Roundabouts are becoming increasingly common across New York state, but many drivers still aren\u2019t sure how to navigate them safely.<\/p>\n
The New York State Department of Transportation says understanding the rules can prevent accidents and keep traffic flowing smoothly.<\/p>\n
The NYSDOT says it manages 250 roundabouts in New York and those numbers are growing.<\/p>\n
The circular intersections are designed to keep traffic moving while reducing dangerous crashes. The DOT now considers adding a roundabout any time an intersection is modified. Officials say to them, the benefits are clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoundabouts are safer. They\u2019re more efficient, and they\u2019re good for the environment,” says NYSDOT PIO TeNesha Murphy. “You have less severe crashes at roundabouts because you don\u2019t get those T-bones that happen at traditional intersections. They are more efficient because you are not stopping. You\u2019re keeping traffic moving, and they\u2019re safer for the environment because you\u2019re not idling at a traffic signal.\u201d<\/p>\n
But knowing how to use them properly is key.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoundabouts are very easy to use,” Murphy said. “As you\u2019re approaching them, you need to make sure you look for the signs and the pavement markings that tell you which lane you need to be in. You also need to make sure that you yield for pedestrians at the crosswalk in the roundabout.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DOT says drivers should yield to traffic already in the circle, signal when exiting and never stop inside the roundabout unless traffic requires it.<\/p>\n
Officials say a simple rule to remember is, if you\u2019re going to take the first right off the roundabout, stay in the right lane. If you’re headed straight across the circle, stay in the center lane or left lane, depending on what is available, and if you\u2019re taking the last exit or the farthest turn, stay in the left lane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roundabouts are becoming increasingly common across New York state, but many drivers still aren\u2019t sure how to navigate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25,113,256,257,199,10699,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,115,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-26811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-capital-region","11":"tag-central-ny","12":"tag-hudson-valley","13":"tag-lacey-leonardi","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-new-york-state","18":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","19":"tag-new-york-state-news","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-rochester","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}