Thread

The Beauty of Roundabouts

100 points · 222 comments · ngruhn

M95D · 1789550445 · focus · HN ↗
Did anyone study the fuel efficiency of a roundabout vs. traffic light?
I expect it to be a lot worse.
```
  - roundabout, light traffic : break, turn, accelerate again, 100% of the time
  - (dumb) traffic light, light traffic: 50% chance of stopping and accelerating again, 50% chance of not slowing down at all.

  - roundabout, heavy traffic : stop, move 3m, stop again, move 3m more, stop again, repeat 10 times, finally turn, accelerate.
  - traffic light, heavy traffic: stop &amp; engine off, start &amp; move 100m, stop &amp; engine off, start again and accelerate.
```
1. throwawayffffas · 1789554294 · focus · HN ↗
  Mythbusters did a test of roundabouts vs fourway intersections (no lights), many years ago.
  Their conclusion i believe was they were about the same in pretty much all regards.
  It was highly synthetic, people driving around a small course with roundabouts or fourway intersections, continuously for an hour or something.

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