An intersection with a roundabout that you only use if there are other cars present. If you are the only car at the intersection, you drive straight through because the central island has a cross shaped continuation of the converging roads in the middle.
I'm putting this up more fully expecting to take it down because there's absolutely now way this painfully obvious idea hasn't been thought of.
I guess the only drawback is that it would require some judgement. You could put up markers around the perimeter where any cars therein would need to use the roundabout portion rather than the straight through. Of course looking for other cars and judging how you're going to go through an intersection is pretty standard practice when driving.
Anyway, sure it's been done, just haven't seen it. Any posts of pics of this will result in this promptly being taken down with apologies for wasting your time.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 22 2016 The 3D version Sky_20Roundabout [FlyingToaster, Aug 22 2016] Roundabout with a road through the middle http://photos.wikim...00/83/04/65_big.jpgA quick Google found this [neutrinos_shadow, Aug 22 2016] Flyover instead of straight through http://www.roadtroo...-Alicante-Spain.jpgThere are some weird roundabouts about... [neutrinos_shadow, Aug 22 2016] I'm not sure... http://i.imgur.com/3VuhzAd.pngWhat the hell is going on here...? [neutrinos_shadow, Aug 22 2016] halfway there... http://archive.isgt...ges/2010/gate_L.jpg [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 23 2016] Swindon's Magical Roundabout https://en.wikipedi...oundabout_(Swindon)Almost diametrically opposite to the stated idea. [zen_tom, Aug 24 2016] seems I got beaten to it,magic roundabout aerial photo http://cosmouk.cdnd...ndabout-swindon.jpg [not_morrison_rm, Aug 24 2016] Worst Junctions http://news.bbc.co....nd_west/8382506.stm [bs0u0155, Aug 24 2016] Some roundabouts in the UK are like this, to an extent. I know of some where you can cut straight through the roundabout in one direction (like Celtic cross but without the cross-arm). If I remember correctly, they are usually large roundabouts which have traffic light control anyway.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 22 2016 Do they have any without a traffic light? The idea would be to keep it simple and cheap.
So it's basically a regular crossroads unless another car is approaching the intersection, in which case it becomes a roundabout. No lights necessary.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 22 2016 Not sure, but I suspect not. The flaw lies in //it would require some judgement//. And if the roundabout is small enough that simple and cheap is an option, perhaps you don't need this.
On the other hand, there are lots of roundabouts where you can "cut the corner". Translating it for right-hand-driving countries, if you want to take the right-hand exit, there's often a filter lane that takes you into it without joining the roundabout.
And in Malaysia (where, incidentally, they drive on the left), when you encounter a roundabout or traffic lights you can do whatever the fuck you please.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 22 2016 Well, roundabouts do have some advantage over stop signs in that you just keep moving and save a little gas and time. These require a little bit of skill and judgement to merge with the traffic already in the roundabout.
We have a street in Palo Alto where somebody decided it would be quite continental to put roundabouts on every intersection. It's like a little trip to Europe every time I tediously drive around 4 of these stupid things in a row with no other cars anywhere in sight.
My first solution was a raised 4 wheel drive vehicle you could just drove over the stupid island with. The addition of heavy bumpers would make short work of any signage that may be in the way as well, but the cross through thing is probably more realistic.-- doctorremulac3, Aug 22 2016 When I first moved to where I live, there was an intersection in the region that, if memory serves, was the type described in this Idea. However, more than a decade ago they rebuilt the intersection and removed the circle, leaving only the cross. I haven't been able to find any pictures of its "before" status, so cannot confirm my memory.
Because they did rebuild the intersection, I might conclude that this Idea isn't so great, after all....-- Vernon, Aug 23 2016 The ideal format is the combined overpass/underpass/roundabout. Through traffic goes straight on. Only traffic wishing to change direction goes onto the roundabout portion.
// My first solution was a raised 4 wheel drive vehicle you could just drove over the stupid island with. //
Series III Land Rovers are ideal for this, easily demolishing shrubs, signage, pedestrians and low walls without ill effects (to the Land Rover). But in these days of ubiquitous CCTV it's harder to get away with.-- 8th of 7, Aug 23 2016 I think the idea adds unnecessary complexity. Even a tiny addition, for example aircraft ejector seats having two handles, promotes mistakes. On the other hand, roundabouts can function perfectly well while only existing symbolically. A mini roundabout is just a bit of paint, works nicely. If it isn't busy, drive straight over the little chap, you can do a token left-right* flick if it makes you feel a bit better.
