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ROUNDABOUT
MEDIA
Letters
The letters on this on this page are listed in date order with the latest appearing at the top. The earliest letter can be located at the bottom. Rt 9 Corridor
Study
Frustrated Motorist To the
Editor: This
afternoon I spent some quality time with my husband trapped in the new
roundabout at the intersection of Route 9/9H and State Farm Road.
I
would like five minutes alone with the geniuses who decided this project would
be a good idea.
If their goal was to create confused, frustrated drivers and an extremely
hazardous situation, then they have succeeded admirably.
We will avoid this area in the future at all cost. Donna
Connors, Greenport NY -- --
The Register-Star, Friday September 30, 2005 The following appeared in: The Widewaters Group wants to build a strip mall at the
very busy four-legged intersection of US9/NY 9H, which is currently signalized.
The unsignalized roundabout has been proposed by DOT as a “mitigation measure”
for the extra traffic this commercial development will generate. In
addition the mall’s entrance would necessitate a fifth leg for roundabout. The
town of Kinderhook can turn down this roundabout. The determination is in its
hands, not the hands of DOT. FOR ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KINDERHOOK PROPOSED
ROUNDABOUT To the Editor: July 3,
2004 It's bad enough that the Widewaters
land exploitation group chose the most visually beautiful open-to-the-public
viewshed in Columbia County (NY) to construct its "new commercial center of
Kinderhook," which is in essence a strip mall with outbuildings. But Widewaters disgraceful defense
of their choice -- that those who pass by on Route 9 only see this spectacular view for eleven seconds
anyway -- shows even less respect and concern for our people and community.
In response to a
comprehensive plan questionnaire some years ago, the overwhelming majority of
Kinderhookers recommended that the town preserve this very special location as
open space. The people of our town
well understand that this site helps to define Kinderhook's unique place in
Hudson Valley history. They know
it's an important visual resource for our tourist economy, the "unmatchable
asset we should be promoting," in the words of Walter Kulash, nationally
recognized and reform-minded traffic engineer. Tech Valley Magazine, a publication of the Albany-Colonie
Chamber of Commerce, with which Columbia County is affiliated, is luring the
best businesses it can find to our area.
The Chamber notes that "while the aggressive marketing, tax incentives
and diversity of businesses are getting high-tech companies to notice Tech
Valley, it is the quality of life that gets them to locate to this area of
"natural beauty and recreational opportunities." Are we to remain a positive part of this
program or not? If so, Kinderhook’s
planners must do the planning and not leave it to
developers. Because the planned strip mall’s buildings would be placed
close to Route 9, which in turn would be twisted into a don't-stop roundabout,
this site will be visually stolen from us forever. Why won't Widewaters choose another
developable site on Rte. 9 and make those of us who love it here happy? The name of our town is Kinderhook, not
Widewatersville. Frankly, I'd rather stop at a traffic light and take in a
wonderful view of the Catskill Mountain for 30 seconds than thread my way
through a roundabout. I do not
consider that wait to be a "level of service" failure; I consider it to be the
reason we stay in this gorgeous area. Urban roundabouts are generally
thought of by state DOTs and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as not
appropriate for urban areas because of their high volume of auto and pedestrian
traffic. And make no mistake about
it, when development takes off, this will be an urban area. Think Greenport. Think East
Greenbush, routes 4 and 20. Christchurch, New Zealand, as reported in its City
Manager's Office Report, vetoed a roundabout because it was felt that the number
of accidents would be the same, as it would increase the volume of through
traffic on local neighborhood side streets, resulting in no net decrease in the number of accidents; it would
simply relocate the problem. Who is
planning for Maple Lane traffic? Remember winter?
The 8/19/02 Anchorage Daily News reports the removal of a roundabout
because some vehicles spun out of control as they exited, resulting in accidents
which caused the loss of five light poles in one year at $4-5,000 a
pop. Davis, CA, turned down a
roundabout because of problems which reduced the effective capacity of the
intersection, including acute angles of entry, just like 9H, which would only
accommodate large trucks if the center island were small and completely
mountable, "not a desirable condition as it will eliminate the use of
(directional) signs in the center of the island, adding to driver confusion,"
and "would eliminate all landscaping."
Other similar problems were "long, straight sections of roadway leading
into deceptively sharp curves and odd-shaped islands;" "sharp turning radii into exits;" "poor sight distance at the entry
point." Emergency vehicles?
