Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Homer Watson and Ottawa Three Lane Roundabouts
(10-17-2017, 08:56 AM)Spokes Wrote:
(10-16-2017, 03:28 PM)jeffster Wrote: You'd think that.  Using the roundabout today, travelling north on Homer Watson, woman in a minivan also travelling north on Homer Watson (far left lane), waited for traffic to her left to clear, but rather than continue to merge right around the roundabout, she goes left into oncoming traffic. I decided at that point to go carry on around the roundabout and sure enough I met her carrying on in the wrong direction. Blasted my horn but she just left the lane I was in to attempt get back onto Homer Watson north. What an idiot. Hopefully she'll stay off road, looks like she may have been from Stratford being she went in that direction on the highway.

That's insane.  But not surprising.  I had that happen to me in Ottawa one of the first times I encountered a roundabout 10+ years ago.

Lol, I remember sitting in the cafeteria of the building I worked at as a co-op in 2007 and watching drivers be confused by the roundabouts in the R&T park.  I even got to watch one go the wrong way around, and then be forced to reverse back around the roundabout by an on-coming semi-truck.  It did not go well.  Having been in the region for a while now, I have seen things get progressively better at roundabouts.  But I am not surprised this still occurs.  It seems some people cannot deal with them, and they have simply been hiding from them--which is getting less and less possible.
Reply


Just thinking of the Ottawa/Homer Watson roundabout and how interesting it would be to speak to the "wrong way woman" about her manoeuvre. Did she not see, or not believe, the overhead and road surface arrows? Some sort of panic reaction? Even if one has never seen a roundabout before, the concept (if not the actual driving of it) doesn't seem hard to understand.
Reply
My wife's former boss pulled a wrong way the first time she experienced a roundabout when they first showed up I the region. Likely confusion due to the newness of them to the area.
Reply
(10-17-2017, 10:08 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(10-17-2017, 08:56 AM)Spokes Wrote: That's insane.  But not surprising.  I had that happen to me in Ottawa one of the first times I encountered a roundabout 10+ years ago.

Lol, I remember sitting in the cafeteria of the building I worked at as a co-op in 2007 and watching drivers be confused by the roundabouts in the R&T park.  I even got to watch one go the wrong way around, and then be forced to reverse back around the roundabout by an on-coming semi-truck.  It did not go well.  Having been in the region for a while now, I have seen things get progressively better at roundabouts.  But I am not surprised this still occurs.  It seems some people cannot deal with them, and they have simply been hiding from them--which is getting less and less possible.

There is broad non-compliance across the board.  Just this morning I saw a bicyclist driving the wrong way in the bike lane on Wes Graham Way.  I'm surprised this still occurs.  I can't believe bicyclists are allowed on the streets when they don't know simple rules of the road like this.  I guess all bicyclists should be re-tested every 5 years to stay on the road.
Reply
(10-17-2017, 10:51 AM)NotStan Wrote:
(10-17-2017, 10:08 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Lol, I remember sitting in the cafeteria of the building I worked at as a co-op in 2007 and watching drivers be confused by the roundabouts in the R&T park.  I even got to watch one go the wrong way around, and then be forced to reverse back around the roundabout by an on-coming semi-truck.  It did not go well.  Having been in the region for a while now, I have seen things get progressively better at roundabouts.  But I am not surprised this still occurs.  It seems some people cannot deal with them, and they have simply been hiding from them--which is getting less and less possible.

There is broad non-compliance across the board.  Just this morning I saw a bicyclist driving the wrong way in the bike lane on Wes Graham Way.  I'm surprised this still occurs.  I can't believe bicyclists are allowed on the streets when they don't know simple rules of the road like this.  I guess all bicyclists should be re-tested every 5 years to stay on the road.

Yes, cyclists operating such dangerous equipment as a bicycle, I mean cyclists kill literally tens of people worldwide.  What a horror show!

