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That looks more like a traffic circle, than a roundabout. Very common in some Pacific-coast cities on side streets. http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/calming/pdf/trafficcirclesWeb.pdf

Presumably they have added the stop signs, because the average Toronto driver has never seen them, and it cuts down on accidents. And they've added the roundabout sign, so people don't try and drive the wrong side of the island.
 
the lemur said:
The 'share the road' message seems to imply it's more of a caution than an indication of a bike route. I've seen a few older signs around Toronto that were rectangular and white on green to indicate bike routes.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was bad wording on my part. I simply meant that it is not being used as a "bicycle crossing" sign.
 
In addition to the European-style roundabout sign, the Rosedale roundabout seems to have a European-style yield sign on the Roxborough Dr. entrance:
http://goo.gl/maps/QN31

But the other entrances have standard Yield signs:
http://goo.gl/maps/tZMp

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the European and North American yield signs.
200px-Zeichen_205.svg.png
200px-MUTCD_R1-2.svg.png

In Canada, the word "Yield" is often omitted.
 
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nfitz said:
That looks more like a traffic circle, than a roundabout. Very common in some Pacific-coast cities on side streets. http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/calming/pdf/trafficcirclesWeb.pdf

Presumably they have added the stop signs, because the average Toronto driver has never seen them, and it cuts down on accidents. And they've added the roundabout sign, so people don't try and drive the wrong side of the island.
Click to expand...

Which one looks more like a traffic circle?

Isn't the difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle basically a question of whether the traffic going around has the right of way or the traffic entering it? It's not like people don't know what a yield sign means.
 
the lemur said:
Probably. But the one down the street doesn't have stop signs or yield signs:

http://goo.gl/maps/W4BI
Click to expand...

Actually, the one down the street (Broadway and Rowley) does have yield signs (with text "Yield to traffic in circle"), but they're set way back from the intersection, almost a block away. So Broadway has two identical-looking roundabouts a couple of blocks apart with explicitly different rules. :S
 
the lemur said:
Which one looks more like a traffic circle?

Isn't the difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle basically a question of whether the traffic going around has the right of way or the traffic entering it? It's not like people don't know what a yield sign means.
Click to expand...

Exactly. In this case, I think it's Vancouver who's wrong, not us.

A traffic circle would be like Spadina Crescent, where traffic in the circle does not necessarily have priority.
 
nfitz said:
People don't tend to call those little islands in the middle of an intersection a roundabouts though ... it's a circle that the traffic goes around. That's what they are called. Traffic island perhaps ...

Seattle is the same: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/trafficcircles.htm
Click to expand...

Traffic circle is generally the US name for a circular intersection where there are signals and/or signs and the traffic within the circle does not have the right of way, as opposed to a true roundabout. If the traffic within the circle has the right of way and incoming traffic is not subject to signals or stop signs, then it doesn't matter how small the roundabout is, it's still a roundabout, whether the centre of it is an island, a dome or even just a large painted dot.
 
reaperexpress said:
A traffic circle would be like Spadina Crescent, where traffic in the circle does not necessarily have priority.
Click to expand...

Good point. Spadina is mostly a traffic circle since traffic from the east and west sides is required to stop. If you want to use it as a roundabout to go around the north or south end, you actually have to yield, so it's not a true roundabout in that sense.
 
the lemur said:
Traffic circle is generally the US name for a circular intersection where there are signals and/or signs and the traffic within the circle does not have the right of way, as opposed to a true roundabout.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure that's true on the west coast where these circles are common. There's no way that the car couldn't have right-of-way in the intersection of these small circles ... nothing else would fit. What you are sounding sounds more like rotaries ... or the large traffic circles we used to see in central Canada decades ago.
 
nfitz said:
I'm not sure that's true on the west coast where these circles are common. There's no way that the car couldn't have right-of-way in the intersection of these small circles ... nothing else would fit. What you are sounding sounds more like rotaries ... or the large traffic circles we used to see in central Canada decades ago.
Click to expand...

After a certain point, if it's just a small thing you drive around instead of making a conventional left turn the name is pretty much irrelevant. A rotary is a Massachusetts traffic circle, and a traffic circle is usually just an intersection with a round-ish central feature. Traffic planners in the US now propose roundabouts specifically to avoid the association with older traffic circles.
 
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