For blind and visually impaired people, round abouts do not work.
The reason they do not work is because there is no predictability of where
the traffic is going to go. Also, the traffic is nearly in constant motion not
creating a point to start from safely.
Even though the intersection near the law school is a big complicated star,
it is predictable. It has crosswalks and signals that direct traffic in a given
pattern.
Of course people try and beat given systems because they are human and human
nature is a constant. It never changes.
In my humble or not so humble opinion roundabouts are about moving traffic
more quickly to avoid testing patience which is the real problem.
Maybe the focus needs to shift from moving traffic quickly to finding a
different way to access the Cities that do not require the compression of so
many vehicles into an ever decreasing space.
This is all really common sense.
As a well traveled blind pedestrian I understand the gap between what is
supposed to be the traffic pattern and what it can be when driver’s are going
rogue.
With driver distraction and rogue driver’s the gap has become much wider.
From: wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of Dennis Marrotte
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2017 1:29 PM
To: wsmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wsmac] Roundabouts and Rotaries
Hello, Today's Portland Press Herald' a " Opinion and Voice of the People has
a Letter from a Citizen questioning the proposed Roundabout at the USM Portland
Campus. How USM and King MS Students will safely make their way to and from
their respective Schools across the Roundabout with no Traffic Signals, a lack
of Pedestrian Crosswalks. The latter's closing paragraph mentions a Study
conducted by the MN. DOT that questions the walkability and pedestrian safety
on Roundabouts, as well as Bicylist's Safety therein.
I will always have to look up the Definitions of a Roundabout and a Rotary.
One moves Vehicular Traffic from one road to another at a fast rate of speed,
while the other is designed to slow Vehicular Traffic down to a much slower
safer but still moving rate of speed. I believe the proposed design at the
USM Portland Campus is to Slow the Vehicular Traffic down for the Safety of
Students from both USM Portland and King MS, and Pedestrians and Bicyclists.
The only way to see that become a reality is for concerned Citizens to form a
Committee like we have done here in Westbrook.
Several years ago when I was still at CMP, I was asked to escort two young
Electrical Engineers from the lead Designer of the company involved in the 5
Year MPRP Project. We visited several sites in York County. I had an orange and
white CMP truck. They had a white rental Chevy Equinox SUV.
The scariest part of our way was the new Rotary near Sanford for Rtes. 4 and
109. Finding a gap in the Traffic that was zipping around like the Formula One
Grand Prix in Monaco was downright scary. We had come north from North
Berwick. We made it thru safely but I really had my doubts.
Dennis Marrotte
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
