Driving in DC: Rotaries

As my last post indicated, I am a Boston driver. This makes sense since I have lived there for most of my driving life. Yes, I admit that I can occasionally get a little "assertive" on the road and have at times considered a yellow light as an invitation to speed up.

Most Bostonians are also familiar with what we call "rotaries," circular traffic patterns around a center island that I always figured were intended to keep cars moving smoothly through an area, thereby precluding the need for yet another stoplight. Upon approach to a rotary, you slow slightly, look left, shut your eyes and gun it.

Technically I suppose those who are already in the rotary have the right of way but as we all know, they will never let you in. Therefore you have to create your own opportunity.

Imagine my surprise the first time I did a little Sunday drive around downtown Washington DC. The first notable difference is that I didn't even realize I was approaching a rotary because there was a stoplight preventing my entry. I gazed in befuddlement ahead of me, trying to figure out what to do once the light turned green, as the rotary ahead of me was a mystifying mass of concrete medians and yet more stoplights.

I am confused: if the idea is to keep traffic moving smoothly, why would you chop it up with lights and medians? If I want to exit the rotary 3/4 of the way around, do I keep to the outside of these medians or do I go inside? And if I go to the inside, how do I transition to the outside in order to exit? If, while in the rotary, you are at a red light at the place that you want to exit, can you go "right" on red and thereby get the heck outta there?

And the most important question: Why did they have to make this so complicated?

My research shows that apparently this type of rotary (which should actually be called a "roundabout" thanks to our friends in the UK) is safer than the rotaries we are accustomed to in the Northeast. Well FINE. That may be the case. But they are a heck of a lot less fun.

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