Kansas State Firefighters Assoc. reports that Kansas won't put
roundabouts on major routes because the large emergency vehicles, whose turning
radii are wide, forces drivers to "take the left side of the circle and drive
against traffic to make a 90 degree turn." "TheChamplainChannel.com,
4/28/04, reports, "One problem:
Some vehicles...like this ambulance we watched, couldn't make it through
the first time around. Fire trucks
might not make it at all...But city engineers say 'not to worry...We didn't
landscape the center circle, so that if a very large truck does come down
through here he can jump the curb...'
Now that's logical. Build
something they can't use, and then say it doesn't matter." A rather scary
tight squeeze for the other vehicles in the circle, too. They can't they pull over to get out of
the way, and trucks will have the right of way in the circle, according to
NYSDOT.
Who is liable for an accident
caused by bad design? A 6/02 study
for the Santa Barbara Taxpayers Association points out the problems of legality:
"...as un-regulated intersection, accident responsibility is difficult to
assign. This difficulty exists
because vehicles are not required to stop.
Right of way determination is at best difficult to determine. Accident rates often increase after
installation of a roundabout...no reports are made unless there are injuries or
at least one vehicle (is) damaged so badly it was un-drivable and had to be
towed." The study concludes, "It
appears that a common tactic by those in favor of roundabouts is to dismiss the
expense and other objectionable factors related to them. They then pick an intersection that is
in need of long overdue maintenance, and possibly has other factors contributing
to hazardous traffic operation such as improper signalization. Multiple options are then presented, all
of which include a variation of what they want and leave out other reasonable
alternatives...Traffic volume and relative speeds are more important factors in
the likelihood of accidents than any other element...The paramount problem with
the current intersection analysis is that it is pre-occupied with time
delays. "The level of service (LOS) approach grades intersections
on an A through F scale based entirely on delay, i.e., whether queues develop,
and at signalized intersections whether all waiting vehicles 'clear' the
intersection in one or more signal cycles, and how many seconds they must
wait. This approach fails to
consider safety, comfort and convenience factors, non-reported accidents, new
accidents, fear and road rage incidents." Who do you trust when DOT
seems to answer a question two ways?
One lane is safer, but you have to plan for two lanes for future
growth? And the entrances and exits
from a single-lane roundabout must be wide enough for two lanes, which
immediately maximizes the points of conflict within the circle? People will drive courteously, obey the
striped markings on the pavement and will stay in their correct lane, yet they
can't be trusted to slow down for a traffic light? Roundabout "expert" Georges Jacquemart says
in his 8/16/02 "Draft Guidelines on Accessible Public Rights-of-Way," Safety
versus Ease of Use, "(R)oundabouts…do not lull users into an exaggerated sense
of security as traffic lights do. At traffic lights users get very simple messages (walk, don't
walk, green, red), and unfortunately users associate this simplicity with
safety. At roundabouts all users are asked to pay attention and often users
perceive this as unsafe." Drivers, we're told, won't gun out of a roundabout exit
because they're "not supposed to," yet half the pedestrian crosswalks would be
at the point just beyond the roundabout exit, exactly where your foot comes down
hard to accelerate back to the speed limit. When so many traffic
engineers warn us that a roundabout is not always the best answer for every
intersection, that is the information Kinderhook should be listening to. Diane Whelton Kinderhook, NY
12106
Plattsburgh, NY
News
Response
Letters To Wall Street Journal Article of January 18, 2002
CLEARWATER, Fla., Jan. 18 - Carol Cullen had 15 years of dent-free driving under her belt when she steered a rented van last July onto a new circular intersection here. Seconds later, a delivery truck that was supposed to stay in the next lane plowed into the van, leaving Ms. Cullen unhurt but disoriented. "THE WHOLE WORLD is trained to look straight ahead," says Ms. Cullen, who sets up promotional displays for Hilton Hotels Corp. "Now they've got us trying to stare around curves?" It seemed like a good idea at the time. The $8 million Clearwater roundabout would replace a dangerous tangle of streets and intersections often choked with beach-bound traffic. It would create an artistic entry point for visitors. CONFUSION REIGNS But since
opening in December 1999, the roundabout has scared the wits out of drivers
trying to navigate it. No one knows which cars are supposed to have the
right-of-way. Some iscombobulated motorists hug the right shoulder, making it
hard for other cars to exit and causing backups at side streets. The
wedding-cake-shaped fountain in the center has doused windshields and obstructed
views of cars rounding the circle from the opposite side.
