Think it'll catch on elsewhere?

[Deleted member 37751]

Cambridge 'ghost roundabout' attracts ridicule on social media - BBC News

Quote from the article:
Richard Owen, who sits on a national road safety panel, said it was a "reasonably unique" feature and described it as an "urban crop circle".

"But the behavioural science which sits behind it is quite good," he said.

"It's about making drivers feel much more uncertain about the road environment and that's the way you slow cars down without using vertical humps."

What a great idea.

 

[m2287]

I live near Cambridge, haven't seen this monstrosity in the flesh yet but I await the headline where someone who doesn't know the area mounts the kerb and hits a pedestrian.

 

[camerafodder]

This looks like an enterprise of extreme stupidity. as m2287 says, how long before the first accident?

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Whilst likely to confuse drivers on their first encounter , what useful purpose is this going to acheive ? Anyone regularly using this road will soon resume driving down it at their usual pace. Dumbass waste of taxpayers money.

 

[John Jones Jr]

I was in Cambridge not so long ago and missed this, no harm. Judging by the photo it just looks strange and I'm sure if I came across it I'd have driven straight on and paid no heed.

Love to know how much it cost, then again with the cost of parking in Cambridge it's possibly irrelevant to the Council.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

It only 'opened' over the weekend. Awful awful idea.

The road is around the corner from the busy station and is a taxi run who speed down Tension road constantly.

Only a matter of time until someone gets rear ended, not knowing that it's fake/slowing down to a slow, also as mentioned, people mounting the kerb.

This road has been shut for 9 months, 9months for 200 metres of road resurfacing and sewer repair. Japan does it in under a week.

 

[Palfrem]

Doesn't the road to the left need a triangle painting on the road - "Give Way" and all that?

 

[markjay]

Not as daft as it may sound.

Traffic lights and 'right of way' rules mean driver sail though junctions with a sense of entitlement.

Have you ever seen a jogger wearing earphones jogging across a zebra crossing without looking right or left?

The science behind it is quite sound actually. Force people to be more alert and there will be less accidents.

As posted elsewhere... 'no-fault' accident in only an insurance term. If you could have avoided the crash, it is your fault. Regardless of who ends up paying for the damage.

My advice? Cross a junction at the green light in the same way you would jump a red light.

 

[Yugguy]

Imbeciles. Those who know the road will ignore it, those who dont will drive onto the pavement.

Just put speed bumps in.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...0xd09e467ff37b2f13!8m2!3d52.19712!4d0.1352977

Here is the junction before this was created, taxi's etc speed through there as they know the layout.

Only a matter of time before an accident occurs. - I reckon I will be posting a link approx early Dec, hopefully wont be a bad one

 

[uumode]

If it does work, its an expensive implementation.

The circle shape formed by inset paving stones, could have been created simply by painting a white circle?

Anyway, I would just drive straight on like normal, is that what I'm suppose to do?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Only a matter of time before an accident occurs. - I reckon I will be posting a link approx early Dec, hopefully wont be a bad one

I think they'll achieve something unique; an idea that puts pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and motorists all in danger in one fell swoop, just crazy.

It's bad enough that there are people like this in the world, never mind them having the powers to implement this sort of crap!

 

[Dryce]

The science behind it is quite fashionable actually.

Fixed that for you

Force people to be more alert and there will be less accidents.

It just takes one moment of confusion and it could be in the causal chain of a bad one.

That's why I think this behavioural stuff is bad engineering. Moreover people adapt - so at best all you're doing is adding in another quirk that possibly introduces new risks and alos incurs an installation and maintenance cost.

I think these things sound and look clever but councils should focus on basics and if they have time to concern themselves with this then they clearly are underemployed.

 

[ringway]

How many cycle lanes and repaired potholes could be achieved with the cost of that tragic roundabout?

 

[triple h]

there's proper mini roundabouts in cambridge that drivers regularly drive over so why will this be any different

just the local council wasting money so they get an increased budget next year

 

[zoros]

There is a similar roundabout on the trumpington cambridge road that leads to the station. Inner roundabout with a lane wide circle of pedestrian lookalike cobble stones around it and then the roundabout tamrac itself.

The problem is when you come across it, there is nothing to tell you whether you should avoid it or can drive over it. Some motorists lose the plot which rubs off on others around them ending in uncertainty and an increased risk of a collision. Pathetic idea.

I also read last week that the town cnentre that did away with kerbs, white lines and traffic lights to emulate the belgian model designed to confuse the driver so that they slow down to adjust their situational awareness - at a cost of £500k - has been abandoned after yet another pedestrian was struck by another car! Blind people have absolutely no chance of crossing this junction because their guide dogs don't understand where to stop and when to cross?

Who are these councillors who approve these mad schemes???

 

[lisa110rry]

Yes, we have a similar busy area in Preston City Centre where no one, neither vehicles, nor pedestrians, nor cyclists have right of way on a roundabout. In the centre there is a small raised area and I once posted a picture of a small car which had not seen this (in rain) and got stuck on top of it. It's horribly dangerous to cross there, but one has no option as it's once again the road to the station, or rather at the top of it. I'll see if I can find the link.

 

[gr1nch]

The council could have at least made drivers aware of that hazardous little island by painting it.

The crop circle roundabout might slow some drivers down, but not so much for confusion, more likely ridicule and bemusement. All those drivers getting distracted could make for a more dangerous crossing - counter to the actual goal.

 

[Alex225]

Just what people need eh! More confusion on the roads.

People struggle with giving way in the correct situations anyway let alone attempts to make them even less certain!!

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Urban driving is difficult enough these days without attempting to confuse motorists deliberately! Surely this must make the road more dangerous? I cannot understand the way traffic engineers mess about with our road systems sometimes. Having spent most of my working life in local government, I suspect that they contrive ways of spending their budget pot in case they lose out to highway maintenance who need the money for repairing potholes and other essential maintenance that would make our roads safer and less damaging to our vehicles. The vagaries of local government finance never ceased to amaze me and I suspect that it is even worse now with money being tighter.