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Comment by anotherevan | Hacker News Reader

The driving parable reminded me of my one and only time driving in the USA. The thing that absolutely did my head in was the intersections with four-way stop signs. There was no clear indication of who had right of way which I would have thought would cause a lot of collisions. It just seemed like the biggest bully goes first.

Give me roundabouts any day.

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It's first come, first served, so you have to note who is already there when you pull up. If two cars arrive at the same time, you yield to the car on your right. Most of the time it works fairly well. If a car goes out of turn because they weren't paying attention, it's usually just a minor annoyance.

I agree, roundabouts are better.

The rule for four-way stops is simple: Right-of-way is established in order of arrival at the intersection. First to arrive at the stop sign can go first, followed by the second, etc.

Not everybody follows the rule, and technically they're breaking traffic laws by doing so.

And you're right. I prefer roundabouts too, they're objectively safer. Massachusetts has a fair few roundabouts, but other parts of the country seem to abhor them.

There are other rules. Always yield to pedestrians. Two cars can sometimes go at the same time if they're not on a collision course. If pedestrians are blocking the person whose turn it is, you can go instead. Order is based on arrival time, unless there's a lot of cars then it's yield to the right if you're unsure.

These rules combine in such a way that it's genuinely unclear who should go in some situations - the above rules might contradict, or you might need information you don't have cause you got there after something broke "the order". But if you think it's your turn and start to go, people will let you, and ultimately no one gets stuck forever.

not in Illinois: here, after whoever arrived first goes, the right of way goes to whoever is to their right (or, next, going counter clockwise), regardless when they arrived (as long as they arrived before the first car went)

Most people dont know how to drive in roundabouts even in cities where they are plentiful. I like how it is most of Europe; always yield to the right in the absence of signs that say otherwise (priority sign or traffic lights)

I'll agree roundabouts are tricky if you are not use to them. And those giant ones in Europe look insane. When teaching my kids to drive it was one of the trickier skills they had to master - being able to read the traffic and know when they can go.

Still beats those four-way stop signs though! :-)

Roundabouts are superior to traffic lights but take more space. In low traffic areas, four way stops are best as they take less room than roundabouts.

Actually I think traffic lights are better for very busy and/or very large intersections. But roundabouts are superior to four way stop sign intersections in every way. They don't even need to be all that large.

If you web search for roundabouts, you'll notice that they're safer,

eg around 90% reduction in injury crashes is mentioned.

One website:

https://iowadot.gov/traffic/roundabouts/BENEFITS-OF-GOING-IN...

> take more space.

You'd be surprised how compact you can get a workable roundabout[0]. The brits have taken this to the extreme in some places,[1] Though I don't know effective a bit of paint is in actually making people treat it as a roundabout.

[0] https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/traffic-circle-roundabo... [1] https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/traffic-circle-roundabo...

There are a few roundabouts near my house in the Chicago Suburbs. There are stop signs at all the entrances.

Facepalm.

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