Dangerous Bicycle Scenario

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I just ran into (almost literally) a very dangerous bicycle scenario in Davis Square this evening.

I was parked at the (somerville provided) bike parking space between Dover and Day St on Holland/Elm St. I got onto Holland/Elm St and rode southeast through the square right in front of a car on Day St with a green light. The problem is that from my vantage point, I have no stop light or stop sign (they are all behind me where Holland crosses Dover) and from this vantage point, Day St intersecting with Elm St is a completely separate intersection from Holland St intersecting with Dover St. But the traffic signals treat it as one intersection. Without knowing all the details of this intersection (which I should, I just have never dealt with this scenario before), I have no reason to think that I should be concerned about traffic coming from Day St. There really needs to be an additional Holland street light at the corner of Day St.

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

Remember, roundabouts are different from rotaries. We have very few roundabouts in New England.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Do please enlighten us. Citations would be helpful.

[turil.livejournal.com]

A quick bit of Googling brought me to the enthusiastic little site RoundaboutsUSA (http://www.roundaboutsusa.com/history.html), and the following brief explanation:

A modern roundabout has three major characteristics compared to its predecessors, traffic circles and rotaries. First, the roundabout gives vehicles in the circular travel way the right-of-way. This change on a national basis in England in 1963 marked the start of the modern roundabout era. Second, roundabouts are small, generally from 70 to 160 feet in diameter compared to 300 to 400 feet and more for traffic circles and rotaries. Third, roundabouts have a raised entry "splitter" island that slows down or constrains speed just before entry, duplicating in a way the curvature the driver will experience within the roundabout itself.

There is some confusion in many places, including Wikipedia, and many people do think that rotaries, traffic circles, and roundabouts are the same thing. Ultimately it's not so much what you call it, but how safe, understandable, and practical it is.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia draws a distinction between roundabouts/rotaries and traffic circles. It also acknowledges that "rotary" is the term that's used universally for roundabouts in Massachusetts. As someone who's been rammed twice by people who believed that traffic entering the rotary had the right of way over traffic already travelling in there, I'm entirely unconvinced that they're safe and understandable for a fair number of drivers. Both of these rotaries, incidentally, had all of the characteristics noted for a "modern roundabout" and the laws governing them clearly indicate a yield upon entering.

On the practicality side, how would you propose to create a "modern roundabout" in Davis?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia article has it a little wrong, in that a rotary differs from a roundabout in both the angle of approach as well as the size. The thing in Powderhouse Square is sort of a weird combination of roundabout, rotary, and traffic circle.

Oh, and I don't think a roundabout would be all that great in Davis, as they don't really work well for pedestrians, unless you really have a good design. I don't know about Hans Mondrian's version, it might be good for Davis or it might not. I'd rather see a pedestrianized zone, with "psychological traffic calming" insead of traffic signals and signs.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Heh. Monderman. Not Mandrian. Heh.

"psychological traffic calming"

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

Large metal plates embedded in the pavements randomly deliver jolts of electricity to insufficiently-calmed drivers....

Re: "psychological traffic calming"

[turil.livejournal.com]

Hehehe!

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

Can the girls talking on their cellphones that sail onto the rotary almost every morning please take note:

Traffic entering the rotary has to YEILD to traffic already in the rotary