American Roundabouts

The Roundabout

I was going to school last week and there’s a new roundabout on the way there. I’m from Peru, and I’m used to big 8 lane roundabouts filled with “micros” and “moto-taxis”, but this was different. I was driving down the street and traffic started to jam up a little bit. I opened my sun roof and stood on the seat, looking out over the traffic, seeing that there was a roundabout. The roundabout was full of cars; absolutely packed! I quickly noticed that the roundabout only had two lanes… but the lady behind me had her window down and she was yelling at me, so I got back into my car.

Why The Roundabout?

As I sat there I couldn’t keep myself from laughing. There was a roundabout, and it only had two lanes. This seemed like the strangest thing to me, but it wasn’t over.

Driving Inside The Chaos

Once I got closer, I realized that the people around me had no idea what they were doing. Some guy in a red car was going the wrong way, and he nearly hit me. Another car was on the inside lane (going the wrong way again) and she couldn’t get out of that lane. It got worse, and eventually somebody called 911. It took me about 10 minutes to actually get thru the roundabout, and I was late for English class.

Characteristics of Regular Roundabouts

• at least six lanes, often 8
• people know what they’re doing
• there’s some crazy guy in a “moto-taxi” that cuts off the bus

Characteristics of American Roundabouts

• 2 lanes MAX
• people have no clue what they’re doing
• the car behind you is honking like crazy
• Grandma won’t stop complaining and saying, “We should just have stop lights! Those are simple!”