2842: Inspiraling Roundabout - Revision history

96.241.144.5: "coddling" is... just a word?

2025-06-24T05:15:35Z

"coddling" is... just a word?

Xurkitree10: /* Transcript */

2024-10-03T21:54:38Z

‎Transcript

Asdf: 2x image version for consistency

2024-05-03T09:37:28Z

2x image version for consistency

SomeoneIGuess: ditto

2023-11-04T03:11:09Z

ditto

172.69.194.194: /* Trivia */ I thought I had already edited this to be the wikilink template, earlier on in the contribution's existence.

2023-10-31T08:51:12Z

‎Trivia: I thought I had already edited this to be the wikilink template, earlier on in the contribution's existence.

Firestar233: trivia usually goes after transcript

2023-10-31T04:39:41Z

trivia usually goes after transcript

Laser813: Randall presumably designed this to be driven through without lane changes.

2023-10-27T16:32:06Z

Randall presumably designed this to be driven through without lane changes.

Tromag at 20:53, 26 October 2023

2023-10-26T20:53:30Z

Laser813: Lane-changing explanation not needed. If it's a driver who will change lanes, they can do 1 lane change to getto the subsequent exit. If they won't, then they drive to the center and then exit via another lane. No one is gonna change lanes more than once.

2023-10-26T18:01:05Z

Lane-changing explanation not needed. If it's a driver who will change lanes, they can do 1 lane change to getto the subsequent exit. If they won't, then they drive to the center and then exit via another lane. No one is gonna change lanes more than once.

N0lqu: What happens when they actually get to the center? Tighter turns, and eventually going the wrong way

2023-10-24T20:21:06Z

What happens when they actually get to the center? Tighter turns, and eventually going the wrong way

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:15, 24 June 2025
Line 28:		Line 28:

	* In street racing culture, doing "donuts" -- circling a single spot at high speed to leave circular tread marks on the pavement -- is a popular pastime, but these drivers circle for a few rotations, not several hours.		* In street racing culture, doing "donuts" -- circling a single spot at high speed to leave circular tread marks on the pavement -- is a popular pastime, but these drivers circle for a few rotations, not several hours.
−	* The complaint of "coddling" some group was popularized by the title of the 2018 book, "The Coddling of the American Mind," a criticism of modern higher education.

	==Similar XKCD comics==		==Similar XKCD comics==

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 ==Transcript==
-{{incomplete transcript}}
+:[A large roundabout with three entrances of two lanes, three exits, and three spirals (as is evidenced by the three inner termini and three separate starts) of dotted lines starting from the medians between entry lanes and exit lanes of the same road which terminate in the center leaving a lane-sized median of plain asphalt.]
 :[Caption below the panel:]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = October 16, 2023
 | title     = Inspiraling Roundabout
-| image     = inspiraling_roundabout.png
+| image     = inspiraling roundabout 2x.png
 | titletext = Look, I just think we need to stop coddling those hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours, wasting valuable capacity.
 }}

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 }}
 ==Explanation==
 This is the second consecutive comic that deals with confusing directions given to road users.

@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 ==Trivia==
-* Unlike inspiraling roundabouts, outspiraling roundabouts are a real thing, common across western Europe. They are known as "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout#Turbo_roundabouts turbo roundabouts]", though the design usually features at least 4 entrances/exits.
+* Unlike inspiraling roundabouts, outspiraling roundabouts are a real thing, common across western Europe. They are known as "{{w|Roundabout#Turbo roundabouts|turbo roundabouts}}", though the design usually features at least 4 entrances/exits.
 {{comic discussion}}
 <!-- Include any categories below this line. -->

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 * [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]] also has a rotary that intentionally collides cars.
 * [[2728: Lane Change Highway]] has a similar theme of changing lanes because the road is poorly designed -- and it was the first time Randall complained about his ideas getting rejected by traffic engineers.
 ==Transcript==
@@ Line 43: / Line 40: @@
 :[Caption below the panel:]
 :Even though it '''''was''''' technically navigable, the highway department vetoed my inspiraling roundabout design.
 {{comic discussion}}
 <!-- Include any categories below this line. -->

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 The caption states that it's "[[Technically|technically]] navigable", but that the Highway Department has vetoed it, presumably because of its deliberate complexity, impracticality, and the high risk of head-on collisions.
-The system is fairly simple to use. Assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}, one could get to the next exit without entering the spiral. Getting to the subsequent exit would simply require making a lane change toward the right.  However, if the driver doesn't change lanes -- or the ideal lane change can't be performed at the right spot -- the driver would travel ever deeper into the spiral, meaning that more lane changes would need to be performed to get out. A driver who didn't make lane changes quickly enough would be drawn into the center.
+The system is fairly simple to use. Assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}, one could get to the next exit without entering the spiral. Getting to the subsequent exit would simply require making a lane change toward the right.
-The convergence of all inward-bound vehicles at the roundabout's center makes this design exceptionally dangerous. Someone who got to the center would either collide with another car there, become stuck there without an obvious way out, or would risk turning into one of the other lanes, causing them to spiral out, driving against traffic.  If any other cars used the same lane at the same time, the risk of a head-on collision would be very high.
+However, Randall is likely assuming drivers who don't change lanes, in which case his design would force drivers to travel ever deeper into the spiral, reach the center, and choose one of the other two lanes to attempt to exit the roundabout.
 The joke is that such a deliberately challenging and dangerous design would be unlikely to be approved.

