Originally Posted by
acidfast7
I never under traffic circles/roundabouts when I lived in the US as they're tedious.
After living in the UK, they actually make a huge amount of sense as the traffic density is ridiculous in the southeast and they actually work quite well. Also, you're almost never alone when driving, so it's hard to go the wrong way. I do get confused if I happen to be alone with the small ones in parking lots like in google maps above, as there aren't always signs over here (or they're broken off.)
I grew up in Washington DC, where there are a lot of traffic circles, many of them going back to the original design of the city, before cars (or even bicycles), but they all have unique traffic patterns. Some of them make a lot of sense, but others do not. The one I learned first was Chevy Chase Circle, so naturally the way Chevy Chase Circle runs is the way I think a traffic circle should run. Occasionally a bewildered tourist would get stuck in it, and be forced to drive around many times trying to figure out how to exit at the right street. Good times. I actually like the fact that they're becoming common now.
But I digress. My commute today did not involve any traffic circles, just very light rain, which I ignored. It's been warm lately, so the saturated surface of the ground has thawed, leaving a nice squishy layer of mud, but just below that is frozen solid.