About Time for Roundabouts

I'm a big fan of roundabouts when they're constructed so that people are able to use them correctly without confusion.

My big problem with the two on Hazel Dell is that the lines are painted wrong -- if you followed those lines, you could potentially t-bone someone or get hit yourself. The lines are painted as if the north/south traffic is to continue in the same two-lane manner in which they entered the roundabout, but that's not how roundabouts work; the outer lane of the circle is supposed to be for traffic turning at the NEXT AVAILABLE TURNOFF, while the inner lane of the circle is for traffic continuing past at least the next turnoff. On Hazel Dell, because people in the inner lane are told by the lines to continue going north/south, there's a danger that traffic in the inner lanes could be hit by someone trying to go east/west because they're essentially turning right from the left lane.

I wish Carmel would fix that, and I'd like to see more roundabouts if done correctly.

I'll need to go back to those two roundabouts to see exactly what you're talking about. I completely agree that it's really important to design roundabouts properly to avoid problems. Here's an interesting snippet from a WTHR article:

"Carmel's own research shows that property damage from accidents at its intersections with signals is four times higher than at a roundabout where the biggest problem seems to be getting used to navigating the circle where drivers say they often see mostly minor accidents."

(http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4313335&nav=9Tai)

Don't forget Monument Circle!

I live in River Ridge Apts (96th and Gray), and that's another small roundabout, one where I cath a lot of people driving through without yielding or even looking left!!! Every week or so I have to honk at someone!

There's that little roundabout at 96th and Ditch, which is relatively new (it used to be a four-way stop). No doubt this roundabout will come in handy as Duke continues to build "Parkwood City" around 96th and Meridian.

I suspect the big problem the politicians have with roundabouts is that they would have to turn "right" in order to get off of them ... and that may explain why we've only had the one at monument circle in the past.

My favorite thing about the roundabouts is that they're MINI- and motorcycle-friendly. No traffic? Do another lap or two! :-)

A friend of mine test-drove a Mini this weekend and I went along for the ride. The salesperson took us to the roundabout near 103rd and Meridian and had my friend accelerate around it a couple of times -- it was fun. (And I was impressed with the Mini's handling, too.)

I simply enjoy the people who stop in the middle of a roundabout, thinking that they need to let in traffic that is waiting to enter. Clay Terrace, I'm looking at you!

There are roundabouts on Spring Mill and I question if drivers know how to use them...- especially at 116th & Spring Mill which can be a constant "brush with being t-boned."

Er, Steph, 103rd & Meridian? You mean Penn and 103rd? That's not a roundabout! :-) It's like an island with a stop sign on it. It's confusing with lousy visibility. That little stretch of Penn from College up to 103rd is standard fare with any MINI test drive, including the part where you do double-plus the speed limit. ;-)

I grew up in Upstate NY and we had a notorious roundabout in Johnson City. It was two lanes all the way around, and only serviced two intersecting roads. "is" not "was"; it's still there, I'm not. Anyway, it's also clearly marked, and much larger in diameter than the ones on Hazel Dell. But nobody could figure those out either.

http://tinyurl.com/lgc69

The way it was *supposed* to work was like this: If you're crossing the river headed towards the circle and wanting to head North on 201, you should start out in the left lane and change to the right as cars were pulling off to Floral Ave. If you're crossing the river and want to get off on Floral, you should be in the _right_ lane. Pretty simple you'd think, except that there was always a traffic jam in the right-hand lanes for people trying to go North on 201!

I think part of the problem with the circles in Carmel is that they're too small; 131st and Hazel Dell should be about 5 times larger, which I think would help make lane choice less of a gamble.

http://tinyurl.com/lnluy

Linking within comments shouldn't be so much work! I'm also giving up on any attempt at these fussy things called "paragraphs", as MT eats every friggin' tag I put in.

There's a true roundabout on 103rd on the west side of Meridian, in the office park there. Perhaps that's what she was talking about. (And that non-roundabout at Penn is just ridiculous; I've seen many near-accidents there...)

Blalor - I'm going to do a tinyurl for your links, because they're a bit too long. We don't allow HTML to be entered in comments because it screws up the site. You URLs will auto link, though.

Ah, right, Rachel, I'd forgotten about that one. The MINI test drive route's pretty set in stone, however; they don't usually go West of Meridian, unless you count the 1g pull up the ramp onto 465 Eastbound. :-)

Thanks for cleaning those up, Steph.

One of my favorite roundabouts is at 131st and River Road; it's nice and big, and not too heavily travelled. I can rarely resist doing a lap or two when going through it.

Hm. I think I might have just come up with a new lunchtime activity!

There is some sort of traffic circle at 30th and Pennsylvannia, I believe.

also 116th & Ditch Rd

When I lived in New England, I survived my passages through similar but generally larger traffic circles in Massachusetts, known there as rotaries. These are not for the faint-hearted! My point is that the aggressiveness of drivers can turn these seemingly helpful things into accident scenes. I hope the drivers in Indy handle these far less aggressively than New Englanders. Before these roundabouts proliferate any further, the local police should have a chance to gather and evaluate data on their accident rates vs. their previous rates.

Driving recently through the set of roundabouts on 116th St., I had the thought that maybe these were put in to guide alien spacecraft into Carmel.

yeargh...

there's a million

136th and ditch
136th and springmill
131st and springmill
126th and springmill
106th and springmill
103rd and springmill
126th and illinois
141st and ditch
141st and springmill
4th st and main

And now there's talk of installing them on Keystone. I can't imagine that; they would have to have 2 or 3 lanes in the round and would be just madness. Especially if they paint the lines wrong, as they've done on Hazel Dell!

They will taste a bit different from a chicken farm than when you buy
them at the store. Eating the right portion of whatever you eat and no just stuffing
your face will definitely help. Save yourself some frustration and invest time in developing a 3 month
to 6 month fitness program.