Wasn’t that a plot point in an episode of The Simpsons?
In Spain the answer is 3. It was a question in the driving test. Idk if it’s a europe-wide rule though.
In a town in Ohio I used to live in, the answer was 50. There is a law on the books that says its a misdemeanor to lap over 50 times in a day.
Edit: I was slightly wrong - its 100 times in a single session. Source: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/ohio/crazy-laws-part-2-oh/
In a day? These laps don’t have to be consecutive for it to be illegal?
50 nonconsecutive laps in a day isn’t even that much, tbh.
As a cabbie, I could drive 25 fares a day, and if I go back to my station after the fare, then I’d drive one lap while driving the customer home and another while going back myself.
That’s exactly what I was thinking, anyone who drives for their job could easily be crossing the same traffic circle dozens of times a day. That would be against the law?
Spirit vs intention of law, they wouldn’t be ticketing people who do it for work, it would be for people like OP who have nothing better than be a “menace”.
I’ve thought about getting a few dozen people and just going in a loop around a couple of blocks screwing over the traffic circle. So yeah the laws probably because someone actually decided to do it.
I think you mean spirit vs letter of the law, but yeah, any time you count on cops or courts honoring the ‘spirit of the law’ you’re probably gonna get burned.
Of course with this law nobody is gonna get burned unless they are actually doing laps. Cops don’t have time to be counting how many times you went through a traffic circle in a day, they’ve got people and dogs to kill.
And this perspective is entirely what’s wrong with civilization……
Entirely, huh? Nothing else that needs adjusting? lol
If you do a “straight” (1/2 way around) does it count as 1/2?
So, start a few minutes before midnight, get in 50 laps, then 50 the next day.
So what you’re saying is you can do 49 donuts around it and it’s perfectly legal. Cops love donuts so I’m sure I’m 100% correct
Some of those laws are no longer on the books, so I wonder about that one. Like, what does “around the town square” actually mean? There’s not a straightforward “town square” in Oxford. And while the article asks “What exactly happened to make Oxford so protective of its town square?”, you and I both know the answer is “drunk college students”. Also funny that they don’t actually show the public sidewalk, but instead the little square between Elliot and Stoddard for the sidewalk law.
Edit: a quick search through the municipal traffic codes doesn’t reveal anything, so I’m guessing this is one of Miami’s many rumors that happened to get picked up by a less-than-thourough website. Or potentially it used to exist but no longer does. Or maybe I missed it, but I’m willing to bet that’s not the case.
I think the law was from the late 60s-mid 70s when driving muscle cars around was a popular past time for young men. My guess is it’s a problem that kinda just went away when other types of entertainment became more popular.
I would love to get a source on this. I tried but couldn’t find anything. That’s hilarious if true.
Added source to original post
Nice, thanks!
In about 1968, my dad drove round the roundabout in front of Buckingham Palace so us kids could get a better gander at the palace.
We got pulled over by a Bobby on the third circuit, and I kid you not, his first question was ‘What’s going on here, then?’ We were told if we wanted a better look, we would have to park the car and walk - like everyone else. The answer to the question is 3.
Well the answer now is 0. That round about isn’t a roundabout anymore.
Wow, y’all have had roundabouts since the 60’s? I didn’t see any in the US until like 2010.
And here I thought they were modern inventions
Funnily enough, the concept of a circular traffic junction - in a form similar to a roundabout today - was first introduced in Washington DC in the 1790s, including the Dupont Circle.
So literally speaking, you septics invented the
roundabouttraffic circle.
My friend came to visit me in Boston. He’s a bit skittish and dramatic. He was driving and came upon a rotary. He kept repeating “what is this?” before we entered onto it. I was explaining to him that he literally just had to get out at the first exit so he didn’t even really need to get onto it, just turn right, but he just saw an opening and pulled in.
Immediately he went to the center and just kept circling around it screaming. I was trying to calm him down, but I was laughing too hard. We had to have gone around 5 times before he got his shit together and just exited his first chance. I drove around the long way so he didn’t have to go in again. But the thought of getting pulled over did cross my mind.
The is SO MUCH WORSE about driving in Boston than a rotary wtf
“Skittish and dramatic” aren’t on the list of qualities I want licensed drivers to have, yikes.
So nice to see people calling roundabouts by their true name - rotary. Makes me nostalgic for my youth growing up in mass
In South Africa they call it a “circle.” Bonus if it is near a red light - “Go to the circle after the robot.”
I thought rotaries were just roundabouts but bigger
I wonder this like once a year
Also, advanced mode might be the cloverloop
I don’t think anyone would notice on the cloverloop.
Advanced for both you AND the cops!
Some cops do like sitting on exits to hide with their radar guns 😒 obviously better than sitting on the shoulder though. Imagine having kids at home and risking your life while already having a dangerous job. Pulling people over on the shoulder instead of taking them to the next exit is the worst.
Wait, is that still a thing? I’ve never seen cops with speed cameras outside of movies. It also seems quite overkill seeing there’s mobile speed cameras too these days. Around my city there’s like three that get moved every few days, alongside the many stationary speed cameras.
