Is it true there are no roundabouts, in the USA, just traffic lights?

Question

Can someone confirm this

Answer 1

No, not true. There are some in almost every state.  We call them traffic circles. They aren't as common as they are in the UK and sometimes they don't work out that well in the US, depending on location and crazy drivers.

Washington DC has a lot.

Answer 2

never seen one myself

Answer 3

If there were plenty of roundabouts in america they would think they were donuts and eat them,

Answer 4

It sure is they just have traffic lights and give ways

Answer 5

No there are roundabouts in the US.  I live in the USA and there are a few.  Not very many though.

Answer 6

Actually, when they redo intersections they are going more and more to the roundabouts.  They just put 2 in a town near me, and I understand more are on the way...

Answer 7

richard  has said it perfectly.

Answer 8

Probably, I don't recall ever having seen any in the USA.

Answer 9

There are a few in places like Boston, which is like a foreign country anyway. The problem I saw with them when I was there in '59 & '60 was that the law said the vehicle "IN" the rotary had the right of way but the State Vehicle Commissioner decided that the vehicle "Entering" should have the right of way. He made a verbal change to the law, which he was allowed to do, and no cop in the area would say who was in the wrong when an accident occured between someone entering and someone already in. Besides, they are an antiquated traffic control device. There are much better methods in this modern day and age.

Answer 10

here its a rotary or a traffic circle and there are plenty of them

person on the rotary has the right of way and they are driven counter clockwise

Answer 11

Actually, in Michigan, for whatever reason, roundabout (not traffic circles, there is a difference) are making a strong emergence.

Our county (Livingston County) has 8 that I can think of with 28 more slated for installation in the next 5 years. About 1 1/2 year ago, they just opened a dual roundabout (two roundabouts right next to each other) and that's a really interesting setup.

Statewide, I know that there are a bunch on the Michigan State University campus, and some are springing up in Ann Arbor, and the suburbs of Detroit.

As for the rest of the country, I've encountered some in New England (Massachusettes, Connecticut) and one or two in Colorado. But that's about it.

Answer 12

When I went there it was true, but then again New York is not a good representation of the rest of the worlc

Answer 13

no i live in MA we have lots of them

Answer 14

i just saw two this weekend, one in Cali and one in Nevada.

Answer 15

Look at this really rivetting website for views of roundabouts in the USA

Answer 16

There are a couple in Houston Texas...one is on Fannin....

Answer 17

There are some around, but for the most part, we use traffic lights.

Answer 18

Roundabouts are quite rare in the US, but they do exist, especially in older areas.  Any area developed after 1960 or so will not have them.

Answer 19

there are some round abouts in the town i live in ..

but they are few and far between..

i hate them here in California..

the ones here were installed to slow traffic down

Answer 20

in nj they have what is called jug-handles which is like roundabouts

Answer 21

There ARE some in the USA. There is a very well known one in Long Beach, California, and another in downtown Orange, California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Long_...

Answer 22

what is a roundabout?

Answer 23

yes, check google earth, or google maps

Answer 24

There are roundabouts in the U.S. It is not that popular like it is in some other countries.

I remember when they built one in my city a year ago. You could see a lot of drivers get to the roundabout and so confused and didn't know what to do. GO AROUND DUDE!!!

Answer 25

Yes there are some, but they are very very few.

Answer 26

I have seen many in California, they are largely at newer intersections or at intersections that have been redone.  However, there is one I know of in Berkeley, at the intersection of 5-6 streets in the Berkeley Hills, with a large Bear fountain in the center, that I think was the original intersection built decades ago...

Answer 27

Generally no. There are one or two "rotary junctions". I found just one in  2000 miles

Answer 28

excellent question i might google that .

Answer 29

I've been twice & not seen any roundabouts. Instead they have different coloured filter arrows at traffic lights.

Answer 30

No it's not true.  There a several roundabouts where I live in central Indiana.  And there are some of them in Hilton Head, SC...

Answer 31

now u mention it i don't belive av seen a round about on any american tv programme so it probably is true