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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!umcp-cs!mangoe
From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Traffic Circles
Message-ID: <977@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 10-Nov-84 21:33:16 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.977
Posted: Sat Nov 10 21:33:16 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Nov-84 22:09:16 EST
References: <2381@tekig.UUCP>
Reply-To: mangoe@maryland.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 28


In article <2381@tekig.UUCP> jm@tekig.UUCP (Jeff Mizener) writes:

>I believe in traffic circles.  They are a great alternative to traffic
>lights.  The only problem being that they require more intellegence to
>use than a traffic light.  For this reason their applications will be
>limited.

Being a lifetime D.C. area resident, I have to disagree.  The only thing
around here that causes more traffic accidents then traffic circles are
people who fail to signal when changing lanes on the Beltway (New Yorkers,
are you listening?).  The problem is that when you have as much traffic as
we do, you have to have traffic lights to regulate the flow of traffic
into the circle.  It only takes one goon taking the right-of-way illegally
to bottle the whole thing up.  Traffic lights and circles do not work well
together, especially with regard to synchronization.  We also have a lot of
circles around here with MANY roads meeting at once (Dupont Circle has
14 different approaches and is universally recognized as the most dangerous
place in D.C. to drive a car).

I personally would rather see a well-synchronized system of traffic lights.
D.C. for years had a number of corridors which allowed rapid travel through
the city unimpeded by red lights; Virginia and Maryland are both grossly
difficient in this regard.  Route 7 in Virginia is awful to have to drive
on, because you are almost guaranteed to stop at every light-- and there
are many.

Charley Wingate   umcp-cs!mangoe