RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: Round and Round with the Roundabout Issue

By Editor | October 8, 2025 |

By Bill Hoagland

In my hometown, the Village is in the process of building two roundabouts to reduce congestion on a heavily traveled highway. My first reaction to this news was a negative one, based on my own two bad experiences with roundabouts—first in 1959 in Mexico City where there were way too many “macho” types in the circle and later in Seoul, South Korea, where I was encountering not only the “macho” types, but also lots of military vehicles, motorcycles, motor bikes, bicycles, and even oxen drawn carts—a true rotating free-for-all. (On one occasion, I encountered a man on a bicycle, with a pig strapped to the back of the bike; he was taking the pig to market and to get it on the bike, I was later told that he got it drunk first and then had to peddle as fast as he could to market before the pig sobered up.)
I am not the only one having initial doubts about the wisdom of building roundabouts. According to surveys, there has been significant resistance to roundabouts—sometimes as high as 70%– if a particular community has not had much experience with them even though the concept has been around for years. My impression, based on my own limited experiences, was that there would be a ton of fender-benders with roundabouts that would eventually lead to the erection of those dreaded lawyer billboards encircling the roundabouts.
Surprisingly, the statistics show that so long as the roundabout is small–meaning limited to one or two lanes–it creates a safer intersection with fewer collisions and more importantly, far less fatalities than those intersections having stop signs or traffic lights; one source stated it reduced traffic fatalities by 90%. Roundabouts are also good for the environment by reducing congestion caused by idling cars at stoplights and it saves taxpayer dollars because traffic signals over time result in significant costs to operate and replace. The major cost of constructing a roundabout relates to acquisition and condemnation costs converting a standard intersection into a roundabout but the costs thereafter should be relatively small.
There are now more than 9,000 roundabouts in the US and the best example of a successful experience with them has to be the town of Carmel, Indiana, where there are more than 170 roundabouts located within the city. Starting in the 1990s, the city began replacing standard intersection stop signs and traffic lights with roundabouts and as proof of the success and popularity of these roundabouts, the mayor who initiated this program, Jim Brainard, remained the mayor until his retirement in 2024. And for any city struggling with carjackings, this would seemingly reduce the serious injuries and death occurring in those cities during police pursuits at high speeds through the heart of town.
Note: Roundabouts are not to be confused with “rotary intersections” and so-called “traffic circles” where the traffic travels at a much faster speed and accidents are much more common.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].