Originally Posted by Da Tinker
The local government here is in the midst of adding 37 roundabouts in the area. Many citizens complained long & loud about these until they actually drove them. After about two weeks, which appears to be how long it took drivers to learn how to deal a rotary, traffic moved better during peak usage times. And many of the critics recanted. Also, off-peak traffic moved a bit slower.
I think one of the better endorsements of traffic circles as a tool for calming traffic is that firefighters hate them, claming it slows their response time. A stop sign can be run, a traffic light ignored, but simple physics forces drivers to slow for a traffic circle.
Fire lanes through the circle. Maybe acuated spike strips so when a fire truck or other em vehical comes near it the spikes drop. Or gates like at a train crossing (breakaway of course incase the firetruck fails to trigger the gates to rais or simply gets to the spot to soon. Give your city planers a yell and pass the idea along. Another intresting idea about the gate idea is they could go up for the em vehicals and down for the rest.