Four bendy buses managed to enter a roundabout at the exact same time from four different directions in Oslo yesterday afternoon and get properly stuck, each bus blocking the exit for the one behind it. #BigBusStuck

@eivind

Circle three wagons! We’re under attack!

@eivind the true first-world problem

@eivind it happened AGAIN?

@eivind @minmi what a mess!

@trochee @eivind the American mind cannot comprehend having this many buses on the road at once

@eivind @krismicinski that's amazing, you can see all of them holding a fork on their left

@aburka @trochee @eivind the American mind can’t even comprehend a roundabout

@kasdeya @trochee @eivind we have em in a couple of states

@aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind That doesn't mean we can comprehend them, only that we have them.

@drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind true

@drwho @aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind being from a state that has plenty of them: can confirm – unfathomable to the average US driver

@kasdeya @trochee @eivind @aburka Canadians call ‘em “rotaries”, a thing they fear. But Canberra (Oz) is Roundabout Central, and on Canada’s 104 Hwy I sailed through one where a hwy cop was timidly crawling through.

@aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind Honhonhon.

@aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

Before about the 80's we (Netherlands) used to have some roundabouts where all incoming traffic from the right, has the right of way. Which is a stupid system.

We then adopted the UK's system, where traffic on (or leaving) the roundabout has the right of way.

Eureka.

Some clever dude once pointed out to me: the roundabout automatically clears itself.

Does that help?

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind I would note, that not all "roundabouts" in NL use this new system. (Looking at you Keizer Karel plein in Nijmegen)

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind Oh, did that system originate in the UK?
In the early 80s, FR switched all roundabouts to this better system. BE followed a decade later.

@CommCody939 Call your local MP! Mail the mayor!

@aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

@geert Once in the early 90's, a cab¹ driver in the Edinburgh region bemoaned to me a roundabout with traffic lights. An abomination, mister!

Proper roundabouts don't need traffic lights, you see.

@aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind The roundabout under E313 near Park & Ride Wommelgem also has traffic lights.

@RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind when traffic levels get too high or downstream bottlenecks queue onto the roundabout, or flows are just too unbalanced to allow reasonable entry flow, roundabouts stop working efficiently. Signals can help, but it's just managing congestion at that point.

@eivind
This brings to mind a hilarious article from the hard times.

https://thehardtimes.net/culture/entire-town-killed-after-installation-of-roundabout/

@DavBot haha, they *do* feel dangerous in the US where each individual has their own idea about how to navigate this newfangled traffic obstacle.

@DavBot @eivind

> "[…] and we all know how hard it is for boomers to adapt to new practices and traffic laws. Especially when those practices slightly inconvenience them despite benefitting everyone else."

Spotted the Millennial 😂

@drwho @aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind *hits the left turn signal*

@geert We still have several too. With 6 lanes and traffic lights on the roundabout. It induces antisocial driving in small dick energy types who are afraid to miss their lane.

@aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

@geert @RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind The modern roundabout (which utilizes exit-priority) was created in England, yes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Blackmore

He also created the mini-roundabout, which is the one which lacks an impassable center. It’s just paint or bumps which allow a significantly smaller footprint but can still accommodate large vehicles.

Any older rotaries or traffic circles use lights or entry-priority.

@kasdeya

@trochee @eivind @aburka We actually are starting to use roudabouts all over and even in some stupid spots.

@kasdeya There are thousands of rotaries in the US. But thanks for parroting an ancient trope that was never clever to begin with.

@rowan Any actual 'average' of Americans probably doesn't match any given SINGLE American, due to enormous diversity, including in mindset. Where I am in the US, even most stupid people manage these just fine.

Interesting. Here in Germany, we have both:

• Roundabouts (marked by a roundabout sign) are subject to the “incoming traffic must yield” rule.
• Circular intersections (which lack a roundabout sign) are usually subject to “right before left” which means that incoming traffic has right of way.

The latter version, however, is very rare.

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

@guigsy @RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind signals are only required because eventually on congested roundabouts drivers will inevitably be selfish, enter when they can't leave and block circulating traffic, slowing it for everyone else.

@Pionir @RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind If there's queuing back through a roundabout, then it doesn't really matter how polite drivers are. If I'm going for the third exit and there's a gap right now, several cars could have added to that queue by the time I get there and I'll end up stopped on the roundabout. If I let cars out, at what point does the car that wants to take the first exit push their way out? They get a turn too, right?

@kasdeya @trochee @eivind @aburka We have a ton of roundabouts near me in the Southern U.S.. They've exploded in popularity, but are terrible for areas with a lot of extra long vehicles, especially trucks.

