The roundabout, also known as the traffic circle, is a popular road device for controlling traffic. It doesn’t appear so much in the United States, but there are a few about. Like in Texas, where one young driver decided to see how long he could drive around one without stopping.
Today, I spoke to a young man behind the Twitter account DFWStormChasers. Late last week, he drew plenty of attention by asking a simple question. “How long can you drive in a roundabout before you get the cops called on you?” he mused. But he didn’t just ask the question—he actually went and found out.
At this point I’ll say I don’t condone this kind of behavior. At the same time, it’s a question that demanded and answer. So how long can you get away with this? As it turns out—a damn sight longer than you might think. Don’t try this at home.
Yes I tested this
(Breakcore cause funny) https://t.co/K5zhSHDCyp pic.twitter.com/WdVh5o77Jo— DFWStormChasers (@DFWStormChasing) October 11, 2024
Spin Me Right Round
We don’t have the kind of fully-certified timing that you might get with a Nürburgring record. What we do have is a dashcam video with a time stamp. On his first attempt, this young driver who shall remain nameless headed out in his truck and managed to loop a roundabout in Arlington, Texas for over 20 minutes until he was stopped. “Someone was angry at me the first time and called [the] police department,” he told me. “I left before anything happened.”
Of course, it didn’t stop there. The video quickly racked up likes on Twitter, with DFWStormChasers laying down the gauntlet. The challenge was simple—10,000 likes, and he’d try for an hour. The video soared to over 150,000 likes, so he drove out and went for it again.
I made it 50 minutes this time.
The police thought it was "reckless driving" and they received "multiple complaints"
Having fun is apparently illegal https://t.co/gn0OJA1Ycv pic.twitter.com/E5cj0hZL9Q— DFWStormChasers (@DFWStormChasing) October 14, 2024
The second time around, he says he made it a full 50 minutes until the police showed up and pulled him over. By the sounds of things, they were less than pleased. “The second time at least three people called [the police],” he explains. “Cops threatened me with disturbing the peace, being a public nuisance, speeding, disrupting [the] flow of traffic, and felony reckless driving.” Quite the potential rap sheet, though apparently the only actual charge laid was a speeding offense for going three miles per hour over the speed limit. Beyond that, the police also had another punishment in mind. “The cops made me call my dad and said all of those things to him, trying to get me in trouble,” the young driver explained.
Arlington police were apparently eager to discourage this activity in future. “I only attempted twice, as the City of Arlington apparently ‘has me on file’ if I get caught doing it again,” the driver told me. “I really want to, but as I’m only 17, getting into a court battle with the police department over being silly is not on my to-do list.” That sounds like a sane choice—judges rarely look kindly upon people that intentionally go out of their way to cause problems.
Things I was threatened with:
Public endangerment
Felony reckless driving
Disturbing the peace
Being a public nuisance
SpeedingThings I actually did:
Go 3 over the limitThanks Arlington PD
— DFWStormChasers (@DFWStormChasing) October 15, 2024
The video of the second attempt racked up a further 88,000 likes on Twitter. Through the social media site’s Premium program, the driver is hoping to make some money back on his short lived notoriety.
Is this specifically a crime? I couldn’t find anything specific in Texas legislation about intentionally looping a roundabout over and over again. I have reached out to TxDOT for more information and will update this article accordingly.
Ultimately, it’s possible to argue about this, but regardless—police can always find something to charge you with in a case like this. In any case, 50 minutes is a big achievement in what is, fundamentally, a disruptive pastime that should not be encouraged. The record isn’t official by any means, because nobody tracks these things and the early part of the video is corrupted. Still, that’s the number we have to go on.
This has Happened Before
Would you believe that there is nothing new under the sun? I did some further research, and found out that this question has been asked previously. Australian outlet Drive.com.au reported on the matter earlier this year after a Twitter post from American comedian Tommy Bayer drew some serious attention online.
Tommy didn’t have the answer, but that led me to the exploits of another comedian—one Dave Dugan, of Carmel, Indiana. As covered by WTHR in 2022, Dugan drove a full 1,001 laps around the Jackson Circle on Horseferry Road, which took him 4 hours and 29 minutes. He was allegedly trying to beat an Australian record of 4 hours and 52 seconds, which he did so quite handily. Dugan claimed this was a world record, and had undertaken the feat to raise money for the Cancer Support Community charity.
