Roundabouts built too high

Your quote..."A built up roundabout, with no visibility of the other side is completely against that idea. When you approach one of these, you have to slow right down...."

That is the whole point! To slow people down. Roundabouts are more dangerous the faster cars approach and take them.

Its all in the name - "roundabout". You're supposed to go around them, not over them.

How about mini-roundabouts? They are so dangerous and so unnecessary. They have ambiguous rights of way or priority.

Consider a 3(or 4) way mini-roundabout, in which two of its legs are diametrically opposite one another. Consider two cars approaching it, one on each of these legs.

The rule of the mini-roundabout is supposedly the same as its bigger brother. Give way to cars coming from the right.

For this formally to be the case, the other car has to be (a) on the roundabout or (b) sufficiently close to the dotted line on the immediately previous leg of the roundabout to the right of the driver.

On a full size roundbaout you cannot normally see cars coming from the diametrically opposite direction, That is the way they have been designed. Two cars coming onto the roundabout from opposite directions are supposed to be able to fit onto the roundabout at the same time, whichever exit they are going to leave from.

Two cars approaching a mini-roundabout from opposite directions can see each other. If they are both intent on crossing the mini-roundabout in a straight line all is well. The issue arises if one of them wants to turn right.

1. Turning right at a normal unmarked junction one gives way to the car wishing to proceed in a sraight line.

2. Turning right on a mini-roundabout the usual practice is that the car wishing to proceed in a straight line gives way to the car wanting to turn right.

But what if the car wanting to turn right has not signalled in time? Wow, this happens so often. It scares me stiff every time.

Far from being a traffic calming measure, they annoy every driver who has to negotiate one. On a side road near us, the road engineers have built 7 new ones in a distance of one mile.

The equivalent to a mini-roundabout in the USA is a 3-way or 4-way stop. All cars must stop at one of these. The first car to reach their line has the right of way. Each driver nods at one another. No ambiguity here.

Well said Bill, the entry angle is important.

A UK traffic consultant (the name escapes me at the mo) did a survey on urban traffic speed and pedestrian-friendly environments and basically the medievel layout promotes low speed and good walking environments.

In my experience (and if you ant to get in a show me yours argument as I am well qualified and experienced to comment), more visibility means speed. Wider roads means speed open character of streets means speed. A little confusion and difficulty will slow most down and the rest - well we need more traffic police.

It's not really the height you should complain about. It's the angle that you have to turn into. The steeper the angle the SLOWER you have to go.

Some roundabouts don't have a steep enough angle, and drivers don't even slow down, they just barrel through,not just cars, HGV's are the worsed offenders.

I'm bigger than you so move out my way attiude.

Call these 'Professional'drivers,I think not.Road BULLIES I call them.

If Mark would be right, then wouldn't cars go slowly on narrow roads and other places where visibility is restricted... I think not. Instead, people barrel along and only stop if they see something, usually too late.

More visibility _is_ better.

What a fantastic life you must lead if all you have to moan about is the height of roundabouts. Get a life mate.

High roundabouts make sure people slow right down before moving onto them. The more one can see, the faster one takes the roundabout.