A
rotary is an interesting
circular traffic formation that not many people will ever run into. From what I hear it is
native to the
greater New England / eastern
seaboard area (I think extending down into
New Jersey), which is
infamous for their
overuse. Rotaries are also known as
Traffic Circles (as my
New Hampshire geek girl informs me).
Rotaries are a
circle of
road from which many exits are possible at different locations of the
clock. Traffic flows in these rotaries
counter-clockwise, until the people reach their designated exit. There are usually two lanes to a rotary: the inner "drive around" lane, and the outer "I'm going to get off soon"
lane. You can maximize the
choices in a road by creating
several different outlets to one
rotary.
By
law, these rotaries are always well
marked, and you need to yield to
traffic that is already in the rotary. This setup, by
nature, is a situation where
only the aggressive survive. If you are not
aggressive enough to change lanes at the right time, or get in at a
high speed, then you will either be stuck waiting, or stuck in the middle ring of the
rotary.
New England Drivers usually are fairly
adept at these "
go for it"-type
intersections, but the rotary holds a special place in many people's
hearts, especially the non-native drivers, who have trouble wrapping their brains around this odd
traffic control device.