Originally Posted by
cthenn
All I know is that I HATE HATE HATE roundabouts. They are deathtraps for cyclists. The one from article I assume is at Olympic and Pleasant Hill Rd, which I go through several times a week. It is absolutely scary going westbound on Olympic and seeing cars absolutely SCREAMING down Pleasant Hill Rd. They do not stop no matter what, and I've had multiple instances where I had to stop in the roundabout to "let" other traffic fly into the circle. Death to all roundabouts, they are the worst thing to happen to cyclists since the cell phone.
I think the problem is the unfamiliarity of CA drivers with roundabouts. Roundabouts are everywhere in Europe (watch any bike race that comes into a major European city), and they don't represent any greater danger to cyclists.
As cyclists, it is better for us that motor vehicle traffic flows steadily, rather than stop-start, and roundabouts help with that.
I saw an article about bicycle safety wrt roundabouts, and IIRC, the traffic volume at the junction has a major bearing on how safe the junction is for bikes.
We just had a 3-roundabout interchange built at the downtown off-ramp from Hwy 19 here, and I thought it would be a disaster when I saw the plans, but it's actually worked out ok so far. With the obvious exception of people who just don't know how to use roundabouts.