Roundabouts Are Apparently Too Confusing For Connecticut Drivers

Once you grow accustomed to driving, there are few curveballs that can be thrown your way. For the most part, intersections, parking lots, and highways don't see a lot of procedural change, aside from construction or random roadway-obstructing incidents. With that said, for some drivers in the United States, even less common but still well-known aspects of driving can prove a bit confusing. For instance, the roundabout — a circular replacement for the traditional intersection that relies on yield signs and driver attentiveness over traffic lights — has been stumping drivers in Connecticut as of late as they navigate this newer layout. This story comes out of West Hartford, Connecticut, which just received its first roundabout intersection.

Unfortunately, drivers didn't immediately grasp how the new intersection was supposed to work. With no distinct island in the middle, drivers were simply plowing through the roundabout as if it were a normal intersection, failing to stop or even slow down. Naturally, this presented a hazard. Some drivers drove through it as intended, while others drove like it was a four-way intersection void of stop signs, coming frighteningly close to accidents.

Fortunately, these folks haven't gone through turbo roundabouts, which require different navigational skills. This misuse of roundabouts in Connecticut had to be responded to quickly by city and state officials. For the most part, their solution has proven effective.

Given the incredibly dangerous nature of West Hartford drivers recklessly flying through this new roundabout, giving the U.S. city considered to be the riskiest for drivers a run for its money, those in power had to take action. As covered by NBC Connecticut (via YouTube), given the flat center, the decision was made to simply put a series of traffic cones around the middle. The idea was for these to act as guardrails, indicating to drivers that they're supposed to move around the middle instead of through it. While this does diminish the utility of the flat center, which was intended to give larger vehicles more clearance, the city hopes this turns out to be the solution everyone was looking for.

Speaking to NBC Connecticut, West Hartford's town engineer explained that the powers that be are keeping a close eye on the cone solution. Should it prove as effective as they're hoping, a decision will be made regarding whether they'll remain there, flexible pylons will be added, or the flat center will be sacrificed entirely in favor of a paved curb. The latter may prove controversial, seeing as during NBC Connecticut's report a large truck got temporarily stuck in the intersection while trying to avoid the cones.

Since the roundabout is between three different schools, chances are some kind of action will be taken to make the area as safe as possible. Evidently, West Hartford, Connecticut, has some work to do with its roundabout safety.