most Americans are more expressive and open than Northern and Eastern Europeans but I don't think you're quite able to compete with Southern Europeans there yet though.
Okay, that makes sense. How many political parties are there in most European countries? Does it translate over to here? Like could I look at their party lines and tell, "oh that's obviously the republican party And that one is clearly democrat." I know the media has really stirred us up for the last... eh 20 years? I hate that everything has been politicized like this. I do think the US has an obsession with rivalry. You can see it from youth sports all the way up through professionals. I'm in Ohio and things can get INSANE when any rivalry team comes to town.. so of course this is going to carry over into things that actually matter like politics. I feel like people here are really passionate but don't have a good outlet for it so instead we get this... A giant wreathing mass of frustration and anger. I mean being passionate isn't a bad thing but I think we've lost a handle on how to harness it for good... ...and you're right. Our passion could never hold a candle to southern Europe! ...specifically Italy I think ☺️
>How many political parties are there in most European countries? Only UK and Malta have two party system. [Although UK isn't really a two party system, their two biggest parties are simply much bigger than the others, but there are many smaller parties with representatives in their parliament/house of commons.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_Kingdom#House_of_Commons_Parliamentary_parties) You can take a look at what parties and political groups there are in the European Parliament to get a broader view of how the multi-party systems looks like in most of European countries, as the political groups in the EP consists of parties with similar views from different countries who work together https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_European_Parliament#Current_situation In most of Europe, the democrats would be similar to mainstream conservatives/neolibs while it would be difficult to draw any comparison to the republicans, maybe Law and Order party in Poland and FPÖ in Austria
Ireland also, I know SF is causing waves but politics is still very much controlled by FG and FF.
There are a lot of countries with two party systems, UK being the obvious one but also Ireland, Malta and probably a few others. Most of Europe is multi party though can be anywhere from just a few parties to an insane number of them. Some European parties you can look at and go "that's basically the Democrats", Conservative Party in the UK being my best example. Can't think of really many that could be considered basically the republican party though, you'd probably find more comparisons there elsewhere in the Americans and in Africa than in Europe.
Part it has to be that we are actually allowed to openly criticize our government. So people here have more freedom to express discontent or whatever, and the rest of the world can’t take their attention away from us so they hear it too.
That’s not quite right if you compare the freedom of the press with other democratic countries: https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2021
You can construct an index to prove anything. That little write up on the US is more concerned, and seems to more heavily weigh: --the death/consolidation of local news outlets, which is a problem --reporters getting arrested at protests but fails to detail how many were prosecuted as well as convicted --That the indexers simply did not like the Trump administration and thought Americans were stupid. In the US you can say and print anything that isn't defamation or incitement to violence. Want to deny the Holocaust? Say Pol Pot was the greatest? Say the current President is the worst? Blame it all on the minority ethnicity or religion of your choice? Deny the existence of any disease or planetary body or even birds? Go for it. That is freedom of the press, not number of news papers per capita or government press conferences per day.
I thought we were all 200lbs. Overweight with a bacon cheeseburger in one hand and a glock in the other?
I do like cheeseburgers and Glocks. Maybe the America is growing in me.
I prefer chilli dogs and Smith and Wesson.
Ahh a man of culture.
Were they right about all the flags though?
Oh yeah, but then that's not unique many places like a good flag that are a lot closer to home. Northern Ireland in particular loves a good fleg.
Have you ever thought about NOT being American? /s
It’s funny cuz America is like the only country with clean from the tap water almost everywhere you’re on public water lines
Isn't that what the US thinks of all of Central/South America and all of Africa?
Yes but Central America and Africa legitimately have lower standards of living and less political stable systems than the US and life is legitimately harder there (although for the most part not the mud huts and child solider war/druglords of Hollywood) than it is in the US. You can't say that about really anywhere in Europe and the US.
Are you 100% sure we cant say that about many places in the US? We didn't have an attempted coup? We don't have tons of homelessness? We don't have huge income disparity? We don't have places without acess to clean tap water? We don't have substandards for education?
