• EatATaco@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    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.

  • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    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.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    Bullshit cruising or loitering ordinances that should have never been passed would probably be the excuse cops use in many areas

    • efstajas@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      I doubt it’d take long before they try to stop you on different grounds like impeding traffic or public nuisance or whatever

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        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

      • shneancy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        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

  • Gnugit@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    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.

    • Delphia@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      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.

  • SoGrumpy@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    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.

  • TOModera@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    I had an uncle who nearly tested this theory.

    I hope he gets his license pulled soon.

  • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    An elderly couple got stuck on the M25 and needed to be rescued and treated for dehydration. That’s kind of a roundabout. It was ages ago.

    • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yeah, it really depends on the size of the roundabout. I’d say it would be 5 laps of a mini-roundabout before people started noticing. But if it’s a large motorway junction roundabout or even the M25, nobody might ever notice…

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    You could probably go 5 or 6 times before a policeman would say “Come on Mr Biden, sir. The White House is this way.”

    • Eiim@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      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.

      • DaCrazyJamez@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        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.

    • BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      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

    • Ken Oh@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      I would love to get a source on this. I tried but couldn’t find anything. That’s hilarious if true.

      • Dasus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        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.

        • atocci@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          5 months ago

          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?

          • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            5 months ago

            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.

            • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              5 months ago

              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.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        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.

        • gentooer@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          5 months ago

          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.

          • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            5 months ago

            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.

          • bitwaba@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            5 months ago

            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.

          • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            5 months ago

            Americans hire too many cops and then have to invent busywork for them to do instead of solving actual crimes.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      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.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        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

    • bitwaba@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      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.

        • dirtbiker509@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          5 months ago

          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!