Letter: Think before putting another roundabout in

Sauk Valley Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

Before anyone turns Route 40 and Science Ridge into one giant game of chicken, please listen.

I live in the West end and use the roundabout at Lynn and LeFevre almost every day. I like it, in theory, and it’s a slick, and some people think, fun way to get through that intersection. If everyone would only understand it and use the courtesy and awareness they should have when approaching it, but they don’t. Maybe I don’t understand what the yielding process means in a roundabout. I thought it meant that everyone, at each inlet, should approach carefully, be ready to slow to a stop, assess if anyone’s already moving in the circle or are in the other inlets that have already stopped/yielded, and then take their turn when it’s safe.

My experience is, whether I am coming to the yield area or already yielding, 80% of other drivers approaching any of the other inlets just fly into the circle without ever slowing down or having assessed the circle’s traffic. Sometimes two or three vehicles rush in through the same inlet together. They must figure, who’ll stop them? Nor do they notice if someone has yielded and should be allowed to take their turn. And remember, semi trucks come through, too. You don’t want to play chicken with them.

Considering state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road, which I drive through on my way to work and back, a roundabout would force people going both north and south to slow down drastically. That’s fine. You’ll need to cut speed limits way before the intersection. Until you make the decision, for now keep the flashing lights and signs, and add some for state Route 40 both ways, too? And cut back the 55 mph speed limit on 40 going north until they’ve passed Science Ridge.

And teach people to understand the roundabout and to be courteous and yield in their turn.

Betty Jordan

Sterling