Bike Forums - Roundabouts

Quote:

Originally Posted by 79pmooney (Post 21593470)

I used to ride a bunch of them in my commute into Boston many years ago. Boston traffic, so no, I never had to deal with a car stopping for me. Boston drivers don't do that. (Or at least didn't then.) The three o n my commute were at the bottoms of small hills in both directions so I could see everybody, pick my spot and enter going fast. I'd "park" myself on the bumper of a car knowing this was the one place n a Massachusetts roundabout that there wold be no other cars. I trusted that being on a fix gear, my reflexes would give me a few spare feet as soon as I saw that brake light come on. Yes, I was in my 20s, a bike racer and that was a little crazy but it worked very well. No close calls.

Ben

as a Euro, roundabouts are second nature to me. Here in the US, it gets a little trickier, because disturbing numbers of people appear to have no idea how they work. Here in Chapel Hill, your average driving test doesn’t even go through a roundabout, yet they’re becoming a common feature. Here’s a bit of Boston for you Ben: There’s a big roundabout (like, big enough that you could forget that you’re on a roundabout, but roundabout rules apply) immediately south of Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plain. AFAIK, its the single most “fender-bendered” location in the entire state of MA (and that’s saying something!), to the point that they considered removing it. I used to use it regularly in a car, and it was always a bit of a free-for-all, and I saw my share of fender-benders on it - I never had to cycle through it (thank god). I used to commute on a fixie from Brighton to the South End. I must’ve been mental.....😟