*adjust for country-- bs0u0155, Aug 23 2016 // adjust for country //
One finger in the USA, two in the UK ....-- 8th of 7, Aug 23 2016 Looking at the second link the one road through the roundabout with five converging roads, that particular configuration looks like an incredibly bad idea. This idea would only work with two roads. Might that particular road might be for emergency vehicles that have sirens blasting only?-- doctorremulac3, Aug 23 2016 What you might find more sensible would be to place within the main roundabout a constellation of 5 smaller roundabouts in a radial pattern, each of which can be traversed to get to its neighbours thusly facilitating both clockwise and counterclockwise travel simultaneously - as well as more complex pathways for the indecisive, thrill-seeking, or criminally insane.-- zen_tom, Aug 24 2016 //within the main roundabout a constellation of 5 smaller roundabouts
Swindon's Magic Roundabout comes to mind...5 roundabouts grouped about one roundabout...see photo on link-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 24 2016 RE //seems I got beaten to it,magic roundabout aerial photo// link:
You've... got... to... be... kidding...-- doctorremulac3, Aug 24 2016 ^ One imagines a contest of some sort. Also that Swindon is officially a "do not bomb, strafe or even fly over" area on foreign powers' nav charts, with a pencilled-in "Eye of Sauron" label.
I once attended an outdoors Grateful Dead concert, at which intermission thousands of space cadets milled madly about a crowd-defined large oval; some hoping to find bathrooms or refreshment, some their seats, but most it seemed were staggering about because they were staggering about.
This puts that to shame.-- FlyingToaster, Aug 24 2016 oh good lord, and it was voted _4th_ worst intersection : what do the others involve: minefields, unmarked sinkholes and bungee jumps ?
Pure evil, I stand in awe.-- FlyingToaster, Aug 24 2016 The worst junctions <link>. It seems people think highway speeds combined with complexity make it scarier. I drove through the M8 recently. It's stupid. Whoever decided to have people joining a motorway on the wrong (fast) side needs shooting. Although here in Philadelphia, joining in the fast lane is one of the least crap features of the Schuylkill expressway.-- bs0u0155, Aug 24 2016 Wilkes-Barre. Haven't made it through at one go yet. People keep messing with the signs (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).-- FlyingToaster, Aug 24 2016 // joining in the fast lane //
... at a breath-snatching 55 MPH .... yeah, right.
Nowhere in North America gets close to "really scary" because it all happens in slo-mo. To qualify, it's got to be "Use the Force, Luke" time. Crowded, confusing, and very, very fast. The North Circular can be like that sometimes, but for consistent sphincter-relaxing terror the Northbound M6 through Birmingham at twilight on a rainy Friday in November is hard to top - fast, packed with big vehicles, lots of blinding spray, but above all No Place To Escape.
For the adventurous, the access from the A500 to the M6 Northbound at junction 15 always has a certain frisson, as the slip road closes down from two lanes to one in a diving left-hand spiral that would shake off a determined Bf109, forcing a disconcerting loss of speed just when it's most needed to merge with the phalanx of trucks thundering down the long hill from the South.-- 8th of 7, Aug 24 2016 //You've... got... to... be... kidding...
Nahhh...that's just like sudoku for drivers. English driving tends to vary from 85mph - the police can't be arsed to flag you down at that speed on the motorway - to 11mph average speed in London.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 25 2016 Cheap amusement:
1. Get an American who's never driven outside the USA before..
2. Put him in a moderately high spec car.
3. Send him from Liverpool to Leeds over the M62 on a Monday morning in winter.
4. Take the shredded, gibbering, twitching remains to the pub and feed him beer until he's coherent.
5. Get him to relate his experience. Laugh long and loud*.
*It is unnecessary to explain that you're laughing at them, not with them. Observational evidence tends to indicate that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder will cause them to blank all memories related to the incident from their mind.-- 8th of 7, Aug 25 2016 random, halfbakery