What’s the difference between a “roundabout”, a “traffic circle”, a “traffic island”, a “rotary” etc etc?
Answer: Nothing!
They are all designed to drive motorcyclists crazy! Scratch your head with your motorcycle gloves. First, you have to change direction twice to go straight ahead! Second, if you are turning left (US) you are forced to the right, before having to swing to the left. And third, you are forced to ride through off-camber parts of the road…designed to drain rainwater away. Speaking of rain…forget about them in the rain and/or quick changes of direction. Add a mixture of spilt diesel, gravel and a few painted lines, and you have a recipe for chaos!
It’s easy to see why town planners on your local council love them. They don’t cost anything to run. Eliminate the need for traffic lights. Put a garden in the middle with a bit of furniture around it and a palm tree. Great! Then you can’t see what’s coming! Besides that, pedestrians seem to think that roundabouts are a free-for-all to cross anywhere and sit in to watch the traffic go by. And motorists seem to like to straddle both lanes (if multi-laned) because they are too busy looking at the ornamental grass in the middle. And truckies towing a trailer will generally take up all lines to get a turning circle and wipe out most of the hedging, as well as you along the way.
The US is adopting the British style of modern roundabouts by introducing the mandatory “Give Way” rule for vehicles entering. Even Chevy Chase would find it easy. Remember him, in the movie European Vacation getting stuck in the middle of a roundabout, in London until after dark.
Anyway, think of it this way…the constant radius corners are excellent for leaning, keeping your line, getting your knee down and twisting your motorcycle gloves out of these chicanes!
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