Question: In my community and on my daily commute I encounter two roundabouts each morning, others that I work with will encounter three roundabouts in less than five minutes. Please use your platform to remind drivers how to safely and properly use a roundabout. I see, almost on a daily basis, drivers physically stop their vehicle for other drivers that have not even entered the roundabout. They’ll allow multiple vehicles to traverse the roundabout before they even attempt to enter the roundabout. This creates a very dangerous situation as my assumption is that the vehicle will slow to begin entering the roundabout and then safely enter, but when they slam on their brakes, it then causes me the need to adjust and brake abruptly, even when slowing to 20 mph or whatever the posted speed limit is. To cite Minnesota’s own website... “Yield to vehicles already in the roundabout.” Roundabouts are meant to keep the flow of traffic moving at a safe constant speed, not disrupt the flow with drivers stopping. If possible, please be clear about what is considered safe driving in a roundabout and what is not.
Answer: This is always a good topic for conversation and a reminder. To start with how do roundabouts work? Due to the curvature of the roundabout entry, drivers slow and check traffic coming from the left. A raised center prevents drivers from watching other traffic and only being concerned with yielding to traffic already in the circle. This prevents the intersection from “locking up,” which could happen if the traffic in the roundabout had to stop for entering traffic. Pavement markings, curves at entry points, and raised islands direct traffic into a one-way counter-clockwise flow around the center island. The radius of the roundabout and the angles of entry slow the speed of all vehicles to around 15-25 mph.
For Drivers:
