Quote:
Originally Posted by hedoman
Why are there 2 lanes in the roundabouts? Had a person in the center lane cut me off to make the right turn onto Morse. I expected it so avoided an accident.
IMHO one lane would be sufficent to keep moving until the desired path is reached......
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I agree totally! The Villages is NOT the place for roundabouts. Too many of us have neck and shoulder problems that prevent us from turning our heads quickly to check for traffic. Eyesight can be diminished by now and some will even be experiencing much slower reaction times while driving. This is an elderly community, no matter how many of us do not feel old. Why was no thought given to how confusing a roundabout can be for seniors? Why is there a "left lane" in a roundabout when there is never a "left turn"? Perhaps roundabouts work in other parts of the world or in areas where there isn't an elderly population. Expecting a group of people, whose average age is over 66, to be able to navigate through these 2-lane circles is unrealistic. Add in the many, many visitors who come here every year who are not familiar with our streets, let alone roundabouts. Add in the "locals" AND residents whose mission it is to get from one area in The Villages to another in the shortest possible time. When I look at the big picture I see nothing but a recipe for disaster. If there HAD to be roundabouts here one lane would have been sufficient and would have prevented many, many of the accidents and near-misses we are experiencing every day. How easy it would be if all we had to do was yield to those in the roundabout and enter when it is safe to do so. All vehicles would be in the one and only "right lane" so there would be no cutting off as drivers try to exit from a left lane. The crux of the roundabout problem boils down to one main issue: Having a left lane when there are NO left turns, anywhere. I am no engineer but this makes absolutely no sense to me.
All roundabouts need to be reworked to eliminate the left lane. We all would feel a whole lot safer and our visitors and guests would have a much easier time driving in this community. I realize from reading the many posts here that some residents feel that roundabouts are not a problem. They are a huge problem when you consider the age of our population and the fact that this is a retirement community. If you are lucky enough to have the reflexes, eyesight, and mental capacity that you had at 30 you are very fortunate and you are in a very tiny minority. The fact is that most of us are dealing with the problems of aging. Putting us in a roundabout, in a
left lane that leads to
no left turn is asking for accidents and injuries.