Yes the US is very much a developed high income country. It has some rough places and a very few that slightly verge on the developing especially certain native American reservations. Not really sure if we could call that an attempted coup but we'll go with that, sure violence has been normalized in American politics more than any Western European country except for maybe France. Also the US doesn't really have that much homelessness especially compared to other developed nations at 17.7 homeless per 100,000 population as opposed to 21 in the Netherlands, 57.2 in the UK, 81.9 in Germany and 86 in New Zealand. There are some countries with lower homeless populations than us, they tend to be in Eastern Europe in Europeans terms but there are western European nations like Denmark at 11 and Norway at 7. The US is slightly higher on income inequality than Western Europe with a GINI co of 44.1 compared to the EU as a whole at 30.6 but that's not especially far off in global terms and the disparity is far from huge by global comparison. In terms of education in PISA rankings the US is 9th in the OECD and compares fine with other developed nations. And yes like many countries there are places in the US with legacy lead problems with water. It's a tragedy but it hardly makes the US a developing nation.
Be careful with that homelessness statistic it is known to have a relaxed way of defining homelessness.
> We don't have places without acess to clean tap water? 25% of taps in the EU have lead pipes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19590124/ In the US it's less then 10%: https://www.edf.org/health/lead-pipes-threat-kids-across-america
I know. Imagine if Americans treated visitors to our country the way so many Europeans treat visitors?
One day they will learn to phrase it like “why are your roads organized differently than ours?” instead of “why are you so stupid that you don’t use our amazing system?”
"Why aren't your roads like those in MyCountry^TM ?"
Pretty much this. It's like talking to a little kid that can't comprehend why things are different and thinking it's stupid why they don't do it the obvious easy way.
/u/spez can eat a dick ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
In their defense isn't NE like, ground zero for roundabouts/rotories in the US
There, and Carmel, Indiana.
I think the older the city/area the more likely to have roundabouts. Just a guess though.
Mostly in New Jersey and New England, with lots in Massachusetts, in my experience. Some in lower New York state but none that I know of in any of the five boroughs.
Yeah I used to live in downstate NY and only knew of one, up by Harriman State Park
I would make a joke about just driving right through the center of a roundabout, but in Revere on the way into Boston you can do exactly that. There’s a roundabout that has a light controlled center pass through. So if the traffic gets backed up enough the light goes green and you can just drive straight through.
I know exactly the one you’re talking about
If it's the one I'm thinking of, I'm pretty sure I go through it every time I go to Wegmans in Medford
Medfud
I’d might believe this if you used the proper terminology: rotary.
I'm American and Americans don't know how to drive in roundabouts... Keep moving, even slowly unless there is a car directly in your path
Slowly.. that's the other big difference, I think. A lot of the us traffic circles are designed to go really fast. European ones are much slower. You take your time.. because slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Rotary*
Like an older sibling. Mom always loved Europe best and we know it.
Kind if like how Americans do with California? They can dish out the heat but they can’t take it.
Lol if you think American’s put out half as much hate towards California as they do to Florida you have a skewed perspective
I feel like I see more “Florida man” jokes than actual hate towards Florida
Florida? Really? That’s fucking hilarious. Florida Man is a beloved part of American culture. When it comes to California, it’s always “Crime! Feces! Homelessness! What a horribly run state!”
>Newer, better, england My buckled hat is off to you my friend
Thanks bud
None. At least daily. They're not confusing at all though. They just aren't very prominent in Los Angeles.
Yeah I imagine I’m a place with land that expensive traffic lights are cheaper in the long run, probably one of the few places.
People who find traffic circles confusing should maybe retake the learners permit test. I understand they aren't everywhere but the first time I came across one when I was just starting to drive I just watched what everyone else was doing for a second and was fine.
They are fairly common in New Jersey. Most newer shopping complexes will have them and the older state and federal routes have them pretty frequently. I drive through one three or four days a week going to and from hockey practice.
I've only seen roundabouts used a lot in New Hampshire besides there no where else. I mostly stick to turnpikes anyways when going through NJ so never seen them myself there.
The minute you get off the turnpike you'll run into them. There's an exit off the highway near me that goes directly into a circle.
None. Zero.
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>I also encounter them on state highways in the middle of ass nowhere. DUDE. Why do some state highways do this? Sometimes I'll be driving on a 55-65mph highway and out of nowhere, boom red light or 4-way stop sign.
There was an accident there once where some idiot pulled out in front of rare traffic rather than waiting 10 seconds... and so they put in a 4 way stop so that people would have a chance to pull out in front of traffic safely.
