Hunh?

[dagibbs]

There is a sign near here that says, "This turning circle will be converted into a round-about." It says this on (at least) two approaches to the turning circle, and appears to have a (standard for around here) French translation on the sign as well. Looks suitably official.

My first reaction was a big hunh... did I read that right. Driving back through in the other direction, yup, the sign is on the other side, too. I did read it right. Now, to me, that sounds like somebody posting a sign saying that "this road is going to be turned into a street". Well, as far as meaning goes -- I always saw the two as being synonyms for each other -- just slightly different dialects, with round about being more of a British phrase.

I'm still not entirely sure what they mean by the sign -- though I have a guess. For those of you who might be local, it is on the turning circle on Prince of Wales drive as it goes through the Experimental Farm.

Anyone else care to guess what this odd locution might actually mean?

Comments

[elizilla]

Roundabouts have become all the rage here - they're getting retrofitted to intersections all over the place. Perhaps your road works people want to get in on the trend, but there's already one there. So they're pretending it's new and stylish? The sign really means, "Look at us, we are fashionable!"

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Depsite their being fashionable, I actually like turning circles/roundabouts as traffic control devices.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

These junctions are sometimes called "modern roundabouts" in order to emphasise the distinction from older circular junction types which had different design characteristics and rules of operation. Older designs, called "traffic circles" or "rotaries", are typically larger, operate at higher speeds, and often give priority to entering traffic.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

Given that the turning circle is already slow, i can't imagine what slower would mean.

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

I guess you'll find out soon enough.

Maybe it means there will be plants in the centre.

Hopefully it doesn't mean the rules of the road change. ie between the people already in the circle having right of way to the people wanting to enter having right of way.
I saw that done in New Zealand and it is completely bizarre to me. It's like a rule that says people wanting to get into an elevator or subway car get in first, and then people who want to get out do that later.
When it seems so commonsense that first you have to let people out before there is room for others to get in.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Actually, my thought is that it probably will mean that the rules will change -- this particular circle thing is, actually, broken as it allows the traffic on Prince of Wales (the main road through) priority to enter the circle over traffic already in the circle. I'm hoping this announced change means it will, actually, be changed to proper rules, giving right-of-way to people already in the circle.

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

That would be very helpful.

[popelaksmi.livejournal.com]

I wish I could agree with you but in my experience few people truly know how to drive in and through a roundabout. I drive through one twice a day, 5 days a week to/ from work.

[metawidget]

Hey, they've only been there for a few years — maybe not long enough for their proper use to really get into the collective driver psyche yet. When we arrived in our new house, they were just mailing out instruction cards on how to use the ones on Allumettières (which, as you experience, many people are incapable of following or must've missed the memo and the signage).

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

And then eventually people might learn that the point of a roundabout is for as many people as possible to continue on their way without stopping, and everyone go about at a steady rate, instead of people who are in the roundabout first to accelerate and make the people at the next intersection have to stop and wait for them.

I expect that will happen sometime after people learn what a merge lane is for on a normal highway.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

*snicker* yeah. People don't know how to merge either, do they?

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

There is a problem, too, with the roundabouts on Allumetiere -- they are multi-lane, but not lane-marked properly. Multi-lane roundabouts should be setup such that the lanes spiral outwards -- so that if you start at the centre lane, by the time you're 3/4 of the way around, the natural spiral has taken you to the outside lane, and you can just exit naturally for your "left" turn. British multi-lane roundabouts are setup this way.

[horsetraveller.livejournal.com]

True, but few people know how to drive in the winter either.

It would be helpful if all "traffic circles" with odd rules were changed to roundabouts where all had the common rule that once you were in, other traffic have to yield to you.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Yep.

And multi-lane roundabouts had lanes spiral outwards, too.

[kattale.livejournal.com]

In the Prince of Wales circle, they have yield signs inside the circle to allow certain of the approaches to have right of way over people in the circle. Which is maddening to anyone who has become accustomed to British round-a-bouts where the traffic flow just... works... with the in-circle having the right of way.

Maybe that is what is changing?

[metawidget]

That would be a welcome change. The Hull roundabouts follow the British design, even if many drivers aren't totally clear on inner and outer lanes, yielding to in-circle traffic, or reducing speed in the roundabout yet.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Um, as I said above, the Hull rounadabouts don't follow the British design.

[metawidget]

Okay, maybe just a little less broken than the Prince of Wales design. Which is (relatively) welcome.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

That was my hope.

[o-bunny.livejournal.com]

What I find strange about that intersection is that they say that it will cost $1.2 million to make the changes.

I figure that putting up yield signs everywhere (inside and out of the circle) for a month, warning people that the rules change, then removing the yield signs inside the intersection, that ought to do it. Couple thousand bucks, tops.

Oh, and the existing configuration *has* plants in it already.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

1.2million to make the changes??? Say what? Unless they're completely rebuilding it in some other way. Cause, yeah, just changing the signs around shouldn't be very difficult.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed, should cost perhaps 1% of that. But the sign facing the southbound traffic says something to the effect of "$1.2 Million investment" or some such.

Sheesh.

[http://users.livejournal.com/niall_/]

They might re-build it - that traffic circle is just damn small. I would hope they enlarge it a bit to get it to proper roundabout size, with a smaller turning angle to better allow a steady speed.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's what they're going to do.