Roundabout 101: Seniors seize chance to learn
The first time Anne Cripps tackled the roundabout on LaSalle’s Laurier Parkway, she found herself literally going in circles.
So the South Windsor senior was one of dozens of her age bracket who came out to a public education session at the Macedonian Centre Thursday to help acquaint drivers with the new two-lane, four-spur roundabout that will soon open, linking Highway 401, Highway 3 and Howard Avenue.
“There’s going to be a lot of us seniors getting all muddled up,” said Cripps, who lives in South Windsor but makes frequent trips to the Vollmer Centre to watch her grandson play hockey.
“The first couple of times you just keep going around in circles and then you get the hang of it, and you’re all right.”
The roundabout, which is part of the Windsor- Essex Parkway project, is the latest in a growing number of twolane roundabouts being built by the Ministry of Transportation across the province.
“I guess our primary goal today is to educate the people who are going to be using the roundabout on the proper rules of the road of how to get through the roundabout and how to get where they want to go in a safe way,” said Dennis Regan, the MTO’s senior project manager.
“I guess what the driver has to be aware of is it’s no different than a typical intersection. If you want to make a right-hand turn, you stay on the right, if you want to make a left-hand turn, you stay on the left. If you choose to proceed straight through you can choose either lane.”
The signs for the roundabouts is significantly different from the highway signs most of us are used to.
“Did you notice that we’re all seniors here?” said Cripps.
“With all these signs ... and all these cars going, it’s going to be something.”
The session had video tutorials about how to use the roundabout, several maps and displays, and a scale tabletop mock-up complete with toy cars.
While some were apprehensive about using the roundabout, the general consensus was it will be safer than a traditional stoplight intersection.
“I think people are making it more difficult than it has to be, and I think the speed limit as low as it is, 30 km/h, you’ll be able to feel your way around and I think it will be, in the long run, it will work out great,” said Penny Epping of Oldcastle.
“Just the speed factor alone is going to reduce the amount of trouble at intersections.”
Brian Bellaire of Windsor said the roundabout should work fine as long as people obey the rules, but bad drivers will always be bad drivers.
“It seems as if it’s set up right and if people do as they are expected to do, and you don’t have people trying to make the improper left turns or trying to do some other things, it will be all right,” said Bellaire.
“(Bad drivers) have a tendency to run red lights and make illegal left turns now so you could expect some of the same people to do similar things with this. It’s just a matter of being careful and keeping an eye out.”