I have actually been formulating this post in my mind for quite a while now...and was re-inspired to finally get it written when my niece-in-law Hannah acknowledged her frustrations with them today on her Facebook status.
The city planners in Provo & Orem love their roundabouts! In the past five years most of the really busy 4-way stops in these two cities have been converted to round-abouts. The whole concept behind them is actually really good & they are very convenient...when used properly. That's the "gotta hate 'em" part of the equation...most drivers don't use them properly. On my daily commute, I have to drive through at least two round-abouts and depending on the route I take may need to use up to five...just to get to 8 miles from my house to UVU!
The whole concept of the round-about is to keep traffic moving, so there is nothing more frustrating then to be driving along, enjoying my morning ride & come up to an idiot driver stopped at a round-about waiting for all the cars to pass! It's not a four-way stop any more...the idea is to safely merge into the flow of traffic. The other side of the frustration is that there are those other idiot-drivers that insist on speeding up when they see someone approaching the round-about so that they won't have to let them in! UG! And I'm not so sure it's a "Utah driver" thing either...I've noticed that the round-abouts with the most problems are located in areas highly populated by BYU & UVU students driving cars from out of state & I've also been the passenger in a car driven by someone visiting from another state & had them ask me "what do I do?" when they get to the round-about.
I'm not quite sure what the solution is...it's kind of like the "carpool" lane, which is a whole other frustration! Some people get it & some people don't, & those of us that do will just have to continue to tolerate the idiot-drivers that will never get it!
The city planners in Provo & Orem love their roundabouts! In the past five years most of the really busy 4-way stops in these two cities have been converted to round-abouts. The whole concept behind them is actually really good & they are very convenient...when used properly. That's the "gotta hate 'em" part of the equation...most drivers don't use them properly. On my daily commute, I have to drive through at least two round-abouts and depending on the route I take may need to use up to five...just to get to 8 miles from my house to UVU!
The whole concept of the round-about is to keep traffic moving, so there is nothing more frustrating then to be driving along, enjoying my morning ride & come up to an idiot driver stopped at a round-about waiting for all the cars to pass! It's not a four-way stop any more...the idea is to safely merge into the flow of traffic. The other side of the frustration is that there are those other idiot-drivers that insist on speeding up when they see someone approaching the round-about so that they won't have to let them in! UG! And I'm not so sure it's a "Utah driver" thing either...I've noticed that the round-abouts with the most problems are located in areas highly populated by BYU & UVU students driving cars from out of state & I've also been the passenger in a car driven by someone visiting from another state & had them ask me "what do I do?" when they get to the round-about.
I'm not quite sure what the solution is...it's kind of like the "carpool" lane, which is a whole other frustration! Some people get it & some people don't, & those of us that do will just have to continue to tolerate the idiot-drivers that will never get it!
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