This blog has nothing to do with Owen Sound. A departure, I know.
But it does, if you are an Owen Sounder that travels west of the city.
You see, Georgian Bluffs, Owen Sound’s rural neighbour, has a plan for Highway 21 at Alvanley: to create a roundabout at the intersection.
The township has asked the province to pay for it, as it is a provincial highway.
Now anyone who lives or works in Owen Sound can appreciate that this is a bad idea.
Roundabouts are more complicated than a traffic light or stop sign. Sure, they are more environmentally friendly and keep traffic moving, but they can be complicated.
Big cities need them. Alvanley doesn’t.
Owen Sound is notorious for bad drivers. Not all. But many.
A roundabout is too confusing for the people that I have followed behind in this fine city. Some drivers have a hard time turning right or obeying basic road signs.
I can picture it now. Build a roundabout and people will be driving around and around — all day long.
Just my thoughts.
Roundabout not smart
Filed under Out of city
Roundabouts are fantastic once you get used to them. There are many intersections in Owen Sound that would benefit from roundabouts and I hope the Alvanley roundabout is the first of many. Not only is money saved on electricity but time is saved and pollution is reduced as cars don’t have to sit there idling while waiting for a break in traffic.
There should be a roundabout at 3rd Avenue and St. Mary’s Hill, for starters. There is plenty of room for one there and once established people will see how much more efficient and safer they are.
Roundabout, what a novel idea. I travel through this intersection twice daily and traffic lights would be a bad idea at this location due to visibility and the speed of traffic. With the behavior of people running yellow and red lights around here, there will be a tendancy for people to run these lights which could lead to horrific crashes due to the speed people drive on this stretch of highway. Who ever heard of anyone running a roundabout? With a roundabout, everyone would have to slow down in order to negotiate it. This would put everyone who uses this intersection on the same level, i.e. no waiting for a light to change. I’ve been over to Europe and roundabouts are everywhere and nobody seems to have any problem using them. Why can’t we use them here?