Having lived most of my 50 years in the USA and having just completed
my first year in another country (Ecuador, which does have
roundabouts), I think I am beginning to understand why. Note that I'm
not trying to defend what it is to be American, let alone its
consequences as played out on the world stage, but just would like to
give a bit of insight into our collective psyche. Nothing scientific,
mind you, but I have tried to analyze why I initially didn't like
roundabouts, even though I am starting to warm up to them. In the
process, I think I have learned a great deal about what it is to be an
American.
Despite paying lipservice to eschewing the government imposing rules
on us, we Americans are amazingly legalistic (no wonder we have so
many lawyers per capita). So, we demand that our individual rights be
honored, right down to not having to negotiate with someone else for
something as simple as a spot in traffic lane. As a society, we agree
to "take turns" through things like traffic lights: I am fine with
yielding when it is someone else's turn, as long as it is understood
that when it is *my* turn, nobody else had better get in my way. None
of this touchy-feely negotion crap involved with something as simple
as crossing an intersection, just give me the green light and get the
hell out of my way (strident sounding language, but I think it does
capture some of the emotional undercurrent of American culture). In a
traffic circle (roundabout), you have to actually communicate with
other drivers by looking them in the eye to see if they are going to
let you change lanes. No wonder Chevy Chase got to look at the Arc de
Triumphe in Paris with his family all day long from a traffic circle
in "European Vacation."
I think this may also shed some light on why we Americans don't much
like soccer (as an American, I can't quite bring myself to refer to it
as "football" :-) To those of us who don't watch soccer very much, it
never is clear who is in control of the ball. Give us good old
American Football, where one side has absolute possession of the ball
as long as they can keep it. They have four tries to score or capture
territory (very warlike game, it is), and if not, then it is
unambiguously the other team's ball.
;; Gary
On Jul 18, 2009, at 11:17 AM, Robert Holmes wrote:
So why don't they use roundabouts over here more frequently? In the
UK they prove to be much safer and have a higher throughput than
traffic light controlled junctions.
-- Robert
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