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The heat must be making people forget how to drive in rotaries; yes, it's even worse than you think

There are places to be courteous and let someone in ahead of you, but a Boston rotary is not one of them. A really peeved roving UHub driver from Roslindale is worried somebody's going to get killed if people don't stop stopping in the middle of a rotary to let somebody else into the flow of traffic (reminder for outatownas: People already in a rotary have the right of way):

Several times in the past week there have been drivers (maybe the same small brown car a few times) who come to a complete stop as if to let drivers enter the rotary.

Someone needs to clue these people in that this is not NJ.

They almost caused terrible accidents at least 3 times in the past week.

I live in Roslindale, across the Parkway from Bellevue Hill, and I drive these parkways almost daily, and usually go safely around however many rotaries, waiting my turn to enter, etc.

I called our local precinct non-emergency number and the officer said I should call the state troopers because DCR. The officer was very polite and sympathetic, and said he would bring it to DCR’s attention. Maybe DCR can make bigger signs or something. I love our beautiful rotaries with their beautiful plantings, so I hate the idea of bigger signs, but this new person or persons are scaring me. Jeesh!

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Comments

Roslindale busybodies at it again.

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It’s a public safety issue

(asshole)

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I'm learning to drive and somehow worried it was me, since that rotary terrifies me, but I haven't driven in a small brown car, so...phew.

That having been said, for people living in a state with a lot of rotaries, we sure stink at driving in them.

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….Refugly drives a small brown car.

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Way too many drivers don't understand what 'yield' means. Getting a license to driver here is far easier than it should be.

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Hand over the roads to local public works/police departments. Hand over the parks to local parks departments. There's no need for a separate DCR, Greenway Comission, etc.

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Purview was given to the Statues many, many years ago.

Also what good what it be to give it to the Boston Police? They don't enforce traffic laws anywhere else in the city.

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They absolutely enforce traffic laws... In Roxbury and Dorchester when they want an excuse to pull somebody over.

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And has for over a decade now - I haven't seen anyone pulled over post pandemic in Dorchester, or the rest of the city.

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Could be out of towners, other newbies thinking the decent thing to do at a rotary is to let people go?

Hope no one tries this at the Columbia Road rotary during the morning rush, it’s already an extremely slo-mo Mad Max thing,

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I hope the concerned driver filed a 311 complaint.

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Where they have a rotary with yield signs in the interior. Which means that if you're entering the rotary and yield to a car the car behind you may not expect that. It violates the first principle of using the road which is "be predictable."

The reasoning—and yes, I wrote to NHDOT about this—is that it's not really a rotary, because it has these little straight bits in between the rotary portions so really it's just a series of merging and diverging one-way roadways in an almost-circular alignment. You know, it walks like a rotary, and it quacks like a rotary, but it's not a rotary. Even if they put up "traffic circle" signs on some of the approaches.

If I see that signs I assume I am yielding when entering, even if, in this case, someone behind me might not expect it. They really should change this. And, yes, the rules in New Hampshire are the same as they are here. Except when they're not.

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Knowing drivers in the area, I don't think they were yielding. Probably missed an exit and waited for a break in traffic to do a U-turn.

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Is there anything Masshole drivers won’t try to get away with?

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