Editor,
Mr. Thomas P. Bergquist P.E.’s recent [Nov. 30] letter to the paper was interesting. He quoted the Federal Highway Administration subpositive facts concerning roundabouts.
As I stated earlier in my letter to the editor [Nov. 23], statistics can be skewed to fit the organization or person writing them. It does not mean the facts are necessarily true or false.
As for Mr. Bergquist’s proven facts, I am wary to believe or accept them. According to PBS news the trust of the public in government and its leaders has dropped exponentially.
Mr. Bergquist said that it was proven that roundabouts were: Safe? For whom? Pedestrians? Bicyclists? Beginner drivers and elderly drivers, of whom I am one?
A traffic light to allow entrance into and out of an intersection would guide these people through better than being at the mercy of drivers going around dizzily in circles of a roundabout.
Save money? I heard from some of the state representatives at the meeting in Eureka’s Auditorium that the cost of the roundabout would be about a million dollars of taxpayers’ money. Spend it instead on much needed sidewalks.
Power outages at traffic lights are few. The lights can run on solar power with battery back-up, not that costly.
I don’t understand how a roundabout can help businesses.
Thomas T. Reinhart
I agree.