In the US speed cameras are viewed as revenue generating devices, instead of devices meant to protect the public safety. So most places have laws against them because the voters see it as “you just want to charge me for speeding” instead of “people breaking the speed limit are unsafe and need to be stopped”. So instead speeding is mostly enforced by actual police on the road (or pulled slightly off the road) using radar guns. The idea being if you were speeding enough to make a policeman bother to turn the siren on, track you down, and issue the ticket, you must have been doing something pretty unsafe.
There’s actual history of revenue generation by camera, legitimate reasons for suspicion. Plus it violates any right to face your accuser. Plus it probably doesn’t even help safety with the delayed feedback: you’ll slow down as soon as you see a cop, but would be speeding for weeks before seeing mail from the for-profit company managing the speed cameras. With the lack of feedback, you could be looking at dozens of violations before you discover there is a problem, which doesn’t help anything except maximizing revenue
I think the right to face your accuser is probably the biggest one.
As far as the lack of feedback goes, I can say having driven in Europe plenty of times that the cameras are extremely effective in getting drivers to obey the speed limits, but it’s not the cameras themselves - the the knowledge thay they exist. Entering a 10km stretch of road that has signs posted everywhere saying “average speed zone next 10km” or something like that, where they snap a picture record the time of you entering the zone, then a picture and record of the time when you exit it and calculate your average speed. I’ve seen 5 lane wide roads full of cars just chugging along at 2km under the target posted speed. So for that I will say they are extremely effective at maintaining large numbers of cars at safe speeds.
Once the cameras have existed long enough, everyone knows they work, because everyone has gotten a ticket in the mail. That’s when the posted signs of “camera ahead” really work. You’ve played the game before and lost, so every future opportunity will now have a giant red flag on it in each person’s mind.
They tell you where the cameras are? That’s a fundamental difference.
Americans hire too many cops and then have to invent busywork for them to do instead of solving actual crimes.
Mobile speed cameras huh, I’ve seen those - in photos from Europe.
Cops radaring, not an uncommon sight in California! And Southern California seems to have cops all over the highways.
I did two full loops once while I was learning to drive. I wasn’t confident enough to merge over without a lot more room than the people around me were willing to part with, so I just stayed in the lane, took the next ramp and cycled through.
Then it happened again.Fortunately it was my dad and not like, an instructor who could grade me or something.
I’ve frequently reminded my teens that it’s no big deal to go around again, no big deal to miss a turn. A panic move at a missed turn is usually a bad idea.
— also, I recommended GPS even in familiar territory. Sure, you need to be able to get around without that dependency, but no matter where you are, GPS will almost instantly calculate an alternate, safe route. Don’t worry about missing that turn, let gps help
My dad and I used to do this for fun back in the 90s 😂
Imma do this with my son, right now in 2024.
Thanks, now my weekend is fully booked.
I lost my dad to cancer when I was 30 but now I have a son that is 9 months old and I will definitely be keeping the tradition alive!
I’ve wanted to do a full 4 leaf clover before. But unfortunately the one my by house in college was just a 2 leaf on the northbound side. The southbound side was regular ramps.
I did take the two leaves in one go though. I was headed out and after I got on the first loop I realized I forgot something at home, so I stayed on and took the second loop to go back and pick it up.
Closest thing I’ve got to a clover here is literally called the mixmaster. It’s more akin to taking a head first dive into a blender.
Realistically, however long it took for someone else to notice you were doing it and call them.
Source: had the cops called on my friends and I multiple times for having foam sword fights in parking lots at college. Apparently people from a distance thought actual fighting was going on. Not sure if that’s a testament to our acting or their poor eye sight.
Tbh how often do you see someone sword dueling lol
Every. Fucking. Day. Honestly, being the Highlander is exhausting.
in Poland there is no legal limit, so if you fancy spinning around come visit!
I doubt it’d take long before they try to stop you on different grounds like impeding traffic or public nuisance or whatever
then don’t go spinning in a city, pick a village or a small town and go wild, it’ll take them a while to notice and a longer while yet to bother stopping you, and chances are (with village police) they’d first sit down and watch for an hour or so. Adding it all up I’d say you’re looking at at least 8h of spinning. In the end you’ll just be told to stop since it’s 100% legal or you could pioneer a new law in Poland! exciting
Someone please do this
If it’s a busy one, would anyone even notice? Most people just get in and get out without even making a full circle. I think you’d be virtually anonymous.
Unless someone else was riding the same roundabout for fun. Then you could invent little games to play with them
Said different grounds would most likely be a willful twisting of the “anti cruising” laws and ordinances in effect in many states and cities in the US.
there’s no legal limit in the US too, that’s the joke my friend.
Look Kids! Parliament, Big Ben!! -Clark Griswold
In Australia I was picked up for going around four times. They were watching from the start and threatened me with a reckless driving charge.
Pretty sure that the law in Aus is 7 times, but let’s be real if it’s more than 3 times you’re either lost as shit, don’t know how roundabouts work at all or just fucking around.
How much gas you got boy
Can’t really answer without specifying direction of travel.
Forward, mostly.
i was picturing someone driving in a circle.
Look kid! Big Ben… Parliament!
It’s your own private NASCAR track
Come to Hemel Hempstead!
