Traffic

We've been asked by a few people here what are our most liked and least liked things about France. One of my negative things is the shopping carts. Here (and in Italy, and probably everywhere in Europe) all four wheels turn. Thus moving your carts around the store is quite difficult and tiring. It also doesn't make any sense (to me). And the French folks we've talked to have agreed that it's ridiculous and they hate it. How hard is it to lock the back two wheels?

File under #firstworldproblems

One of my favorite things is the use of roundabouts. I've mentioned it before, but in most (not all) non-highway situations, roundabouts are WAY more efficient in moving traffic through an intersection than traffic lights. Here's a youtube video that simulates a number of traffic flow solutions and gives an average throughput by type. Very interesting. On a typical four lane road, a large roundabout beats a regular traffic light by 44.7%

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yITr127KZtQ

Cost savings vs traffic light systems are also significant. My thorough research on the cost to install (read: I googled it for 30 seconds) indicates that one intersection costs about $250,000-$300,000 from start to finish and then about $8,000 per year in electricity and maintenance. A roundabout has none of this.

Roundabouts aren't perfect though. Once traffic density reaches a certain point, it feels (can't prove it) like throughput decreases because the intersection is obstructed more often.