So far, there have been more than 500 accidents at the roundabout, which was touted at its opening as the greatest ever built in the U.S. The site "has been very good for business," says James McKeever, manager of nearby Pinellas Auto Body & Service Inc, which had one of its own tow trucks hit there. The frequency of accidents is eight times higher at the roundabout than at the intersections it replaced. City officials say the crashes are less severe, primarily because cars are now moving more slowly. It's a similar story elsewhere. As traffic planners across the U.S. rip out stop signs to install roundabouts that can slow aggressive drivers, some cities are discovering that these so-called "traffic-calming devices" do exactly the opposite. Some drivers go the wrong way, figuring it's OK to turn left into the roundabout if you plan to hop off at the first side street. Trucks flatten curbs and landscaping. In some places, accident rates have surged after the installation of roundabouts, causing them to be razed in favor of old-fashioned traffic lights or stop signs. THE CIRCLE GAME Roundabout designers, a number of whom are British or Australian, grudgingly acknowledge that they have a lot to teach Americans about going in circles. In April 2000, officials in Claremont, Calif., demolished the town's only roundabout just eight months after it was installed, saying drivers found it bewildering. Driver confusion at two roundabouts near Las
Vegas has put them on Nevada's annual list of the worst crash
spots.
In Clearwater, disoriented drivers smacked into each other or into the fountain at the an average of almost five a week. Tires squeal, horns honk and brakes screech as drivers try to make their way through the loop. The nearby beach is also harder to reach without taking a spin around the circle. "It's a monster, and I was an engineer myself," says retiree Bernice Lazar, who takes a nine-mile detour to avoid the roundabout. FORCED SLOWDOWN The circles' defenders claim they are safer than typical intersections, since drivers are forced to navigate slowly. About 9,500 fatal accidents occur at traditional intersections every year, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Several academic studies have shown declines in crashes where roundabouts were built, including in Europe,but federal officials say it depends on where and how the circles are built. "You can't just put these down everywhere," says Harry Campbell, the chief transportation engineer ofOrlando, Fla., which spent $25,000 to build a small circle and then concluded that four $75 stop signs would have worked better. "It's like art," he says of the roundabout-building boom. "It evokes controversy." The controversy erupted quickly in Clearwater. As the pileups piled up, some drivers began adopting survival techniques that reduce the efficiency of roundabouts, like straddling both lanes at once to avoid side collisions. Angry drivers flooded city hall and local newspapers with complaints. MISSING ARROWS And some roundabout rules don't make much sense, including permitting cars to exit from the inside lane. At the most notorious exit point in the Clearwater circle, there still are no arrows on the pavement to point drivers in the right direction. Clearwater is trying to turn things around. The fountain has been turned off and is likely to be demolished, and changes to lane markings give drivers a better idea of where to aim. The most recent accident reports also offer some encouragement: 23 crashes in the final three months of last year compared with 49 in the same period in 2000. Michael Wallwork, a transplanted Australian who helped design Clearwater's roundabout, pins much of the blame on drivers. "A lot of the opposition to roundabouts comes from a very simple bias," he says. "Americans are fed a diet of speed all the way from freeways to residential streets."
