I am so with all of you on the traffic circle issues. They just put three of them on what used to be a very rural road. Most of the time, they work fine. But then you have a day like today, where the driver in front of me would enter the circle, and then slam on their brakes because someone was approaching the next point to enter the circle. And then they waited until the car got into the circle in front of them before moving again. After nearly being rear ended twice, by the third circle and the third stop, I just wanted to sit them down and explain why what they were doing was dangerous. They did put up yield signs where you enter the circle, but they don’t explain that you are supposed to yield to people already in the circle, not stop and wait for people to enter who aren’t even up to the circle yet.
As far as what to do on multi lane freeways, I always considered the far right to be for entry and exit, the far left to be for passing, and the lanes in between increase in speed as you move left (so the farther toward the left you are, the faster you are traveling). I am an obey the limit driver, so I drive in the second lane from the right unless I need to pass. If the freeway is only two lanes per side, I stay in the right lane. I have no interest in impeding anyone else’s speed. I have had to pass people occasionally though. Once I passed someone towing a high school parade float at 35mph down the Florida Turnpike where the speed limit is 70!
I also have a pet peeve about people turning right on red without stopping to see what traffic is doing. There are a couple intersections on my way home where people traveling south make a lot of legal u-turns to get unto businesses because there is no way to cross the median and access the business. People heading west who want to turn right don’t even apply their brakes, and go around the corner at the same time. I know I will see a bad accident one day because I have seen some very close calls. A part of my commute that passes through another county has signs at this type of intersection stating that right turn on red must yield to u-turns, and I don’t see so many close calls there.
I am not surprised that there are so many traffic issues here, since we get drivers from all over the world, who are used to different rules and regulations, and even cultural expectations. My sister and I used to be pretty good at guessing where people were from by how they drove, but it’s not always so easy to tell which cars are the tourist rentals these days. The locals will be the ones getting dressed, shaving or putting on makeup, and juggling a phone and a meal behind the wheel. I actually saw a woman putting on pantyhose at a red light one day. Don’t think I could do that if I tried.
. The zipper merge really works when traffic is already jammed up, very slow or stop and go. Think of it as each lane taking turns moving forward into the open lane at the closure so both lanes move at the same rate.