@guigsy @RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind I hate when there are two roundabouts in short succession.

@kasdeya We can, but they're usually parked at a hub stop for 45+ minutes a time when they do.

@trochee @eivind @aburka

@kasdeya Depends regionally. Along highways like Route 66 or the Lincoln Highway that predate rural electrification, you can find the historically nasty intersections the highway turned in because a roundabout was deployed a hundred years ago. And on Route 66, some of the slower signalized intersections have been converted more recently because it beats being on flashing red for a week after a thunderstorm.

@trochee @eivind @aburka

@rowan @kasdeya @trochee @eivind @aburka @drwho

being from a state that has plenty of them: can confirm

A couple of times a year for work, I have to travel to another city in another state, that for some odd reason, is loaded with roundabouts (the locals explain it as The State DOT works with a local University to experiment on the entire city, but sounds like Tinfoil Hats to me)

I can handle them, but every time I’m behind another out-of-state plate, it’s a 50/50 chance they’ll stop IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROUNDABOUT. Honking only makes them freeze in fear or worse (I’ve seen people freak out and plow over the landscaping in the middle with their giant SUVs in an attempt to escape. Also terrifying is them TRYING TO REVERSE OUT OF IT) so the best thing it just to let them figure it out, agonizing second-by-second.

@RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind in America we have roundabouts with stop SIGNS. You *always* have to stop. Infuriating

@kimlockhartga
You can design them to allow extra-long vehicles to drive over parts of the middle circle, using “truck aprons”. Basically beveled edges instead of straight curb stones. That helps a bit.
@kasdeya @trochee @eivind @aburka

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

Took the French a while to admit that system was better (very difficult to use a UK idea...) But they still can have traffic lights on the exit!

@Pionir @guigsy @RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind
Signals on roundabouts can also be used to make the junction pedestrian & cyclist friendly - otherwise they can be very hostile to vulnerable road users

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind
Same in 🇺🇾

@drwho @aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind here they put a round about in the shopping center. People had to learn how to use them to get to Target or kohls.

@MikeFromLFE @Pionir @guigsy @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind

We have these bicycle-friendly roundabouts where cyclists on the outer ring in both directions have the right of way.

Do make eye contact with anyone who might cross your path.

@Flo_Rian @kasdeya @trochee @eivind @aburka that sounds like good design.

@RolfBly @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind in NZ and Australia we both still have the same rule except on the left to match our roads.

When my dad taught me about roundabouts as a boy my first question was “what happens if a car wants to go at all four points at the same time?” He told me it rarely happens.

As an adult driving I experience it at least once a month, and the answer is someone has to break the law to ease the deadlock.

@LastContinue @kasdeya @rowan @trochee @eivind @aburka There's a roundabout in a shopping plaza I used to go to back home which has stop signs in the middle of each quarter of the roundabout. Nobody actually knows why they did something so dumb but they did, and it's a complete clusterfuck.

@drwho @aburka @kasdeya @trochee @eivind I thought they were to test the suspension on my truck. I did t realize you drove around them.

@eivind @leyrer Do you know if the buses are electric, or what the orange links atop the bendy part are?

@thegcat Think most of the buses are electric now. If this is the Solaris Urbino 18, which is the latest model they've purchased, the orange part over the accordion may perhaps connect the batteries on each side of it? @leyrer

@thegcat Since this isn't the US, I presume they're not stupid enough to use a battery bus on a fixed line service, and there are no trolley wires, so I'd say the odds of them being electric are next to non-existent.

@eivind @leyrer

@eivind @thegcat @leyrer It looks like it!

@eivind @leyrer Yes, I had expected it to be some sort of electric connection between front and back. Wikipedia doesn't know Oslo got those though ;-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_Urbino_18_electric

@eivind @leyrer the virtual tour for the Urbino 18 electric on https://www.solarisbus.com/en/vehicles/zero-emissions/urbino-electric has some nice top views, they do look like high power electric cables indeed.

@binford2k @RolfBly @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind
Those are often former four-way intersections that were converted to roundabouts/rotaries to reduce collisions.

Unfortunately, these retrofits mean that the traffic enters and exits at a right angle, not a tangent to the circle, so you have to come to a complete stop before entering, because it's near impossible to match the speed of the traffic already in the circle when you have to turn 90°.

@RealGene That's a feature. You never have to wait very long, because the roundabout automatically clears itself.

Unless of course traffic is too often too dense for a roundabout.

@binford2k @geert @aburka @drwho @kasdeya @trochee @eivind