Driving through Gig Harbor–A Roundabout approach
Gig Harbor North is growing. It’s growing quickly. We have numerous new amenities that the community is buzzing about, such as Costco, YMCA, new homes, and a hospital in another year or so. With all of this growth comes a problem…traffic. Roundabouts were installed as the solution to this traffic problem. Really, they’re not a bad solution when used properly, but there seems to be some confusion on how to navigate our roundabouts.
The city has placed multiple signs around the traffic circles in an attempt to clear up the confusion, and they’ve repainted the lane lines to try and make it clear where drivers should be. Still, there seems to be traffic back ups almost daily. I’d like to chime in with my two cents worth to try and simplify our circles. One, stay in the correct lane. Nobody is benefited when a vehicle takes an inside lane simply to choose the lane with the fewer number of cars when the intent is to exit to an outside exit. Secondly, please use your turn signal when EXITING the circles. It is highly frustrating when a car is waiting to enter the circle, pauses for oncoming traffic, only to see the car exit the circle without a turn signal, causing the incoming cars to wait longer for no reason. Signalling your exit will help the incoming traffic flow more smoothly, and lessen the chance of accidents.
The city has a website with full information on how to drive properly in our roundabouts. They really can be a good solution!
November 21st, 2007 at 4:06 pm
This makes me smile. We have some roundabout’s here with similar instructions.
The first time I encountered one of these was near Salem MA. I got kind of confused and drove around in a circle a few times before I got it. The worst one I have ever seen is a kind of 7 way thing they have in Paris near Arc de Triomphe. There are a few accidents every hour and some people just hang out and watch the cars crash. Driving around it in a tiny european sub compact car is a new experience in terror. No one stops or slows down when they hear a crash either.