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 This is the second consecutive comic that deals with confusing directions given to road users.
-A {{w|roundabout}}, a form of traffic circle or rotary, is a traffic control device that serves as an alternative to stop signs, instead allowing for mere yields, as all traffic flows in the same counterclockwise direction around a central point (clockwise in left-hand traffic countries). Roundabouts improve safety and the flow of traffic, since they eliminate turns against traffic and full stops are only needed during high-traffic periods.
+A {{w|roundabout}}, a form of traffic circle or rotary, is a traffic control device that serves as an alternative to stop signs, instead allowing for mere yields, as all traffic flows in the same counterclockwise direction around a central point (clockwise in left-hand traffic countries). Roundabouts improve safety and the flow of traffic, since they eliminate turns against traffic and full stops are only needed during high-traffic periods. One downside is that they take up more space than a traditional signaled intersection.
-Various roundabout designs have been proposed and used throughout the world. Some use spiraling designs in which a driver wishing to access one of the furthest exits is initially directed into a lane towards the center, which then spirals outwards, guiding them out until they reach the intended exit. Randall, in contrast, proposes an "Inspiraling Roundabout" which spirals each entrance lane inward, eventually leading all three roads to meet in the center and become the exit lanes.
+Various roundabout designs have been proposed and used throughout the world. Some use "out-spiraling" designs in which a driver wishing to access one of the furthest exits is initially directed into a lane towards the center, which then spirals outwards, guiding them out until they reach the intended exit. Randall, in contrast, proposes an "Inspiraling Roundabout" which spirals each entrance lane inward, eventually leading all three roads to meet in the center and become the exit lanes.
 The caption states that it's "[[Technically|technically]] navigable", but that the Highway Department has vetoed it, presumably because of its deliberate complexity, impracticality, and the high risk of head-on collisions.
-The system is "technically navigable" because it's fairly simple to use. Assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}, one could get to the next exit without entering the spiral. Getting to the subsequent exit would simply require making a lane change toward the right.  However, if the driver doesn't change lanes -- or the ideal lane change can't be performed at the right spot -- the driver would travel ever deeper into the spiral.
+The system is fairly simple to use. Assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}, one could get to the next exit without entering the spiral. Getting to the subsequent exit would simply require making a lane change toward the right.  However, if the driver doesn't change lanes -- or the ideal lane change can't be performed at the right spot -- the driver would travel ever deeper into the spiral.
-If a driver entered the center and wished to exit the roundabout at a different exit (as is typical), they would need to continue making rightward lane changes to reach any of the exit lanes at the outermost periphery of the roundabout.
+If a driver entered the center and wished to exit the roundabout at a different exit (as is typical), they would have a choice of choosing a different entrance/exit lane that leads to the desired exit (made difficult by the apparent lack of signage in the center) or to make rightward lane changes to reach the desired exit.
-Additionally, the convergence of all inward-bound vehicles at the roundabout's center, would risk head-on collisions if even a few vehicles used the roundabout at the same time.
+Additionally, the convergence of all inward-bound vehicles at the roundabout's center and the use of each lane foor both entrance and exits would risk head-on collisions if even a few vehicles used the roundabout at the same time.
 The joke is that such a deliberately challenging and dangerous design would be unlikely to be approved.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 Additionally, the convergence of all inward-bound vehicles at the roundabout's center, would risk head-on collisions if even a few vehicles used the roundabout at the same time.
-Even if such collisions were avoided, exiting from the centre would require the driver to continuously make rightward lane changes while watching for vehicles entering from their vehicle's passenger side, which is often among a vehicle's worst blind spots. Furthermore, drivers entering the roundabout's inner lanes would have to begin making rightward lane changes while simultaneously watching for traffic exiting from the left lanes, removing one of the advantages of typical roundabout design - that you only need to give way to traffic approaching from a single direction.
+Even if such collisions were avoided, exiting from the centre would require the driver to continuously make rightward lane changes while watching for vehicles entering from their vehicle's passenger side, which is often among a vehicle's worst blind spots. Furthermore, drivers entering the roundabout's inner lanes would have to begin making rightward lane changes while simultaneously watching for traffic exiting from the left lanes, removing one of the advantages of typical roundabout design - that you only need to give way to traffic approaching from a single direction.  In addition, the closer to the center you are, the less time you have to react before you are one rotation closer to the center, and an eventual head-on with anyone else also near the center.  The final danger is, upon reaching the center without encountering another vehicle, the driver mistakenly thinks they need to continue on one of the two lanes apparently open before them... and end up going the wrong way down a now-outspiraling lane going clockwise (when the roundabout is designed for counterclockwise driving in this comic's example), heading to an eventual head-on with some other vehicle or exiting the roundabout but on the wrong side of the road (toward incoming traffic).
 The joke is that such a deliberately challenging and dangerous design would be unlikely to be approved.