© St. Petersburg
Times
published August 1, 2000Letters to the EditorsRoundabouts' problems can be smoothed outEditor's note: Today's letters are from readers who have suggestions about the roundabout, or traffic circle, with a large fountain in the middle that now greets visitors to Clearwater Beach. I've only lived and worked at Clearwater Beach since 1983, so I must rely on old newspaper articles and editorials about how bad traffic jams were before then, but I know what it has been like since 1983, and I know that more cars are getting to the beach faster with the roundabout than was the case previously. And I know that I get where I'm going faster than I did before the roundabout. In terms of movement, it delivers as promised. The trade-off, unfortunately, has been a startling number of fender benders, and without question that situation must be adressed. Since we cannot do anything about the small but frightening group of drivers who seem to believe that the world does in fact revolve around them and that they must therefore have the right of way onto, within and out of the roundabout, we must do something about the design and operation of the roundabout itself. I think it is safe to say that many if not most of the accidents occur when someone exits from the inside (left) lane and either hits or is hit by someone going round in the outside (right) lane. I have yet to locate a single other place in Clearwater (or anywhere for that matter) where it is accepted practice to turn across traffic without an approving sign or light, but this is supposed to work on the roundabout? I don't think so. Either the right lane must turn right, or the inside lane must merge right before an exit, or we will continue to have a high accident rate. It just doesn't seem that complicated. By the way, the expert's report recently referenced by the media concluded that "the roundabout was the only alternative that came close to meeting all the aims and objectives of the project," that "it was selected as it offered environmental, capacity, safety and pedestrian advantages over the other alternatives," that "although the roundabout has had problems since it opened, these are problems of detail that can be corrected," and that "they (the problems) in no way detract from the sound strategic choice to build a roundabout." I don't
remember seeing this in the newspapers or hearing it from the electronic media,
but then these conclusions don't fit the media story line, do they? Hoping the fountain hits a permanent droughtAs the Clearwater City Commission struggles to find ways to make this monstrosity (the Clearwater Beach roundabout) safe for the public and reasonably functional, I hope they seriously consider eliminating the BSF (Big Stupid Fountain) in the middle. I'm really tired of having my freshly washed cars and motorcycles trashed by wind spraying fountain water on me. I'm also convinced that this spray causes a safety problem by suddenly obscuring driver vision on occasion. How on God's green earth can they justify spending taxpayer dollars at the rate of $238,000 per year to maintain this thing? Do us all a
favor and get rid of the fountain. Take down the center wall that blocks a drivers' viewsRe: Poorly designed roundabout must go, eventually, July 27 letter. If you start with an ill-conceived design and mix in the uninitiated, an uncertainty factor and volume, you have a recipe for disaster. Letter writer I.R. Slonaker of Dunedin is right in urging the elimination of the stone wall center in the Clearwater Beach roundabout. Give us the ability to at least see what is facing us. Given the
designer's original mess, it can be a relatively low-cost solution to one
element of the problem. Crossing from an inside to an outside exit lane doesn't workConsider this: You're on a four-lane, divided street, traveling in the inside (left) lane, and you make a right turn from that left lane. What would happen? You'd cause an accident and be ticketed. Why, then, do the powers-that-be want us to exit the roundabout from the inside lane, crossing over the right (outside) lane? It makes absolutely no sense. If we had one, wide lane around the entire mess, plus an outside lane to be used for exit or entrance only, it would be much safer. I teach AARP's
55 Alive classes and my students advised me to get on the roundabout and stay in
the outside lane. The inside lane is only for someone who wants to create an
accident. I took their advice, and it works beautifully. Changing the rotary should reduce switching lanesHistorically, the successful use of a rotary has been limited to those sites with large available areas. A good rotary must provide adequate sightlines and not restrict traffic from changing lanes. The available area of the Clearwater Beach roundabout must be better and fully utilized. The roadway should be relocated as far as possible from the structure around the perimeter of the available area and should be basically a single lane with long ingress and egress lanes to permit safe merging and diverging. Access points to and from the rotary should be limited . This
configuration will eliminate most dangerous blind spots for drivers by
drastically reducing lane changes. Maybe it's not the design but the heavy feet of driversThe Clearwater Beach turnabout is great. All you have to do is slow down to 15 mph and it is an enjoyable drive. And the Park Boulevard Bridge is also great if you slow down to 25 mph for the curve instead of taking it at 50 mph or 60 mph as most people do. People must
learn to slow down for curves. They must learn to put down their cell phones,
slow down and be prepared to stop. Maybe we should have looked closely at rural roundaboutsAs I understand the purpose of a roundabout, it is used in rural areas to keep the flow of traffic moving. It eliminates the purpose of a stop sign at a crossroads intersection with little traffic. As traffic increases, a stoplight would be needed. Somebody
goofed. Clearwater residents had better keep their eyes open for bridge
salesmen. 19 signs distract a driver's eyes from focusing on the roadTrying to manage the roundabout when you know where you are going is difficult. If you don't know the route, it is impossible. So, the creators of Roundabout Roulette have come to the rescue in the form of signs, signs and more signs. From the entrance to the roundabout to the exit at Coronado, I counted 19 signs. For the most part these signs listed names of the streets on Clearwater Beach. Even if that was a good idea, the printing on those signs is too small to read even at 10 mph. Solution: Tampa Airport directs its passengers with just two basic signs. One points the way to the red terminals with a BIG red sign listing all the "red"' airlines. The other sign does the same for the "blue" airlines. Clearwater
Beach's BIG red sign could list all the streets on South Beach and its BIG blue
sign could list the streets on North Beach, thus two signs doing the job of 19
and allowing drivers to look at something else . . . like other drivers. * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
