Originally Posted by oledoc2u
I have 30 yrs in law enforcement, 11 yrs as a city councilman, 12 yrs as a city planner...and a great friend, a civil engineer. We had to take this problem on when growth went crazy around here....he brought up roundabouts, and I laughed. I told him I would be working accident after accident....well, the community to the south of us, heeded the engineers advice, and roundabouts started replacing intersection after intersection, and I was wrong...traffic moves, not really that many accidents after everyone got used to them...so they are the norm around the north side of Indy now.
As for the red light cameras....I don't really care for them, but larger cities, who break down their enforcement to divisions, well, they have officers who just work traffic..., officers who just work investigations of certain crime...I can see why they go to this method...they can't be everywhere...but, for some reason, to me, they just don't seem right...regardless of the technology...
As long as people use courtesy and and a pinch of good sense, roundabouts are great. They keep things moving and at the very least. They minimize damage and injuries when an accident does occur. Here in Kansas we even have them on highways. A few of them are pretty tight for a big truck like ours. But I like the challenge of getting around it without touching the inner truck easement. I'll bet the death rate at these highway intersections will drop to near zero. The Brits got it right here.