Valeria Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Moving from SMA to Lake Chapala, my question is, do you guys have roundabouts (traffic circles) in the Lake Chapala area? The roundabouts here in SMA scare the crap out of me.....it is a free for all!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 We have glorietas in Guadalajara and you must go right to go left in La FLoresta although many people do not do that. The glorietas n Guadalajara have lights in the glorieta so they are nothing like the Arch of Triumph in Paris where you really have to know how to drive.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 There is one glorieta in La Floresta but the main highway is straight through the middle of it, so it won't be a problem for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Actually the La FLoresta is more dangerous than the glorietas where the traffic merges..I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 That hasn't been my experience. There are lights there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 not everywhere and the idea of crossing 2 lanes of traffic rather than having merging glorieta does not make any sense. In Europe they are doing away with traffic light and replace than with glorietas so the traffic can keep moving and no one sits there for no reason when there is no traffic .Th traffic is much smoother with well designed glorietas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafterbr Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 La Floresta is not a roundabout it has traffic lights. It may have been at one time but no more. One of the purposes of roundabouts is not to have traffic signals. Having driven in London for 3 years I agree they are terrible. especially the mini ones. I finally understood European Vacation after driving in large roundabouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 la floresta ha lights but you cannot turn left unless you go right and then cross..it is not a real glorieta but you do have to go right before you cross the 2 lanes if you do not want to get a ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Glorietas work great when drivers know how to use them. Of course they would never work here with fresh-off-the-boat, clueless drivers and the freakishly confident pedestrians from NOB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 lots of IFs Travis.. Unlike France the ones in Guadalajara have lights but they work ok.. Yes you have to undestand how glorietas work and respect the rules otherwise you can have a mess. When I was young , I had an embarrasing experience with a American friend at the Arc de Triumph in Paris. We had to cross it and we entered it but my friend was too scared to exit so we went around and around being pushed to the center and I realized we could die of thirst and hunger there so I told her to stop by a cop who stopped the entire mess to get us out of there.We followed the cop who had to keep blowing his whistle and tell people to let us in . I was totally mortified.. yes you do need to know how to drive, know the rules and to make sure you do not rear end anyone as no matter what if you rearend someone, you are at fault Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floradude Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 There is more than one glorieta on the carretera/La Floresta. I constantly see people making left turns off on the carretera (no light) when the law says they exit the carretera to the right and proceed around the glorieta. Also, coming west you cannot make a left turn at the light and turn into the the restaurant. It is a glorieta and the signs clearly tell you that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 yes I agree that they are glorietas but they are poorly constructed and many people do not even see them as glorietas, if they did away with what they have and built a real glorieta they would not need the lights and the traffic would not back up.. Since there is very little cross traffic in La Foresta and space for the change it would work well.. In town is another problem as there is no space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 I should ask someone who has been here for 30 years or something, who might know what the original design was. Because it is not a true glorieta now, that's for sure. We used to have weekends where the lights at that "glorieta" were turned off, and traffic flowed beautifully, with lots of spaces for La Floresta residents to get out and across after very short waits. EDIT: Apparently, the La Floresta situation has always been like that. Lights were added at some point. Not sure how long the "no left turn" rule has been in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Directly to the question from the OP: There are NO roundabouts at Lakeside that come anywhere near like the ones in San Miguel.... especially the killer one at Mega/La Comer there! Traffic in general is much less a problem at Lakeside compared to SMA but we all know that the carretera here through the towns themselves are a growing nightmare. Get off that route and traffic, while it exists, is no where near as bad as in 'downtown' SMA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 That's because there are no roundabouts here... period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valeria Posted January 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Thanks for your reply RickS, very helpful. Sounds like you know the traffic and roundabout nightmare here in SMA. We will be heading to Lake Chapala in about three weeks just waiting for our Permanent Residency card to be issued. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Yes, the roundabout at Mega used to be ‘not for the faint of heart’ but manageable. Now... it’s a literal death trap! You won’t find anything close to that at Lakeside. Slow “moving” traffic on the carretera a lot... Si. Insane madness... no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted January 5, 2019 Report Share Posted January 5, 2019 I lived in SMA for nine years (1996 to 2005) and there was no roundabout at that intersection. Hell, there was NOTHING at that intersection. It was boonie land and the next sign of life was Los Frailes. Went back to visit friends in 2013 and the whole area had been built up and the death defying roundabout was in place. I didn't much care for any of the changes that had taken place there. That's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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