No Ruckus at Roundabout:
City police report only two minor accidents so far at traffic circle

Author: Don Lehman
Date: 7/24/2007
Source: PostStar.com

GLENS FALLS -- When Glens Falls police were educating themselves about what a roundabout intersection would mean for traffic control downtown, they repeatedly heard they should expect an increase in minor car crashes.

So far, though, after nearly three months of traffic coursing through the reworked fiveway intersection, police say they have yet to see a significant rise in accidents at what is now called Centennial Circle.

As of Friday, Glens Falls police had handled two minor car crashes in the roundabout, neither of which resulted in injuries, Glens Falls Police Chief Joseph Bethel said.

Bethel said he was not aware of any accidents in which pedestrians were injured since the roundabout began taking traffic on May 6.

He said it was not possible to compare the number of accidents that occurred at the intersection before the roundabout was built because of the way accidents are classified in the Police Department's computer system. Before the roundabout, accidents were assigned to a specific street, not the intersection itself, Bethel said.

But he said it's apparent there are fewer traffic problems on the streets leading into the intersection, where police would often see minor crashes.

Bethel said an increase in fender-benders would be likely as people learn how to make their way through the circle.

"You may have more accidents, but they'll be minor accidents and not the car-pedestrian accidents you saw before," he said.

Police handled a pedestrian fatality and numerous other serious pedestrian injuries at the five-way intersection over the years, Bethel said.

Amy Manney, secretary of the Warren County Traffic Safety Board, said many members of the board questioned how well the roundabout would work when it was still in the design and construction stages. But at the board's most recent meeting on July 9, she said it was the subject of discussion, and the comments were all positive.

"There were a lot of concerns about it before it opened," she said. "Everyone at the meeting had positive things to say about it. Even the skeptical ones were surprised at how well it works."

Manney said she is among those who don't avoid the intersection anymore.

"I try to go through the roundabout. There's no wait whatsoever,"