Some of the Cities in this part of the country were designed with "traffic
circles" at the main crossroads. They are terrible, especially when a
driver has to contend with heavy, slow traffic, pedestrians and drivers
wanting to become pedestrians. Last summer, my oldest son and I drove (he
drove, I "navigated") from Paris to southern Bavaria. We encountered
several roundabouts, and in a rural setting with sparse traffic, were
terrific. We would come to an intersection, start going around and I would
study the French road signs. After a couple of revolutions, I would have
figured out the European road identification puzzle and off we'd go. Never
having gotten below 2nd gear! It got be be somewhat fun.
For shear pandemonium, try the Saigon traffic circles in the late 1960's.
It was so bad they would have a traffic cop assigned to a circle to record
accidents. After an accident, he would go out into the stopped traffic,
draw chalk lines on the pavement when all the vehicles and bodies landed,
then resume traffic. This was all somewhat entertaining to the GI's.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis & Laila" <bwana@c2i2.com>
To: "Bob Berghult" <alpinebob@bellsouth.net>; "Fred Levit"
<fle426@northwestern.edu>; <alpines@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: roundabouts
> Yeah, and the runabouts are dangerous too! They added a runabout to Yuma
> recently. I guess some one thought it was a good idea. Lou
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Berghult" <alpinebob@bellsouth.net>
>
> > The last time I was in Tijuana, Mexico they had several of them. You
have
> > to take your life in your hands there.
> > Cheers,
> > Bob Berghult
> > Series IV 39 (mine)
> > Series II 30 (wife's)
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fred Levit" <fle426@northwestern.edu>
> > To: <alpines@autox.team.net>
> > Sent: December 24, 2002 6:29 PM
> > Subject: roundabouts
> >
> >
> > > Roundabouts are nothing new in the US. I remember them in the 1940s in
> New
> > > Jersey, where they were found on many of the major roads. They were
> called
> > > `traffic circles' then.
> > >
> > > Fred Levit
> > > Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
> > > fle426@northwestern.edu
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