Looks like somebody forgot to go round the UMass roundabout intersection at Eastman Lane/North Pleasant Street. Could have been one of those late Friday/Saturday night kind of things. Let's hope that driver stays away from the two new roundabouts at Atkins Corner when they come on line two years down the road.
I love this new roundabout - traffic flows so easily through it!!
ReplyDeleteEven on a bike.
ReplyDeleteyes, even on a bike - was skeptical at first, but guilford has converted me to being a roundabout enthusiast!
ReplyDeleteThe roundabouts are great.
ReplyDeleteAnd they're about the only thing in 21st century life that makes us remember Yes.
Our DPW did a preliminary design for another roundabout at Massachusetts Avenue and North Pleasant Street, which would create bookend roundabouts.
ReplyDeleteOf course UMass is also floating the idea of banning cars on North Pleasant Street where it bisects the campus to connect to the current roundabout.
Being the contrarian here: in the U S of A we call them rotaries, NOT roundabouts.
ReplyDelete"Roundabout" is so, so... European.
I remember as a child, riding in the car with the 'rents, and as we approached a funny looking section of road in West Springfield I asked them what it was.
"Rotary" was the response.
And everyone, regardless of what part of the country they hailed from, has always refereed to these vehicular crop circles as such.
I'll succumb to the cultural misnomer when the APD allows me to drive on the other side of the street whilst listening to the BBC.
...Cheers.
~Ecosse
Our DPW did a preliminary design for another roundabout at Massachusetts Avenue and North Pleasant Street, which would create bookend roundabouts
ReplyDeleteNo, you need a full fledged rotary there -- all three roads enter the interchange with two traffic lanes while none of the roads (No Pleasant, Governors or Eastman) do at the other one.
You would have a mess narrowing the roads to one lane...
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ReplyDeleteEcosse,
ReplyDeleteI understand the compulsion to be contrarian on this blog, but I don't think rotary and roundabout are synonymous.
The "roundabouts" that are being built are much smaller, tighter traffic circles that involve cars being forced to slow down and move at safer speeds through them, as in Europe. These are distinguishable from the death-defying experiences that come with most Massachusetts "rotaries" (see South Hadley's rotary at the Mueller Bridge for a representative adventure) with some folks actually accelerating into them. Many people admit that they have never learned how to negotiate them with the assurance of safety, and out-of-staters will tell you that they are one feature of driving here that they dread.
The roundabouts are a different and better animal for the 21st century. It's a valid distinction, not a cultural misnomer.
Hahahaha! Point taken Larry and thanks for siting the distinction.
ReplyDeleteStill, old habits (ie. Amherst contrarianism) die hard and one would argue these devices are basically the same animal.
I have to admit to (as a youth of course) speeding through the So. Hadley one just to hit the apex right and revel in my Jim Clark fantasies.
I always chalked up the non-learners as typically bad Mass. drivers and the rotaries as real-world driver tests; Troopers should imediately pull over those unable to grasp the rotoary and consifcate their lisence. But I'm digressing.
~Ecosse
Ecosse,
ReplyDeleteThat was not me. Just one of my smarter Anons (I just sit back these days and listen to the wisdom of the crowds)
LOVE you speculation about a late night weekend driver that went straight.. it was actually a tractor trailer unit that clipped the sign and knocked it over... checkyour facts....
ReplyDeleteBilly Bob
That's what I have you for.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't you take a picture and publish it a couple days ago when the accident first happened?
I stand corrected. And my thanks to Anonymous@12:48.
ReplyDeleteI noted my spelling error as well... jeez Larry I thought you proof read these things.
Anonymous@3:52, Larry said "COULD have been one of those late Friday/Saturday night kind of things."
Stop being such a meanie.
~Ecosse
Thanks Ecosse. But just for the record I "approve" (oftentimes while holding my nose) comments but it is an all-or-nothing thing. I can't edit them whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteHey at least Billy Bob did not suggest I was the one who did the damage as some Nitwit did on my lousy train-track-upkeep post a few days back.
Yrs ago one of the local TV news stations did a lesson on how to drive a rotary (as you enter- move to the center and as you approach your exit move to the rightlane- and always use your signals!)
ReplyDeleteIn S Hadley- everyone assumes that you are going the same way as they are and get pissed when you try to form two lanes- or attempt to get past the line of cars trying to exit at the bridge (to get to the S Hadley Falls exit)
I love the roundabouts! Traffic keeps moving (reminds me of the Jetsons)
BTW- Drivers are not suppose to cross solid white lines (I-91 construction areas for example) Also- do not go into the path of oncoming traffic to get around a cyclist, pedestrian, bus, truck or other obstacle in your lane (The oncoming car has the right of way!)
The suggestion that Larry did the damage to the tracks (that he then photographed) has to be a year-end nominee for Dumbest Post of the Year.
ReplyDeleteHey, now there's a feature for you, Larry.