Doing this is not exactly dangerous, whether you’re doing it for 50 minutes or well over four hours. Still, it is a great way to piss off other drivers and make enemies in your neighborhood. This young teenage driver has shown us how long you can get away with this for, and that should answer all of our questions. Now we know, this silly pastime should end here, for all our sakes.
Image credit: Chuttersnap via Unsplash license
I think it truly depends on how sideways you are.
I’m confused:
Still, it is a great way to piss off other drivers and make enemies in your neighborhood.
Why? Only in rare cases are roundabouts in the US placed an idyllic quiet neighborhoods (there are a few in Austin last I lived there that were in little quiet neighborhoods but this is odd) so what pisses off anyone around? I mean was this guy drifting?
Public endangerment How?
Felony reckless driving Again how? This is usually reserved for high speeds like while eluding. Reckless driving is a misdemeanor, it only becomes a felony when added to something else like an injury accident, racing etc.
Disturbing the peace What the actual fudge??? in Texas this is :”These behaviors include public fighting, excessive noise, and offensive language”.
Being a public nuisance What the fudge part II, public nuisance in Texas refers to the keeping of property (overgrown weeds, junk, hazards what not) it’s in the Health and Safety section of the code not traffic..
Felony reckless driving? Talk about cops on a power trip just because they can do it.
There’s saying for that.. Can’t remember, “something something are bastards”?
Anyone know the margin of error for a radar gun? He could probably beat the 3mph speeding ticket just on that basis.
I think it depends, I’m not sure they are calibrated for this. I don’t know (because none of the links open) but “radar guns” work on the Doppler effect, but unless they were following, isn’t there a vector involved in a car coming around a corner?
In northeast Georgia here and they can’t stop putting in roundabouts. And they are in the most random areas. Like middle of nowhere, middle of a cow pasture or on the side of a mountain random.
As some personal experience, my son was asleep in the back seat and my wife says “just drive around for a while and let him get a nap in.” I proceeded to stay in a roundabout for 6 laps before she became less than amused
Who is hanging around the roundabout ready to call the cops when someone stays in there more than 1 lap? I would be more afraid being the person driving laps since most of us yanks don’t know how to drive in a roundabout.
Y’all need to look into Rhonda the Roundabout in Clarksville, TN. It made quite the splash in the first month it was open.
I live a few miles from a roundabout with multiple sets of traffic lights on it, and a huge bridge support in the middle. You could lap that for hours with no one ever noticing, but you’d probably do a lot of stopping at red lights.
The center of a roundabout is the ideal place for a giant bridge support.
It’s the intersection of two highways (dual carriageway A-roads in the UK) and a couple of little roads too. One of the roads goes over the top on the bridge with two pairs of on/off ramps.
Sticking four sets of traffic lights on the roundabout ensures traffic never flows smoothly, making everyone equally miserable, as is the British tradition. It’s possible to get stopped at all four red lights just trying to do one lap.
Well if anyone can screw up a roundabout…
Roundabouts and mini-roundabouts are the precious jewels of the UK road network. I know, because I am from the UK and learned to drive there, but have spent more than half my life driving in a country that has only just started to introduce them, at a pace slower than piecemeal.
As soon as they put traffic lights on a roundabout it loses its raison d’etre and just becomes a one-way system. Also, all the fun of do-or-die roundabouts like Hyde Park Corner is lost.
For one glorious month I had to commute from one side of Milton Keynes to the other in terrible company Renault Laguna. It was incredibly slow, so every roundabout (which is pretty much every junction in MK) was dive-bombing a gap between other cars in this massive sofa of a car.
That reminds me of bombing around the roundabouts on the outskirts of Eastbourne in my mum’s Toyota Starlet, which was a hoot in the first three gears. After it ran out of steam in third there was a long gap to fourth, so it was a tedious cruiser, but it was ideal for roundabouts in series.
You spin me right ’round, baby
Right ’round, like a record, baby
Right ’round, ’round, ’round
You spin me right ’round, baby
Right ’round, like a record, baby
Right ’round, ’round, ’round
If you are unsure of your exit there is nothing wrong with making a second pass, But I don’t think there is any law here in the UK about number of turns, There just isn’t any real reason to do it.
