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Freakonomics Radio

454. Should Traffic Lights Be Abolished?

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.632K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Americans are so accustomed to the standard intersection that we rarely consider how dangerous it can be — as well as costly, time-wasting, and polluting. Is it time to embrace the lowly, lovely roundabout?

Transcript

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0:00.0

Yes, I'm a member of the Dole Men's Club.

0:04.3

Let me make sure I'm understanding you correctly. It's called the Dole Men's Club. Yes, Dole as in boring.

0:09.5

Yeah, Dole is the new black. It's sexy being Dole.

0:13.5

We mean like Dole Men. They know we're not going to run off with Lady Gaga or something.

0:17.7

Yeah, understood. We're very reliable. Exactly.

0:22.8

That is Kevin Beresford. In addition to the Dole Men's Club, he belongs to another group that might sound Dole.

0:29.6

I'm the president of the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society, also known as Lord of the Rings. That's my official title.

0:38.0

A roundabout, if you don't know, is a small circular traffic intersection, typically with one lane.

0:44.0

There is no traffic light or stop sign, more likely a yield sign at each entry in exit.

0:50.2

The traffic therefore flows continuously, if slowly, around a center island.

0:56.3

A roundabout is not the same as a rotary, which is also known as a traffic circle.

1:01.3

Rotaries tend to be substantially larger than roundabouts with higher speeds.

1:06.3

Roundabouts are much more common in the UK than in the US, and you could think of them as a kinder,

1:12.4

gentler version of the rotary. So that's nice. But still, a roundabout appreciation society.

1:19.5

All this came about in the year 2003. I ran a small printer in the town of Reditch in Worcestershire, England.

1:27.8

Reditch is in the West Midlands near Birmingham.

1:31.3

We did have a lot going for us in that town. We had three prisons, but no cinema.

1:36.4

We did have a 24-hour test go, but that was about our limit.

1:40.8

What we did have was a copious amount of roundabouts.

1:44.8

So just for the gigal, I'll be honest there, just for the gigal, we ran off a roundabout

1:49.8

calendar to give to our customers. And I couldn't believe the feedback I got.

1:54.2

It sold all round the world.

...

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