Residents had hoped the town’s newly completed roundabout would reduce traffic delays and improve safety.
Instead, during its first week, it mostly improved business for local tow truck operators.
The $4.8 million traffic circle, installed at the busy intersection of Oak Street and Jefferson Avenue in the small Wisconsin community of La Crosse, officially opened Monday morning.
By Friday afternoon, police had already responded to nine crashes and numerous other calls involving drivers who apparently believed “roundabout” was merely a suggestion.
One pickup truck driver somehow managed to drive straight over the landscaped center island, flattening newly planted shrubs before becoming high-centered on a decorative boulder.
“He literally never turned the steering wheel,” one witness said. “He drove like he thought the circle would politely move out of his way.”
Hours later, another motorist attempted to turn left into the roundabout, driving the wrong direction around the circle before meeting an understandably confused line of oncoming traffic.
No one was injured.
One driver apparently became so overwhelmed by the unfamiliar design that she simply stopped in the middle of the roundabout and waved every other car through.
Police gently explained that’s not how roundabouts work.
Perhaps the most impressive performance came Wednesday afternoon, when an SUV somehow wedged itself halfway onto the center island after the driver reportedly told officers he “thought it was one of those decorative medians.”
It wasn’t.
Thursday brought another memorable moment when a delivery van entered the roundabout correctly, circled it three complete times, then exited down the same road it had entered from.
The driver later admitted he “panicked.”
Police say none of the crashes involved alcohol.
Investigators instead blamed unfamiliarity with roundabouts, distracted driving, and, in at least one case, what they diplomatically described as “driver confusion.”
Translation:
Some people apparently believe steering wheels are optional equipment.
Town officials are urging motorists to slow down, pay attention to the yield signs, and remember one simple rule:
You go around the circle.
Not through it.
Not over it.
And definitely not the wrong way around it.
Despite the rocky debut, transportation engineers point out that roundabouts dramatically reduce serious injury crashes compared with traditional intersections once drivers become accustomed to them.
Until then, however, the town’s newest landmark may not be the beautifully landscaped center island.
It might be the tow truck parked nearby waiting for the next contestant.
