Letters to the Editor

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Circular logic Letter of the day

Posted: 10/4/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Re: Traffic circles causing confusion (Sept. 30). Before we complain too much about traffic circles, it is important that we realize the considerable benefits they offer.

1. They are good for the environment. Four-way stops, on the other hand, are not. Instead of forcing traffic to stop, traffic circles generally allow traffic to keep rolling through if there is no vehicle in sight.

2. They involve the driver in problem solving. Having spent many hours in the nightmare that was Winnipeg traffic this summer, I realize that my main frustration comes from the plague of four-way stop signs and traffic signals that infest this city. At least a traffic circle credits me with some intelligence. I can move through an intersection without stopping if conditions warrant.

3. Traffic circles slow down vehicles by their very nature, but they also keep traffic moving in a slow, orderly fashion without the need for a complicated traffic-light system -- thus earning another environmental stamp of approval.

4. They have the potential to be pretty. Planting flowers or plants in the middle of a traffic circle (Europeans go so far as to have fountains) can make them quite attractive. When is the last time you could say that about a stop sign or a traffic light?

5. They are safe: I have driven a lot in the Netherlands, and it has many, many traffic circles installed. The Netherlands is 1/17th the size of Manitoba but has more than 13 times the number of vehicles packed into it. I frequently drove to Dutch addresses inside towns and encountered no stop signs the whole distance. Only traffic circles. And I should point out that the Netherlands has one traffic fatality per year for every 28,000 people. We have one traffic fatality per year for every 12,000 people.

KEN PENNER

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 4, 2010 A11

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