Can we drop the false equivalence?
Reply
He is right to point out cyclists unlawful and unsafe acts just as much as motor vehicles.
Reply
The bicycle discussion can move to another thread. NotStan made a tangential attack on cyclists that had nothing to do with roundabouts, Ottawa, Homer-Watson, or really anything that was being discussed before their post.
Reply


As a person who is pro cycling. I found no attack there. I find this forum is way to sensitive. I might have to stop supporting it financially if it continues to silence people whom the mods don't agree with
Reply
(10-17-2017, 01:45 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: As a person who is pro cycling. I found no attack there. I find this forum is way to sensitive. I might have to stop supporting it financially if it continues to silence people whom the mods don't agree with

I am only asking that it move to another thread. It is not related to this thread, and we have had too many threads get sidetracked into debates about the virtues/vices of cyclists. I am attempting to nip that in the bud.  NotStan, you, or anyone, is welcome to start another thread.

If you wish to object further to this, please PM me, Spokes, or create a thread in the Forum Issues section.
Reply
(10-17-2017, 11:00 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(10-17-2017, 10:51 AM)NotStan Wrote: There is broad non-compliance across the board.  Just this morning I saw a bicyclist driving the wrong way in the bike lane on Wes Graham Way.  I'm surprised this still occurs.  I can't believe bicyclists are allowed on the streets when they don't know simple rules of the road like this.  I guess all bicyclists should be re-tested every 5 years to stay on the road.

Yes, cyclists operating such dangerous equipment as a bicycle, I mean cyclists kill literally tens of people worldwide.  What a horror show!

Can we drop the false equivalence?
I didn't post this as an attack on cyclists or to claim equivalency but rather to point out that pretty much everyone breaks the law - whether it is speeding or not coming to a complete stop at an intersection or failure to signal turns, etc.  All of these actions can lead to dangerous situations involving others - be they drivers, cyclists or pedestrians.    So while some point out how they can't understand how someone can drive the wrong way round a roundabout (me included), I'm not sure I understand what causes everyone (me included) to not obey the rules of the road.   Certainly there is a shortage of enforecment.
Reply
This is my thing though. They're not new here!!!! We have so many of them. How do you still not know? Maybe I'm being insensitive. Ugh
Reply
I'd say that roundabouts have been common to the region for well over a decade now, and are pretty much pervasive within the region now and common throughout Ontario. I don't think there should be an excuse for not understanding how to deal with a roundabout. That said, does the driver training handbook cover roundabouts, and has the Highway Traffic Act been updated to enforce certain behaviours in roundabouts (I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong)? These really need to be brought up-to-date, as roundabouts are basically unavoidable now in Ontario.
Reply
(10-17-2017, 04:40 PM)jamincan Wrote:  That said, does the driver training handbook cover roundabouts


I can confirm the 2016 edition has three pages on the subject.
Reply


(10-17-2017, 11:00 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yes, cyclists operating such dangerous equipment as a bicycle, I mean cyclists kill literally tens of people worldwide.  What a horror show!

Can we drop the false equivalence?

There are pedestrian injuries due to cyclists. But point is, many cyclists disrespect the laws of the road, quite often leading to their own life threatening injuries, which ends up costing everyone.
Reply
(10-17-2017, 04:40 PM)jamincan Wrote: I'd say that roundabouts have been common to the region for well over a decade now, and are pretty much pervasive within the region now and common throughout Ontario. I don't think there should be an excuse for not understanding how to deal with a roundabout. That said, does the driver training handbook cover roundabouts, and has the Highway Traffic Act been updated to enforce certain behaviours in roundabouts (I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong)? These really need to be brought up-to-date, as roundabouts are basically unavoidable now in Ontario.

Speaking of this roundabout, I still notice people making their way SB on Homer Watson and going turning right onto Ottawa St at the actual roundabout rather than the cut-off for Ottawa St. That makes it more difficult for people obeying the traffic signs as we have additional traffic to wait for. The set up their is perfect, but requires idiot drivers to make legal driving maneuvers, not illegal ones.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links