Roundabout concerns

Dear Editor:

Why are Centre Wellington and  Wellington County adopting “roundabouts” in various locations throughout the community?

They claim it is both a traffic calming measure, as speeds are supposed to be reduced entering them and a solution to the “stop and start” increased vehicle exhaust pollution effect. They also claim it assists with traffic flow and congestion.

Has anyone ever tried to get through these roundabouts in larger municipalities? You take your life in your hands.

It may not yet be a problem locally, due to the current population and traffic, but what happens when the Fergus “Business Park” is developed further and semi-tractor trailers become more prevalent?

I happened to follow a tractor with a 52-foot trailer through the recently installed roundabout at Beatty Line and Colbourne Street. The vehicle could not negotiate the roundabout without driving up on the centre median and curb, almost damaging the centre “horticulture.”

I can only imagine what shape the concrete median will be five years from now, not to mention the repair costs.

The other issue with that particular roundabout is that the visibility of the drivers of vehicles entering the roundabout, who must yield to vehicles already in it, is obstructed by the “horticultural enhancements.”

I’m not sure who designs these so-called traffic flow measures, but they should really take a better look at what they’ve created and consider a different approach to them in the future.

Ron Welsh,
Belwood