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view point By WILLIAM JEANES
Roundabout often becomes a circle of terror IF HARRY POTTER moved to Ridgeland, the roundabout at Highland Colony Parkway and Old Agency Road would give him no trouble. That’s because Harry has a magic wand and can consult wizards. The rest of us, based on observation, are puzzled by this infernal device. What is it, and what is it doing there? Often, our roundabout is incorrectly called a traffic circle. It is correctly called a roundabout, and it’s intended to let traffic on intersecting streets turn right, go straight, or turn left without the presence of a traffic light. What the roundabout really does, about one in every five times you use the thing, is combine with other motorists to scare you half out of your wits. That shouldn’t happen, but there are reasons why it does. A traffic circle is not the same as a roundabout (called a rotary in New England). In a traffic circle, entering vehicles have the right of way. In a roundabout, entering vehicles must yield to those in the circle. Ours is a roundabout, not a four-way stop. At the roundabout near the municipal airport, a sign puts matters succinctly: Traffic in the Circle Does Not Stop. Which means you’d better.
So the first rule, boys and girls, is that you must without fail yield to vehicles already in the roundabout. Yielding will reduce correspondence with your insurance carrier and can also aid digestion. The second rule: traffic in U.S. roundabouts moves counterclockwise. Most of the time it does that in ours, though I once saw a Ridgeland driver going clockwise. How she did that, I don’t know. How she escaped a crash is a bigger mystery. In Britain, where roundabouts were invented in the 1950s by civil engineers already confused by having to drive on the wrong side of the road, traffic inside the roundabout goes clockwise. This is true of all roundabouts in countries where motorists drive on the left. If you’re wondering, we drive on the right. We must now address the Ridgeland roundabout’s twolane design. The one at the airport has only one lane, making it nigh impossible to have a wreck once you’ve agreed to yield. Two lanes add elements of danger and excitement to the roundabout experience. The danger stems from the two lanes of traffic entering from both directions on the Parkway and from the east on Old Agency Road. If two lanes enter the roundabout, there must be two lanes in the roundabout, right? Right. Suppose you are northbound on the Parkway and in the left-hand lane entering the roundabout. You will next find yourself in the left-hand (inside) lane of the roundabout’s circle. Sometimes there’s a vehicle beside you in the right-hand lane. Making a right turn, as you can see, would be a mistake. BUT LET’S SAY YOU wanted to go “straight,” taking the second exit to continue north on the Parkway. This could also be problematic should the vehicle on your right decide - unlawfully - that it wants to proceed to the third choice, westbound Old Agency Road instead of continuing north. This traps you in the inside lane. If this happens, do not panic, just roll your eyes and go around for a second try. Your lane mates should not do these things, but trust me, they will. Lesson three, then, is to know where you want to exit the roundabout and get into the correct lane before you enter. Changing lanes is made easier by Madison County motorists’ ingrained courtesy. Often, it requires nothing more than a turn signal, coarse gestures, horn blowing, and the visible brandishing of a firearm. Three of the four entries into the roundabout have four lanes. The fourth, eastbound Old Agency Road, is a
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PUBLISHER: Wyatt Emmerich EDITOR: Jimmye Sweat BUSINESS MANAGER: Dani Poe ADVERTISING SALES: Melanie North, Katy Agnew, Holly Dean, Amy Forsyth, Carly O’Bryant, Carley Baker GRAPHIC DESIGN: Wanda McCain, Mary Margaret Adcock CIRCULATION: Dale Frazier, Dottie Cole, Jeff Cole, Keri Hawkins EDITORIAL: Anthony Warren, Katie Eubanks, Beth Buckley, Jo Ann Ward Published weekly on Thursday by Sunland Publishing Co., Inc. Offices at 246 Briarwood, Jackson, MS, 39206. Mailing address is P.O. Box 16709, Jackson, MS, 39236. Phone is 601-957-1122. Subscription price in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, $20 per year. Long distance rates vary slightly higher. Single copy price is 75 cents. Issues over a month old are 75 cents. Periodical postage paid at Jackson, MS. The Sun
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two-lane two-way street at its roundabout entry. All entries have an offshoot lane that permits a right turn before entering the roundabout. You can also turn right from inside the roundabout. No one knows why. Arrange your life so that you only need to turn right at the roundabout, and you’ll stay a stress-free driver. But going straight complicates matters, especially if you head west on Old Agency. As you exit, the roundabout’s two lanes instantly become a one-lane street. An informative sign, erected perhaps by pranksters, says: Left Lane Ends. What it doesn’t tell you is that you are reading history. Inevitably, you will someday want to turn left. That is, enter the roundabout at the six o’clock position and circle counterclockwise to exit at the nine o’clock position. To survive this without celestial intervention, enter the roundabout in the left (inside) lane. With luck and the cooperation of the other drivers, you can turn left when your exit appears without bending fenders. Careful attention to what we’ve learned here, plus a few years of using the roundabout, should put you at ease behind the wheel. If you remain uneasy, remember that France has about 30,000 roundabouts, half the world’s supply, and the country has actually improved its accident rate. If Pierre and Solange can do it, you can do it. Otherwise, seek help from Harry Potter. William Jeanes is a Northsider.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dear Editor: Open letter to Judge Maurice Paul, Tallahassee, Fla. Judge Paul, I write with reference to your ordering taking down the Ten Commandments in the Dixie Court House: I guess it is not enough to see the moral chaos of the United States since judges have ignored truth and claimed that it is against the law to acknowledge our Lord who has given America blessings unlimited and on whom our nation’s way of life was based. You judges who have misdirected the law and misdirected a nation’s beliefs may have a very unexpected time at the judgement. Mrs. Paul Hogue
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