Also, The one in the top pic, If you go round it the way your arrows suggest you might not even make it to 1 🙂 Look at the road markings…
1.) Roundabouts are quite common in Washington state, at least in King County…
2.) This is just a stupid and pointless thing to do. “I did it for the lulz and the Likes” is a great way to say “I’m a moron” without saying “I’m a moron.”
Of course if you are old enough Roundabout by Yes is the ultimate song. Congrats to these people as I can barely go around once without almost getting hit!
Apparently, driving through roundabouts was the inspiration for the song.
The general public has a hard enough time using roundabouts correctly so introducing additional chaos is gonna get a reaction. I hope he rotated his tires after these stunts, anyway.
My friends and I did this in high school. I’m sure many of you aren’t familiar with Golden, CO, but it has roundabouts for days and particularly one right outside of the high school. Which is where this took place. We never timed it but did go by “laps”. One of my friends got 36 before getting pulled over. It seemed impressive at the time, but seems much less impressive now based on this article and comments. What made it funnier was another one of my friends in the passenger seat shouting out the number of laps as he went. The driver wound up with a careless driving ticket, or one of those tickets you get when you haven’t actually broken a law but are being stupid.
Good times.
This is a piece for the Washington Post by a guy who did 1,409 laps around the Chevy Chase traffic circle between 6 AM and 7 PM for a total of 216.8 miles. He did take breaks, though. No traffic cops.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/01/19/traffic-circle-of-the-absurd/fae25253-1396-46b1-99f3-c7373fd3efbf/
If this becomes “a thing” then there will probably be rolling roundabout takeovers within a month.
I think I’ve never been in a roundabout where doing this for more than a few laps wouldn’t cause oil starvation to the engine, but we’re probably all different and drive different.
I drive through 8(eight!) roundabouts on my 14 mile commute to work, several are fairly good sized but not really near houses or anything to draw attention so I could probably cruise around them for a good while without anybody hassling.
I do think they’re good for like if you’re headed somewhere with a group in another car and want to switch so they get to the driveway first you do an extra lap so they pass you, or if you think you’re being followed just do a couple laps. Also seen big slow trucks take an extra lap to let traffic behind them clear, they can be fairly handy.
The fact that the police have the time to go after someone for doing something harmless suggest to me that there are too many police officers there with not enough to do.
And that also suggests to me that maybe less money should go to police and more money to other things… like schools.
“doing something harmless” depends on how many other people are trying to get through that circle.
I tried this several years ago. After about three laps I felt stupid and moved on with my boring life.
But did you have Twitter/X and a bunch of people cheering you on with ‘likes’?
Yikes. I could do this exactly twice before I started getting dizzy. Just reading about it gives me a headache.
I feel like this really depends on the radius though?
The Arc de Triomphe is a roundabout, isn’t it?
For the Arc de Triomphe, let’s say three to four. I’m prone to motion sickness. I did a brisk unnecessary lap around a traffic circle in my 911 last weekend and noticed some effects even then.
There are four roundabouts over the course of a about a mile and a half on a road near me. I know the racing line through all of them in both directions. Can’t say I have done laps of them though.
Some people call them roundabouts. I call them chicanes.
Right on!
I’d say you can do it infinitely, I can drive around my block until I run out of gas I don’t think anyone would notice or even call the police, granted it is Philadelphia, the police wouldn’t even entertain the call of someone complaining about that.
Who are these people who notice a person driving around a roundabout? They themselves would have to be at the roundabout for quite a time to see someone even go around more than once and then to think they are doing something nefarious at 5mph instead of being lost and going around once. Its sheer nosiness at that point. Drifting around the roundabout? Yes call the police after an initial applause, but just driving? Please go away and go about your day.
The dude is in trouble because he’s going the wrong way around the roundabout! Look at the entrance/exit lane arrows. Clearly Aussie. Then look at the direction of driving – straight outta the USofA. Surprised he didn’t head-on some poor bloke. (Also, I think the car pictured is driving clockwise).
I don’t it, was it neighbors that live next to the roundabout that sat there and watched him? I see other cars in a roundabout for all of the 10 seconds it takes for me to drive through and I never see those cars again.
If you’re just circling around going the speed limit (not bouncing off the rev limiter with a full opposite lock drift the whole time), how would anyone even know you’d been there a while?