I live on the border to Germany - the Germans do that as well. I absolutely hate that habit.

indeed Swiss road planners (Swiss being linked to the road, peeps) seem to think it's absolutely essential to try to cause as many accidents as possible at roundabouts with blinking crossings 2 metres from the darn things. You're trying to exit the roundabout and a lemming throws him or herself into the crossing.....and in the meantime, someone's trying to drive into the side of you.

But the best roundabout I know is the one at Lugano railway station where you have the following obstacles:
1) Drivers having to do U-turns around the roundabout due to the myopic routing system in that area
2) Crazy crossings
3) Lemmings not using the crossings
4) People stopping in the roundabout to drop off and collect people
5) Bendy buses having to stop in the roundabout to wait for the barrier to open into the station area
6) Cars parking in the bus parking spot so that the bus has to block the roundabout, crossing and road in general to pick up and drop off passengers

But guess what...........who cares?

It's actually true that there are statistically more accidents on roundabouts than on intersections with signals. However, the number of serious accidents is drastically lower on roundabouts - that's one of the primary reasons why the Cantons prefer this solution.

I tend to be careful with generalizations since I almost got hit by a car in London because the driver didn't find the colour of the light red enough to his taste, whereas I found the colour of my little pedestrian signal green enough to mine.
Hard to believe, but yes, an English driver almost killed a German/French pedestrian in London in 1997. Bad luck for you, I am still alive and still do not generalize about drivers in England, or anywhere else.

No, this happens in France and in the northeastern US as well. It might come as a surprise to you, but there are bad drivers everywhere including Switzerland.

You misunderstood the rules, specifically for London. Green means go. Yellow means go faster. Red means "next three cars please".

I think generalising about London drivers, Parisian drivers is perfectly acceptable, since these cities really do have driving features which are their own.

Crossings at roundabouts are pretty well universal in my experience, certainly in the UK for example. How else are pedestrians meant to walk round the things? Or are you one of those drivers that deny a pedestrians right to co-exist?

Strange...I have exactly the opposite perception. They creep up to them, wait even when nothing else is on the roundabout and then very slowly move forward.

Every car has this on the back if it's registered in Switzerland.....not much further advanced really

At one crossroads, traffic light controlled, they replaced it with a roundabout. Then put traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings on each exit. I really can't see the point of that.

In any decent, civilised country, the pedestrians would cross the road via subway or bridge. Just like at the Arc de Triomphe. (Which I have driven round a few times, and lived to tell the tale ).

imagine bridges at each major crossing... after You would complain about the view or the stairs...
Subway is a better option, but many places the underground space is already occupied...
roundabouts were originally constructed to help the flow of the traffic not to hinder it. And -when used correctly- it really can speed up the traffic and reduce pollution as there will be no jam... on the other hand when not used correctly...

other swiss problem is parking. Here in Lausanne people cannot park, it take them minutes to put the car in the place, and at the and even after that the car is like 20cm out of the line...

I learnt to drive here (1987) and I don't remember any roundabouts! My Dad, a brilliant driver, taught me when I went home to England after I'd past my test ! So I learnt to give way to those already on the roundabout and to indicate when I was on the roundabout and when leaving the roundabout, so I was confused when those rules didn't apply here!! When asking my Swiss colleagues and friends about the rules for roundabouts they didn't know if there are any

As for roundabouts slowing down the traffic - well to be honest the new one near me has caused more hassle than it's worth - during "rush hour" there is always a jam! Me not happy!

If you think it's bad here you should try roundabouts in Belgium. Half the population think that they still have to give priority to traffic joining the roundabout (they haven't realised that the rules changed years ago) and just stop right in the middle of the thing They don't signal for anything either. Most of them probaqbly don't even realise that the car is fitted with and indicator

Ive only noticed it here, so I thought its something that only the swiss do. Or maybe those that DO use their signals are the non swiss!?

Why do some ppl (not neccessarily swiss, and not neccessarily men ) only search for their first gear, when the traffic light has already switched to green?
That drives me nuts

One thing I really hate ..and i mean really hate is when there is a long cue of traffic and everyone is moving forward ...except for the guy in front of you ...he sits there whilst a gap of a kilometer grows between him and the car in front of him ....meanwhile there are 1000 cars behind him waiting for him to be good enough to put his foot on the accelerator and move forward..

Sort of like he is saying " well i will move when i like ..the rest of you can wait for me"---

.. these type of people should be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

I've come to the conclusion as with many things Swiss, that there is a tax on indicator usage, which is why so few people use them.

Being brought up with UK roundabout ettiquette I always use my indicators, and so I'm expecting a substantial pink or orange slip with a request for funds through my door some time soon.

They're the same people who are so stunned that they actually have to pay for things, that they spend five minutes at the checkout trying to find their wallet/purse.

Made me smile (excuse the slight digression).
As a 14 yr. old schoolboy, I had a class trip to Paris.
We emerged from the Metro on the Champs Elysée and walked up towards the Arc de Triomphe. I stopped to buy some postcards, and then saw the rest of the class already in the middle by the A.de.T.
It took me a good minute plus to cross 8 lanes of traffic to catch them up - only to find out from a friend, that it would have been much easier (and safer) to use the underpass, like they all had.

Ah. That thing's a bridge. I've often wondered.

..... but there's a hell of a lot of steps to go up, in order to cross it.