pglorie
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2010–2015
1:03 · 257K views · Apr 2, 2008
A one-minute clip filmed from the Arc de Triomphe showing chaotic multi-lane traffic in the surrounding roundabout, including a bus trying to cross about six lanes.
Used as a vivid example of chaotic roundabout traffic when discussing road design and driving in Europe.
3 comments from Hacker News
As a daily Vélib' user from day one, I'll add some insights a one-time user may have missed: * It's often the fastest way to get to another point less than ~5km away. * You quickly notice how most of the traffic regulation is only designed for cars. * You have a much better visibility of the traffic (with a correctly adjusted saddle) than a car driver. * Maneuverability and standing start acceleration (the first seconds) are also way above the average car, so if you're used to it, you'll easily make your way in the congested traffic. * It's common practice to run red lights or stop signs (hence the first point). There's some debate about allowing the "turn right" but we're still waiting. Still, we're not crazy but you quickly notice it makes no sense at all to stop & start a 20kg bike every 100 meters at a pedestrian crossing with obviously no pedestrians waiting or at road junction with no incoming traffic. * Most bike lanes are overrun by clueless pedestrians. * European cities like Paris predate cars and are more dense with smaller streets which feel much safer than higway-like american streets. Crossing the place de l'étoile ain't for every vélib user - this video - but it's funny to do it.
You do realize there are countries that have a significant chance of snow for 4+ months per year, right? And that there are many places with stop signs that are almost completely obscured by foliage, or simply by the angle of roads on the crossroads. Not everything is California. And not every city has a grid. When autonomous cars can survive in a place like Rome or Paris[1], or even downtown Manhattan. Then we can talk about fully replacing humans. [1] Rome and Paris are notorious for people having special city cars because they get banged up so much in the course of normal life Here's an example of traffic in a modern European city: [LINK] And another: this video How long until autonomous cars can do that? Hell, I 'd shit my pants trying to do that. PS: in the real world there are also many roads that flat out don't have lanes drawn on them.
I have a sort of visceral negative reaction to roundabouts, but I think because most of the ones I've seen in Europe, when the road is more than one lane wide in each direction, seem to end up with a crazy ad-hoc-lanes thing going on in them, where it's as if you drove onto a huge plaza with no lane markings, where everyone is driving in all sorts of criss-crossing diagonal directions trying to get from their entrance road to their exit road across multiple lanes of traffic. I imagine some countries have more orderly versions, but that's how the Paris ones all felt to me. edit: video of an example, around the Arc de Triomphe -> this video