Gary Brown: Going 'round about the roundabout

Do you remember that old Kingston Trio song about a guy being caught on a Boston subway?

"He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston," they sang, "And he's the man who never returned."

I found myself singing that song to myself one day while I was driving on a roundabout, going round and round in the wrong lane, thinking, "You know, I don't know why people complain about these things; this really isn't too hard if you just keep on driving in circles ..."

In fact, it was kind of fun. Being already in the circle, I had the constant right-of-way. I could keep driving without worry because I had just filled up the gas tank. It was comfortable in my car because my air-conditioning was working. A bottle of water was handy in the console. And there was a ball game on satellite radio.

This trip to run an errand was a piece of cake. The more I went around the more I got hints of a bakery scent. It could have been the donut that I dropped on the floor.

I was enjoying the traveling so much that I started thinking about changing to lyrics to "He may ride forever on a nice round rotary; he's the man who never returned."

Why would I want to, except to pick up more snacks? It was a joyride. When did you ever take a long drive without running into road construction? This was like highway heaven.

Why we like roundabouts

I'm not the only one who enjoys traveling in circles. Government officials, first responder medical personnel, law enforcement officers and probably people who miss riding on merry-go-rounds all support rotary intersections.

There certainly are a lot of practical reasons for wanting to get out on the road and, as the NASCAR drivers put it, keep turning left.

Safety, is one of those reasons.

A recent newspaper column by Stark County Sheriff George Maier served up some quite compelling statistics in support of roundabouts. They drastically reduce crashes resulting in serious injury and death. It's tough to whine about that one. And, although he didn't specifically address this, rotary intersections also make it more convenient for motorists, who don't have to be delayed at traffic lights and stop signs.

I'm giving a thumbs up to that last one, so I guess it's pretty clear that I like roundabouts. I've spent some time on the East Coast, where at least a few traffic circles seem almost old enough to be listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

I've happily driven through them. I just don't always like the way other motorists drive through them.

Rules of the roundabout

To be specific – and here I'm drawing on the sheriff's advice and my own extensive circling experience – drivers have to remember to yield to traffic already in the roundabout instead of budging in the line like they have "privileged" underneath "class" on their driver's license.

But, shouldn't we always have to keep in mind that, despite the fact that our tax dollars pay for the construction of them, we don't personally own the roads. You can't just drive right onto a lane of a roundabout, as though your name is on it.

"Out of the way, this lane is mine, I paid for it!" is neither a traffic law nor an accepted rule of automobile etiquette.

If you're turning right onto a road diverting from the roundabout, please don't keep left, then dart right at the last moment, jerking the wheel toward traffic that was pretty much beside you before they attempted heroically to duck in behind you. No amount of sticking your hand out the window and appreciatively waving "thanks" is going to keep the sheriff's crash statistics from going up dramatically.

It can be helpful, of course, if you know what road you have to take off the roundabout before you actually are in the roundabout, waiting for the woman's voice on your GPS to tell you to "turn right" or, too often, "recalculate."

Oh, and if you want to ride around the rotary intersection for a couple of hours, listening to the Guardians game, stay with the pace of traffic, and keep your hands firmly gripping the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock.

I don't know that anybody has ever looked into it, but studies no doubt might show that throwing your arms up in disgust when your team grounds into a double play to end the inning with the bases loaded could, potentially, be one of the major reasons motorists drive into that little landscaped grassy area in the middle of the rotary.

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Gary Brown: Going 'round about the roundabout