A US town’s first roundabout has sent traffic in chaos with drivers baffled over how to approach it.
Residents of Rowan County, in the US state of Kentucky, deemed the roundabout, which was installed in April, a “waste of money”.
It also seems some drivers in the county don’t actually know how to use it.
It appears some Rowan County residents don’t know how to use a roundabout. Source: Reddit
Video uploaded to Reddit shows several vehicles entering the roundabout from both the left and right lanes.
Cars should actually be entering from the right given vehicles in the US travel in that lane.
US drivers are also meant to travel counterclockwise on a roundabout.
Some motorists also seen exiting in the left lane, which is incorrect.
One driver appears confused after entering from the left lane and stops in the middle of the roundabout before moving forward to an exit and stopping again.
‘I don’t understand’: Confusion over roundabout video
Viewers were confounded by the video.
“Why are so many people going on the wrong side of the road?” one person wrote.
Another responded saying it’s likely they were following the traffic in front of them.
“As someone who uses a roundabout daily, maybe five minutes from my house, this makes me sad,” a third person wrote.
A viewer, also claiming to be a Rowan County resident, wrote they were “painfully unsurprised” drivers didn’t know how to use it.
“I don’t understand why roundabouts are such a difficult concept for American drivers to wrap their heads around,” another wrote.
Why roundabout was installed despite ‘apprehension’
Allen Blair, with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 9, told WKYT earlier this month the intersection where the roundabout was installed had a history of crashes.
Local business owner Adam Ferguson added residents were “pretty apprehensive” about it.
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“I guess it’s because it’s something new,” he told WKYT.
About 4000 vehicles pass through the area daily.
Residents have called it a “waste of money”.
People couldn’t understand how the drivers couldn’t navigate a roundabout. Pictured here is a Canberra roundabout. Source: AAP, file
“Roundabouts are about the stupidest things in the world,” one woman wrote.
Another woman called it “confusing”.
Others were angered claiming the roundabout was too small.
“Going to be crazy pulling a boat through there especially when people pull boats coming from all directions,” one man wrote.
“Someone needs to open a body shop up close by or a towing service.”
The US only introduced its first modern roundabouts in the state of Nevada in 1990, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The IIHS claims most drivers change their opinion on roundabouts after using them and cited three communities who had them introduced.
Thirty-one per cent of drivers supported roundabout installation compared to 63 per cent after they were put in.
The state of New York has also adopted a “roundabout first” policy, requiring most counties and cities in the state to preference installing a roundabout when creating a new intersection or upgrading an old one.
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Originally Appeared On: https://au.news.yahoo.com/painful-chaos-us-town-opens-first-roundabout-044928469.html