Comment I'd made[0] on a previous article about roundabouts and their potential for confusion:<p>I live in Victoria, Australia, and we’ve had roundabouts for ages. I think they are very good for a certain scale of road/traffic. Mostly intersections with moderate amounts of traffic on average, and not high-speed. e.g., the main intersections within housing estates. Having too many of them instead of give-way signs drive you a little batty (I’m looking at you, Warrnambool) while really heavy traffic, major intersections work better with traffic lights.<p>My daughter recently got her learner license, and she has found roundabouts one of the trickier intersections to navigate. You have to read the traffic flow. This person about to enter on your right is going straight ahead, so will block you entering the roundabout[1], but they have to wait for that person coming the other way from you and going straight through, so you can slip in the gap that creates without cutting anyone else off. As with many things it is familiarity and practice that makes them work[2]. I think roundabouts work very well here for the most part, and my daughter is getting pretty good at reading the traffic. It’s not rocket science[3].<p>The science of roads and traffic I imagine is a surprisingly nuanced expertise involving a lot of physics and psychology. I find when I cross over the border to New South Wales I feel like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I eventually figured out it was because the signage was a different distance before the intersection compared to my home state. Once I was aware I could adapt.<p>[0] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10242816" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10242816</a><p>[1] We drive on the left side of the road because Australia is in the southern hemisphere.<p>[2] I bet the first traffic lights caused an uproar. “Why the hell should I stop just because there’s a red light?!”<p>[3] Oh wait, actually, it is rocket science.