Lights at traffic circles
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So, when they say, “Be the change you want to see”, does that mean “carefully run red lights that shouldn’t be there in the first place”? No? Shoot.
I stop at almost all red lights and stop signs. There are numerous reasons why I do this that aren’t really important. There are a couple of exceptions, the largest of which is Thomas Circle (where 14th NW meets M and Mass Ave). I blow this light for two reasons – about 75% is for safety, because jumping it puts me in safer position in regard to right turning as.. I mean cars who alway… occasionally try to kill… I mean forget to yield to bikes. About 25% is for laziness, because if I wait at the light I don’t make the light at L, which is just no fun.
This morning, there was a woman in front of me approaching the Circle. She stopped at the light. I warned her that I was passing on her left, and she told me that the light was red. She caught up with me at K (Which I suppose throws out the laziness argument – I’m not getting anywhere any faster), and I spoke to her for a moment. I told her that was the one light I run, which is pretty much true, and she said she always stops “so that they don’t hate us as much”, which is such a sad statement about the reality of many drivers. What makes this worse is that I’m pretty sure this is the woman who congratulated me on stopping at a light later in my commute a few months ago, but I can’t be sure.
Anyway, that all to say – I am firmly convinced that lights in traffic circles are 100% pro-car and 100% anti-everything-else. I know we have at least one Brit here, and we must have some New Englanders. Do you find lights in circles there? I think the real problem, and you see this on Thomas Circle, is that the lights indicate to the cars that THIS CIRCLE IS FOR AUTOMOBILES and nothing else. If you take out the lights, drivers remember that they have to yield, and that this applies to non-cars, too. Look at Dupont Circle. I don’t drive there. I don’t bike there. I don’t even walk there because it’s the most horrible piece of idiotic traffic planning I’ve ever seen in my life.
I know we also have some urban planners here – is there research on circles? I mean, I know there must be, but is there research that can be distilled into a reply to this post so I don’t have to do real research myself? I know they can be really good for traffic in the right situation – I grew up in Annapolis, and the circle at West St and Taylor Ave, which they put in when I was maybe in high school, is a HUGE improvement in terms of traffic backups. But there’s no significant pedestrian or bike traffic there, so it’s different from Thomas or Dupont.
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@mstone 50652 wrote:
I can think of some heinous exceptions.
They must be in the north, or as people from that part of the state call it “Joisey.”
@nikki_d 50814 wrote:
They must be in the north, or as people from that part of the state call it “Joisey.”
Interestingly, the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traffic_circles_in_New_Jersey) has a picture of one of the ones I was thinking of (recently replaced). It was a circle with a bisecting road through it, and a bunch of stoplights. My mind boggled every time I drove through it–how could any DOT possibly screw up that badly, providing all the problems of a circle and all the problems of a controlled intersection?
Edit to add: to be fair, this is the same insane configuration as the 50 & 29 intersection at Fairfax Circle. Same question applies to VDOT.
@mstone 50867 wrote:
No, a jug handle is a facility to enable left turns from the right lane, converting the turning traffic into cross traffic but retaining a square intersection. These are circles which were partially “un-circled”.
OK, guess I’m just a jug-head
@jrenaut 50906 wrote:
I think we can all agree on two things:
- A circular road where anyone traveling on the circular path always has right of way over anyone not traveling in the circular path is a Traffic Circle.
- A circular road containing any exceptions to the previous, including but not limited to stop lights, stop signs, straight roads, llamas, or BMWs is a Death Trap Where Cars Will Kill You.
Jury is still out on jughandles. In theory they sound good, but I don’t have much experience using them so I don’t really know.
Actually, no. “Traffic Circle” means “old fashioned deathtrap of a road design”. A “circular road where anyone traveling on the circular path always has right of way over anyone not traveling in the circular path” is a “roundabout”.
Jughandles can make cars go faster on light-to-moderate traffic roads. That should give you pause right there.
They start to fall apart as traffic volumes increase, and are generally confusing because they make left turns inconsistent (like we need more confused people on the road).
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