We recently had a multilane roundabout put in on Hwy 140 in White City, Oregon. The only other one we have here is a very small one lane one on Highland drive in Medford, Oregon. The one on Hwy 140 is a 2 lane roundabout. It has arrows pointing the direction to go, but if you are coming down Hwy 140 towards white city it can get confusing. If you are wanting to turn left onto Foothills road you have to be in the left lane and drive around the hump in the middle of the road. Several times now we have seen people get confused and turn left before the Large hump in the middle of the road. this puts them into on coming traffic that can’t see them if they are coming from the other direction. They also end up on the wrong lane on Foothills road. You can see what I mean by looking at this photo on the Medford mail tribunes article. Looking at the photo Hwy 140 is the road going left to right, right going towards White city, and the bottom road is Atlantic, with the upper one being Foothills rd. So in the photo on the left side you can see a white SUV behind 3 other white vehicles. Now if you can see the arrow next to it you can see why people are getting confused and driving the wrong way into on coming traffic. If the arrow on the upper left was moved forward more people would no longer be confused as it would show them that its one way right there. And also show where they need to go. So let me give you an example of this. My room mate had just told us about one of her friends saw a car go that exact direction onto foothills road into on coming traffic, and we were all just shocked shaking out heads in disbelief I guess. But the very next day when driving into my aunts I watched the car in front of me a small red Toyota Tercel do exactly that, they turned left before the hump and coming up 140 where the single Suv is in the photo was a dump truck, and coming up foothills was another large pickup truck. Everyone stopped except the red Toyota, he drove onto foothills and than drove over the divider (you can see the red divider in the photo) in the middle of the road to get onto the right side of foothills. Luckily the dump truck was tall enough the driver could see him over the hump in the middle of the road. If it had been a car I am afraid they would have gotten hit, as the car sits lower and you can not see over the hump. And lucky for them the driver of the dump truck was paying attention as that truck would have been on top of that car in a matter of seconds if not.
Now lets talk about roundabout educate. This is important, so listen up. On a one lane roundabout its pretty simple to get go the direction of the traffic. On a multilane roundabout like the one in the photo rules are as follows! “THE CAR IN THE ROUNDABOUT HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!” do I need to say this again? Well of course because we both know someone reading this is not paying full attention. So here “THE CAR IN THE ROUNDABOUT HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!” Lets see this in a few examples. 1. There’s a car going into the roundabout off of Atlantic, I should drive faster up 140 into the roundabout to make it pass the car. NO! WRONG! 2. If I keep driving up 140 and don’t stop the car in the roundabout will stop. NO! WRONG! Don’t be a dumb ass, dumb ass! 3. If you are driving a large semitruck say oh I don’t know hauling a trailer full of cars and trucks, you slow down at the roundabout before entering, NOT SPEED UP and go thru it as quickly as you can because you don’t want to shift down and slow down and give the car in the roundabout the right of way! Or let the car coming into the roundabout cross Hwy 140 from Atlantic. I mean seriously (Rolls eyes)?!
Don’t assume the other driver is going to be the defensive driver, you be the defensive driver, this is how I was taught to drive by my mom, always be the defensive driver always assume that the other drivers are not paying full attention. Assume you have to be the responsible one.
Here is my suggestion, when going into the roundabout slow down, assume that the other drivers are not going to stop. If you are in the roundabout and pulling onto the other part and the car on 140, or coming off of Foothills, or Atlantic are not stopping you CAN STOP in the roundabout so that you don’t get hit. The driver behind you will stop. If they don’t they are a dumb ass!
Why am I writing this post. 1. Because I am tired of people being dumb asses while driving the roundabout, its not that hard people. And 2. Because my roommate was hit (she was the very first accident in the roundabout) coming thru the roundabout from Atlantic by a dumb ass that didn’t stop he just plowed right into the side of her new car. Now he did get nailed for a duii, driving while suspended, and a couple of warrants. But there have now been multiple accidents there because people are not thinking, not slowing down and not giving the roundabout the right of way. My mom and our other roommate just saw one last weekend and gave their info as witness’s. It was the exact same thing, the guy in the roundabout was hit by a driver that didn’t give him the right of way. I have almost been hit multiple times now. So my lesson for you is slow down, assume the other drivers are idiots and have no intention of stopping, be a defensive driver, because many other drivers are idiots, and be sure all your friends understand the rules of the roundabout, and most definitely a multilane roundabout. What was that rule again? Anyone? Seriously? Well ok, “THE CAR IN THE ROUNDABOUT HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!”
Now let me tell you what we think of the roundabout, we didn’t want it in the beginning, we wanted a stop light, we drive Hwy 140 multiple times a day. But I will admit it has made our life easier, we now turn on Atlantic instead of driving up to Lakeview it’s a lot easier that way. But there are several things they need to change or improve on. The damn hump that you can’t see over creates an issue for smaller cars. They need to paint the upper left arrow right at the edge of the place where people keep turning so people know that’s one way. So in the photo it would be at that middle yellow line by the hump. If your in the left lane you can not see that arrow where it sits, so people get confused and make a mistake. It’s happens we are all human and not perfect.
So if you haven’t drove the roundabout yet you should go check it out and see what you think, and definitely stay safe out there. Please feel free to share this post so that others will learn proper roundabout educate. ; )
~ Star
Vineyard Equus Reviews 
