The Martha's Vineyard Times

You'll need a traffic light with your roundabout

October 5, 2011

To the Editor:

We just returned from a tour of Scotland, mostly the western highlands, and we traversed a lot of roundabouts, which made me think of the one proposed here.

So here's our opinion, for what it's worth.
Roundabouts function, only to the extent that the drivers understand them.

We had several near accidents on roundabouts, because we didn't understand them as well as local drivers do.

One fact sticks out — you cannot enter a roundabout until the traffic lets you in. For most of the year on the Vineyard that should work fine, but in the season, it will be hell and fender-benders.

If you insist on having a roundabout, put in a traffic light too. Even if it only needs to function for three months a year.

Don Hinkle
Oak Bluffs

The writer is the proofreader at The Times.