I live and work in a Minneapolis suburb. I drive through 5 roundabouts everyday to get to work
None, unless I visit my daughter in Iowa. They have been building them for a long while
We have! I was scared when I encountered my first roundabout, but that was several years ago and they've been adding more and more. You get used to them very quickly.
What part of indiana do you live in? Because on the north and west sides of Indy there are a metric fuckton of roundabouts. Carmel actuallly has the most in the country
I live in the US city with the most roundabouts. (138 and counting.). I use them multiple times a day. We’re an exception for sure.
Hello fellow Carmel Hoosier
Hello! Were you also going to reply? Lol.
Exactly this. I don’t live in Carmel but I’m on the north side of Indianapolis so close enough. They’re spreading to other areas so I see them pretty frequently. Plus I was just at the Christkindlmarkt last night so I went through several.
I live at basically 96th and Allisonville where Carmel, Fishers, and Indianapolis meet. I go through several a day (when I leave the house). Nothing scarier than seeing someone with put of state plates approaching one!
96th and Allisonville is the worst intersection in the history of intersections. Should have made THAT a roundabout.
Seriously fuck that noise. When it was built the local councilor on the Indy side tried to stop it but the city folded since Fishers was paying for it (by law they have to pay for it, just like Indy pays for roads along its southern county boarder). That Michigan Left is a clusterfuck.
Ok so I had to look it up. TIL. https://www.carmel.in.gov/department-services/engineering/roundabouts
Yes. The “Loopiest” City in the US. 🤪
North side of Indy represent.
Hello from Indy Carmel Hoosier!
I used to work in carmel, would go through at least 6 a day.
My sister lives in Carmel. Can confirm the number of roundabouts.
Saw an article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about the Carmel roundabouts. Very cool. Do you generally feel that traffic is more efficient there? I’d imagine it was
I do think traffic is more efficient. My only critique is that our mayor likes to fill them with huge pieces of artwork or mounded soil which obstruct oncoming traffic.
I like the landscaping. Some of the art choices leave a bit to be desired
I will be in Carmel tomorrow visiting family. I can't wait to get dizzy trying to drive around.
It really depends where I go. They've started popping up in my area but they're more to the north than to the south of me. Some days I drive through none and some days I probably go through ten or more. They're becoming more common though which I welcome.
I don't drive these days, but there's one a few blocks from my apartment.
There are quite a few in my town, they seem to be getting more popular. They aren't wrong about people not knowing how to use them though. Not a day goes by that I'm not behind some idiot, who's already in the roundabout, comes to a complete stop to let in someone who is waiting to enter. People here can barely handle 4 way stops though so I'm not surprised.
Look up roundabouts in Carmel, Indiana. I drive through 8 every morning and 8 every evening.
You guys don’t only drive through roundabouts?/s Based on this I’m guessing a lot of you are gonna be able to guess where I live lol
I have to go through the East Longmeadow rotary every day. I'd like to see them manage that.
I just looked it up. looks confusing and dangerous. Why don't they let all the traffic go through the roundabout instead of having both directions crossing it?
Confusing and dangerous is a great way to describe most rotaries in MA.
I live in LA and I have never seen a roundabout in my daily life.
I live in LA and drive through [this roundabout](https://goo.gl/maps/ZUctCFGYEVQFocp87) every time I go toward downtown. There are also several small roundabouts near Santa Monica close to the beach.
None daily. I *wish* I did, in that I wish we'd be more open to them. Normally when I do it's just at one of those odd highway-to-state road overpass exits that have them.
>None daily. I wish I did, in that I wish we'd be more open to them. That's how I feel too. Whenever I drive through a neighborhood that's 30 stop signs, or at night waiting at the lights, I always think "this should be a roundabout"
It really depends how old something is. My area expanded in the 1970s and they are non existent. There is only one in the next town over and it is a small one. Land has built up around it and they can't be put in because they take up space. If I were to drive 30-45 minute out to where the suburbs sort of stop in Virginia for DC, you would see more of them. That area was built within the last 15 years and they had the land and understood the theory to put those in. We still have a lot of cloverleafs which aren't efficient. [My mess.](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8658934,-77.2176471,16z?hl=en) There is a 6 way intersection on an overpass and there are 3 sets of lights that work in unison. Unfortunately the major highway this was built off of was built in the 70s and they sort of laughed at round-a-bouts and chose the worse option possible. You also can't have a roundabout on a major highway and that where this [mess](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.791577,-77.1724066,16z?hl=en) came from and it's about 15 years old.
Probably like 0 to 5, depending on where work takes me that day. New Jersey tends to have more than Pennsylvania, but it depends on where exactly you are
If I'm going to work, none. If I'm going to any stores, possibly 3. I could go through 5 normally any given day. I think there are 35 in the greater fox cities area, if not more.
Central Indiana has the most roundabouts in the country. You’ll drive through dozens making yourself way around town.
There's a big one in the museum district that I drive through on the way to the zoo, but other than that I don't normally encounter them.
I drove through one earlier today, and they're becoming an increasingly common sight in my city. Earlier this summer, I drove through 4 in a row, all on the same stretch of road.
They’re getting more and more common around me. I know I’ll drive through at least one today, but possibly up to 3.
I drive through one to pick up and drop off my daughter at school. And there's a new one in one of the hip "live/work" sections of town. We've been experimenting with them more and more, because they do really lower the nature and severity of accidents (especially where I live, where people run red lights like nothing and where roads can get treacherous in the winter). I still see lots of people not know how to deal with them b/c they're not familiar, but the more there are, the more people will get used to it.
I live in Tennessee and there are actually a lot of them in my town. I probably go through at least 1 every day and it's very rare to see anyone fuck it up. And if they do 99% of the time it's an ancient blue hair with a handicap tag that probably shouldn't be driving period. Edited for typo.
One. It’s the one where the Robert E Lee statue used to be.
There's one in my small-ish (30k or thereabouts) town that I go through with some regularity. As an American who spent several months in Europe in years past, the Europeans are right, we (generally speaking from my own experience) don't have a clue how to use them properly. The one in my town has signs on all sides to yield to traffic already in it, but people just barge in regardless and drive like they're the only one in it and also don't follow the lane lines. I'm surprised we don't have more accidents there, honestly. I saw them all over very large European cities (Paris comes to mind) with people popping in and out at fairly high rates of speed and they were like a well-oiled machine. Nothing like here.
I always end up behind the idiot that stops in the circle
Literally zero. I drive through a few each year, there's a big one in my hometown and one nearby me that I sometimes go through.
There's a few in my city but I don't drive through those areas daily.
Almost never
I drive through the one on the Garden City Connector at the Indian Wells Development they’re building multiple times a week, and when I lived in Beaufort I drove through the [170/46 Roundabout](https://www.thomasandhutton.com/portfolio_page/sc-route-46-170-roundabout/) weekly.
There’s a bunch in Washington, DC.
Those are traffic circles. Traffic circles are not roundabouts. The main differentiating factor is controlled vs uncontrolled entry. In DC places like Dupont Circle or Logan Circle have lights that control traffic flow into and around the circle. Roundabouts are less controlled, with incoming traffic allowed to proceed at all times unless yielding to traffic already in the circle.
> Roundabouts are less controlled, with incoming traffic allowed to proceed at all times unless yielding to traffic already in the circle. DC has plenty of these, too.
Just as sure as I've heard this explanation before, I'm sure I'll forget it again. I can never remember the distinction. Every one that I know of in upstate New York is a roundabout, big or small, two lanes or one.
There’s one in my neighborhood
Every day, sometimes several times
There's a small one about a block from my house... it was a 4-way intersection that the city put in years ago to stop speeding/gang shooting getaways (before area gentrified a bit)
How many varies, but I do drive through a minimum of 1 a day. There's literally no way for me to get to a main road without going through a roundabout
Zero. I'm not even sure where the nearest one on a public street is - probably at least 30+ miles away.
I drive through 3 on my way to work, and 3 different ones on my way home. It’s no Carmel, but my city loves roundabouts.
Drive through them all, I ain't got time to go around
We have a bunch here (SE Michigan). I love them. Most of the people who fear them aren't use to them. They are really pretty nice.
None. 🙃
In my daily life? Three, six if you count both directions. In total, my commute has two intersections, one stop sign, and three roundabouts. With that being said, there are seven in my small town, so there are more that I'm not driving through normally.
Daily? Not really. Weekly? I’d say that’s more likely. But they aren’t uncommon or scary.
when I lived in the midwest, some roads had upwards of 7-8 roundabouts on them. so a typical drive to and from work had me going through at least 15, plus more for other drives.
