Parking Enforcement in Springfield

[Sigma]

Can't wait to see one in front of the Landing!

[Overstreet]

The one constant about traffic, roads and parking is that somebody will always complain about it.

Roundabouts are good for drifting around the intersection. Gets you lot of attention.  I used to love them back in my sports car early 20s years.

[cindi]

Wimps!  If you guys think those little roundabouts are scary, you should try the traffic circles in Europe.  Four lanes, a circle fifty yards across with six side roads coming into it and everybody at top speed changing lanes to get off at their preferred street.  And in England they do it backward!

I got stuck on one in Paris and went around three times before getting up enough nerve to cut across the lanes and get off.  Then I had to go back to the hotel and change.

real roundabouts are a different story - those are a test of skill.  the springfield roundabouts, they make as much sense as a football bat.

[Springfielder]

real roundabouts are a different story - those are a test of skill.  the springfield roundabouts, they make as much sense as a football bat.

Couldn't agree more...plus you have the bozos that park in the marked-no parking sections of it, which make it difficult to get by, especially the buses. People seem to forget that roundabouts, to yield, instead the ones traveling on the north-south directions just barrel through like they have the right of way

[Dog Walker]

Aren't their yield signs on all the cross streets?

[Springfielder]

yeah, but they don't adhere to them....it's risky and the people traveling east-west usually end up stopping

[mtraininjax]

A yield sign is the equivalent of a Yellow light, in Jacksonville - "FLOOR IT AND HOPE NO ONE HITS YOU".

[zoo]

Ok, so I'll ask the clarification question, as I learned to drive in another state. In these littler roundabouts, with yield signs from all 4 directions, how is priority determined? Is it:

1. Yield to the vehicular traffic coming from the left, as is the normal functioning of the larger traffic circles, or;
2. Yield to the car that has approached the circle first, as a 4-way stop would be treated?

I always approach SPR's little traffic circles in the first manner, but I often find drivers there -- coming from the direction to the right of me usually -- that are approaching in the second manner, or with some entirely different method (Pearl and Laura have right of way?)

So which is it?

[Springfielder]

I thought the vehicular rules were that you always yield to your right...

[zoo]

I thought the vehicular rules were that you always yield to your right...

But isn't it the car coming from the left that would hit you if you pulled into the circle "in front" of it? The car to the right would already be "in front" of you going through the circle, correct?

My expectation is not that clarification will fix the SPR traffic circle danger, but have always wondered. That's 3 approaches possible -- anyone got a fourth?

[Southbanker]

If these were real circles then you would yield to the cars on your left. 

But these are intersections with little islands in it.  So to be really safe you almost have to treat it like a 4-way stop.  More often than not the cars heading north-south do not stop at all.

[Ernest Street]

At the 5 points intersection,Park St has the right-of-way and you don't need to stop unless some bozo cuts you off.

[Dan B]

If these were real circles then you would yield to the cars on your left. 

But these are intersections with little islands in it.  So to be really safe you almost have to treat it like a 4-way stop.  More often than not the cars heading north-south do not stop at all.

Where I grew up, the rule was always that Rotary traffic has right of way, of course the ones I grew up driving on were big enough to have dozens of cars on them at a time, so right of way mattered. For our little round-abouts, the rule is, first car to the intersection has right of way.

Sadly, nobody knows this. :-/

[Springfielder]

The driver to the left should yield to the driver on the right....

You must yield the right-of-way to all other traffic and pedestrians at stop signs. Move forward only when the road is clear. At four-way stops, the first vehicle to stop should move forward first. If two vehicles reach the intersection at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.

Roundabouts are a new type of intersection which improve traffic flow and reduce traffic crashes. Most roundabouts do not require stopping, which allows vehicles to move continuously through intersections at the same low speed. Roundabouts are designed to move all traffic through a counterclockwise direction. Vehicles approaching the roundabout yield to circulating traffic, however, drivers must obey all signs to determine the correct right-of-way in the roundabout.

http://www.123driving.com/flhandbook/flhb-right-of-way.shtml

[zoo]

The driver to the left should yield to the driver on the right....
Quote
You must yield the right-of-way to all other traffic and pedestrians at stop signs. Move forward only when the road is clear. At four-way stops, the first vehicle to stop should move forward first. If two vehicles reach the intersection at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.

Roundabouts are a new type of intersection which improve traffic flow and reduce traffic crashes. Most roundabouts do not require stopping, which allows vehicles to move continuously through intersections at the same low speed. Roundabouts are designed to move all traffic through a counterclockwise direction. Vehicles approaching the roundabout yield to circulating traffic, however, drivers must obey all signs to determine the correct right-of-way in the roundabout.

Isn't this the important statement in this quoted material (b/c we're talking about roundabouts and not 4-way stops)? If it is, seems you would yield to circulating traffic, or traffic coming from left? This may be on the books, but since very few seem to know/follow, I guess safest approach is as if it is a 4-way stop (tho people that stop at a yield when the yielding situation doesn't warrant it drive me batty ;-).