I seem to recall that France had this system on their roundabouts for a while. It was in the 70's. I remember as a child visiting France with my parents and vividly remember these strange roundabout where the yield lines were actually in the roundabout itself.

A quick search shows that France only adopted the "yield-at-entry" rule in 1983.

 

Yield-at-entry does run counter to the normal rule that when all else is equal, the person on the right has the right of way (in "drive on the right" countries"). But I've never seen a roundabout where that was not the rule.

Then again, I was not in France prior to 1983, either.

 

No kidding? Oh, wait. Jerry reminded me of the one on the way to Laguna Beach. It's out in the middle of vacant land and it's always had light traffic on it when we've been there. It's the only one I've seen in Cali.

 

Just saw this one. NJ has removed many of the our traffic circles and that overall has been good. I really like the circles, but sometime in the 80s people stopped learning how to drive on them, and then it became a free-for-all. I driven them in the UK, where everyone knows how to drive them, and they really do a good job of keeping traffic moving. I have a small "double circle" (two connected, not concentric) and the state has destroyed flow with yield signs. You have to know when to be on the inside lane or the outside lane and the folks on the circle have the right of way. When you follow those rules they're great, otherwise, it's just "Keep your foot off of the brake pedal"

 

I hate these things. When I lived in France in 1985, the roundabouts outside of the towns -- on highways - were "yield at entry", but in the towns and villages, "priorite a droite" still ruled and that resulted in the opposite.

In SC they are getting popular. When I was in Hilton Head last week, I recalled what a mess these make, especially when negotiated by a bunch of out-of-stage seniors . It is a free-for-all.

 

I do remember one particular Roundabout during the Tour De France.
one of the rider found one of the signs.

wasn't very pretty.

 

I think we need some round-about photos

When we visited my nephew in July in Ballston Spa, NY...they had just completed a bunch of 'em....just east of I-87....planning for future hi-tech industrial parks and housing areas.

I guess they're the latest big thing for growing areas. Although they are intimidating to the timid driver, I'll bet they are popular b/c of avoiding the municipal cost of 6-8-10 traffic $ignal$ at each intersection! The circles only one-time cost is more paving and (maybe) some landscaping in the center island. NO ongoing energy or maintenance costs for those red lights....burning juice 24 hours per day

^^ Maybe I've hit on the REAL reason that more and more of us are going around in circles

 

I know that it takes a long time to get a drivers license in Germany, and is also expensive

OTOH, in our most recent driving trip (2006?) in Germany and Holland, I DID notice a few folks hogging the left lane and/or passing on the right Probably some American tourists forcing them to take drastic action

 

We are having more and more of them pop up here. No one really knows how to drive them because we were not brought up with them. They are also not mentioned on the ID driver test so no one has taken the time to find out the rules regarding them.

 

Another method to slow drivers down here is curbs curved out at intersections on local streets. In effect, narrowing the road. I've seen quite a few with black marks on them, though. Do any of you have these in your area?