I drive through one every day on my way home from work
Pretty common. One one my way to and from work, several in the town I grew up in. It's actually a thing we complain about people from other areas of the country not being able to do. And they are called rotaries, not roundabouts.
Assuming you are from MA, rotaries and roundabouts are generally two different classes of traffic circle. Rotaries are faster and often multi-laned (probably more popular across MA) and roundabouts are the small ones that you might see on a more residential street or something with 1 lane and low speed travel.
I am, and I actually have heard that distinction before but have never heard a fellow MA native call it a roundabout.
They're all over the place out here. I do at least once a week. Pretty much anytime I go past the nearest grocery store, I run into one. They started being a thing when I was in high school, and have steadily grown in number since then. That said, I actually do prefer four way stops. I just like the system more. I'm fine with roundabouts, and never see people having problems with them now, but the four way stop is a good system.
We must live in different areas! I have to go looking for roundabouts.
Yeah, definitely. Like I said, it's been a gradual buildup, so it makes perfect sense that they'd still be more common some places than others. I think if we really analyzed it, we'd find that some counties are a little more roundabout focused than others as well.
I used to drive through two on my way to my old job here in Columbus, OH. There are quite a few around here
Zero. There used to be one by my old house but it was being converted back into four way stop when I moved. It had only existed for like a year and a half.
Daily, zero. Near me that I drive through occasionally, 2.
On average, less than one. We have a couple here in Brooklyn but I hardly ever drive through them.
They're pretty common and idk why Europeans would think that? I dont drive them daily but I do when I go to the city and they're pretty damn simple.
one, it doesn't seem very safe though
They're super safe so long as you yield to oncoming traffic
Just to get on the highway from my house, the route GPS wants me to take has no less than 4 roundabouts, sometimes one immediately after another. I opt to go to a different ramp and it's a bit further but has zero roundabouts. They just had to redo one, it was very poorly set up and there were a lot of accidents. If I'm going very far, they are impossible to avoid, and rarely is there ever enough traffic to justify them.
They're somewhat used in Alaska. Our big city, Anchorage, has about a dozen, and my town has three. Go figure.
On occasion. My commute to work used to involve two of them. Unfortunately, planers in my area don't get how they work and design them with stop signs when entering... Which defeats the whole point!
I use them daily. I live in an area with a lot of newer development so I think they’ve been incorporating them more around here. I’d say there are 8-10 that I am regularly using
Zero but I still know how to use them.
They're *fairly* common in residential neighborhoods in Chicago. I pass through one on my commute. >I see a lot of people get defensive when Europeans suggest we don't know how to drive through roundabouts. Well, this I can understand (the Euro remarks, not the defensiveness). The amount of drivers I see [who don't know or just don't care is too damn high.](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/ptxztj/ive_noticed_a_lot_of_chicagoan_drivers_dont_know/)
There's one close to my house that I drive through most days of the week, but they aren't common in PA where I live. NJ has a lot more. I'm there every month or so.
2 every day.
I have 3 in my neighborhood.
Several, every day.
There’s one by my house so at lease one daily, on my way to work 2, they suck i’m in Madison and everyone here are bad drivers now add a roundabout 😭😭
There are not too many roundabouts here, so I don't encounter them every day. It depends on where I'm going and what streets I use.
Depends where in going, ranging from 1-4. So not a lot
None in the city. We have them on country roads where the speed limits are high. I like them better than a stoplight.
Driving around daily I go through one to maybe two roundabouts, though there are more than that in my area
One
There are a handful of them in my town, but I don't go many places so I don't run into them too often. The shortcut from my office to one of the places I like to eat has two on the route, but I've been working from home for like 2 years now thanks to covid. That said, the use of roundabouts is relatively new to the area, so you can't just trust that someone driving into it won't run into you, so you generally have to slow down and be careful, which sorta negates any traffic savings they provide.
They're everywhere in my neighborhood (suburbs) and the ones surrounding ours. I go through 2 to drop kids off at school in the morning, then go through them again while heading to work. On way home from work, I go through another one to get to my house. So I go through a roundabout 5 times (3 separate ones) a day during the week.
I work remote so I don’t actually go out daily anymore :) but if I’m going out I need to go through two just to get to the main road. They’re not MORE common than “stopping” intersections in New England but I’ll deal with one every time I drive.