By Andrew Emer
Let’s talk roundabouts.
Anyone who pays attention to the flow of traffic, and/or has been to Europe, understands both their purpose and functionality.
A roundabout is basically a big circle that a driver yields to enter and, once inside, has the right of way to exit or keep going. Roundabouts should enable traffic to flow continuously and seamlessly through what would otherwise be an intersection with a stop sign or traffic light that forces vehicles to come to a complete stop.
Simply put: a roundabout keeps traffic moving.
Most people would associate roundabouts with Great Britain, where they started appearing around the late 1700’s, even before motorized vehicles. But it’s worth noting that they also appeared in France around the same time, and it was French civil engineer and architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant who included roundabouts in his design plans for Washington D.C.
I want to be clear that roundabouts improve the flow of traffic by keeping it moving, and they can reduce the risk of accidents. But roundabouts only work if they are used properly.
Which brings us to the roundabout installed at the intersection of Arnold Drive and Agua Caliente Road, in front of Hanna Center. It could be considered a test case gone wrong.
Installed in December of 2013, our first Sonoma Valley roundabout has proved to be as much a blessing as a curse. I’ve been using that roundabout for nine years. I travel through it at least twice a day, and some days more than five times. And virtually every time I’m there I witness acts of confusion, anger, frustration, sometimes panic. Nothing on that spectrum lends itself to safe driving and fewer accidents.
The most common error I witness involves drivers pulling up to the roundabout entrance and treating it like a stop sign, sometimes after they’ve actually entered the circle. This causes the drivers behind them to slam on their brakes, coming perilously close to triggering a series of rear-end accidents. And the responsible party for most rear-end accidents is the driver who does the rear-ending, not the driver in front who caused it.
Many drivers who stop at the roundabout don’t seem to understand the concept of merging. As a result, some of them remain stopped at the entrance, sometimes with no other car in sight, or simply wait too long for a needlessly large gap for entry. This totally destroys the purpose of the roundabout by stopping the flow of traffic.
We live in a small town that was engineered for half the population we have today. I’ve seen our stop signs and traffic lights pile up to 30 cars deep. So why is our roundabout causing so many issues when its very purpose is to encourage traffic flowing steadily and continuously. The simple and cynical ex-New Yorker in me screams, “ it’s because people don’t know how to drive!” But it’s not that simple.
When I first saw our roundabout, I was perplexed by the giant pile of rocks and plants occupying the middle of the circle. I understand it is a work of art, and perhaps in other circumstances it would be art worthy of public appreciation and careful inspection. Instead it is a giant obstruction blocking all four sightlines and making it impossible for inexperienced roundabout drivers to proceed with confidence. The minute I saw it I knew it was, to be polite, problematic.
For people who understand how to use a roundabout, it’s not a big deal to have art installations, or anything else of interest, to fill out the middle of the roundabout donut. But, if the driving public is not familiar with roundabouts, putting anything in the middle that obscures the vision of approaching traffic from the other three cardinal points, isn’t smart. It looks like it was designed by people who have never driven roundabouts. And the approach signage should explain to drivers how to enter (i.e. Yield to left), with short words and a clear diagram. But what little signage posted is basically useless.
It’s worth noting that European roundabouts often have mild landscaping to spruce-up the middle, but it never completely blocks the line of sight for approaching drivers.
The fact that we have a giant art installation in the middle of our first roundabout should inspire thoughts of a redesign.
Andrew Emer is a professor of music at Sonoma State University and a resident of Glen Ellen who has daily encounters with the Arnold Drive roundabout.
I’ve traveled Arnold Drive, by auto, bicycle, horse, and on foot since the 1960s. I’ve driven through that intersection thousands of times. By the time the roundabout was installed, traffic at that intersection, especially late in the day, was a backup nightmare. And many frustrated drivers ignored the right of way rules. I was happy to see that addressed, although at the time, I didn’t favor a roundabout, but rather a stoplight. Boy, was I wrong. Since it debuted, it’s been a MASSIVE improvement over the four way stop, and I believe it’s superior to a stoplight. As you point out, roundabouts have proliferated for hundreds of years. For good reason, and this intersection is a prime example. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of improvement.
Andrew, thank you for the observation of that roundabout.
It needs a redesign by an experienced individual.
The original designer had no experience – one wonders why she was selected…low bidder?
Folks won’t embrace roundabouts if that is their only experience.