What is the purpose of roundabouts (traffic circles)?
Roundabouts really serve two main functions. The first is as a traffic calming device. Because the straight length of the road (in all directions) is broken by a curve, it forces you to slow down. Second, because of the road rules regarding giving-way, it may require you to stop altogether. Secondly, it acts as a traffic control device. By their very design they make it necessary for a driver to stop for any vehicle on their driver’s side – often those already on the roundabout, it has a way of controlling the flow of traffic. They can be useful on medium traffic roads, but because they are technically ‘uncontrolled’ intersections, you can get times where traffic is held up in one direction due to a heavy stream of vehicles coming on from the ‘give-way’ direction of the halted cars. Benefits of roundabouts include being able to make across-the-traffic turns, having cars going in multiple directions at once without risking collision, not having to wait at lights. Drawbacks include the f
