Hacker News Reader

Comment by windward | Hacker News Reader

>They work perfectly fine.

I don't want to celebrate UK roads too much. The majority of roundabout users in the UK are not indicating properly. Too many people are stopping at them when they have priority. Lanes are just a suggestion and using the correct lane is an invitation for someone to drive into the left of you.

In other areas: enough people don't know how to use a slip road that it becomes a problem to those who do. Likewise the flashing ambers of a pelican crossing. Lane discipline is much worse than on the continent, to the point you can see it creating traffic jams. Lots of people are driving big cars without the confidence needed to remain in their own lane.

There are millions of drivers who've never passed a theory test. We could do with more ruthlessness.

View on HN

I feel like you're singling out UK drivers without much evidence here, I've driven lots across continental Europe, although mostly Spain<>France<>Germany<>Nordics, but in all countries people tend to not indicate properly, inside of roundabouts or outside of them. I'll admit to people in the Nordics being slightly better at signaling, but they make up by being so scared and non-confident in their driving that their hesitation causes near-accidents, rather than the opposite.

Still, all across the world the average driver seems to below what I imagined the average driver to be, before I started driving myself.

All of that is user error. The roads themselves might be in disrepair, but are otherwise well-designed.

It may be user error, but that doesn't mean roundabouts aren't a footgun. It only takes one driver who doesn't do everything correctly to cause problems. It's not much fun driving around in the correct lane, only for someone to pull alongside you to the left (equivalent of "right" in the US, of course!). I failed a driving test because someone cut across me on a roundabout.

"I failed a driving test because someone cut across me on a roundabout." That driver may have cut across you on that roundabout but that doesn't mean roundabouts are a footgun.

If a given tool tends to have a high amount of user error, odds are there's a problem with the tool

I mean, what you're trying to minimise is (frequency of misuse x consequences of misuse). signalised intersections target the frequency element, roundabouts target the consequences.

When comparing two interfaces and one allows a larger amount of user error that interface is inferior.

The point is roundabouts require more work to navigate correctly than a four way intersection with traffic lights. Thus drivers are more likely to navigate incorrectly.

> When comparing two interfaces and one allows a larger amount of user error that interface is inferior.

Seeing a safety issue and ignoring all other considerations is an excellent example of the ‘overarching theory and imposed order’ I argued that Britain rejects in my first comment.

I’d rather have more small non-injury accidents if it means fewer injury accidents

Yes, we're discussing how the users change the way traffic flows.

Not gonna lie, I know about the flashing ambers of the pelican crossing, but they are uncommon enough, whenever I see one, I spend several seconds wondering what is happening, until it clicks it's one of these crossings.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com