The noisy racket--an exuberant over-amplified announcer, garish rock anthems, lots of vehicular bustle--started around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 5; the day of the Little Rock Marathon.
Among the routes--including full marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K--for this annual event, many start in downtown Little Rock, trek across the Broadway Bridge, head west on North Little Rock's Riverfront Drive, then veer onto East Broadway.
To accomplish this, competitors loop around a roundabout.
We live within sight of that roundabout. It makes for some pretty entertaining viewing.
A roundabout is a circular intersection design where traffic travels at low speed around a central island and entering traffic must yield to circulating traffic. They're touted as being safer and more efficient than traditional intersections. Ours is a simplified version of the multiple-laned Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Don't use the frenetic Paris version as a role model. Roundabouts, even the simplest ones like ours, baffle those who aren't experienced at using them.
That's where the entertainment factor comes in: We see drivers who miss their desired exit road and back up (roundabouts are one-way). Others dodge from one lane to another, cut off other vehicles, stop at exactly the wrong moment, and ignore signs telling them where they should be to get where they're going.
These behaviors multiply on a marathon morning, when our roundabout is off-limits to vehicular traffic. Despite the use of about a zillion traffic cones blocking all the entrances and numerous forbidding black North Little Rock Police SUVs blasting out ominous patterns of blue light, we see cars drive right up to the barriers then stop, realizing there's nowhere to go.
Some try to back up (difficult, since a line of like-minded cars have lined up behind them). Some cajole the police officers for guidance (I overheard one driver explain that she looked at the marathon website in an effort to figure out which streets were going to be closed and when, but it didn't make sense to her. "It doesn't make sense to us either," the officer said ruefully.)
Others shout at law enforcement personnel (never a good idea, particularly before the sun rises).
Eventually the errant vehicles re-arrange themselves and head north on Pike Avenue (another route that you'd better know where you're going, since Union Pacific Railroad property splits the area and makes it difficult to head east), then if they're lucky, they find their way east to Argenta's Main Street (from there, don't try going south on Marathon Day; the Broadway Bridge is closed) or further east to I-30 (the best chance to break free).
I've earned the right to be smug about roundabouts because I was terrified of them when I moved next to this one around three years ago. But now I sail through, waving politely at similarly experienced drivers who aren't careering at me when they're supposed to yield.
How does a roundabout (aka a rotary) work?
A roundabout is a circular-shaped intersection where drivers move counter-clockwise around a center point (ours is a nicely landscaped mound of greenery). There are no traffic signals or stop signs; instead, drivers yield to other traffic before entering.
Once you enter, you revolve around the intersection, then exit at your desired street toward your destination.
Here are the rules:
Yield to other drivers in the roundabout.
Stay in your lane; changing lanes can cause accidents or backups.
Never stop when driving inside the circle; always go with the flow of traffic.
Since the roundabout's design consists of basically one continuous turn, it can be difficult for big trucks, vans, buses, and emergency vehicles to make the entire revolution without drifting a bit into the next lane over. Pay attention to such possibilities.
Always look for pedestrians in crosswalks.
As soon as you see a gap in traffic, enter the roundabout and drive at a reasonable speed until you reach your exit. If there is no traffic in the lanes, you can enter the circle without yielding first. Always use your turn signal when you approach your exit.
Run-of-the-mill four-way- stop intersections can be accident- prone thanks to drivers running lights or making outrageous turns from inside lanes. However, since most Americans aren't familiar with roundabouts, the common consensus is that they're riskier. The truth is that they're significantly safer than a regular intersection for several reasons:
1. There are a lot fewer areas where a vehicle can hit another one.
2. These traffic patterns eliminate the left turn against oncoming traffic, which is one of the most problematic aspects of a regular intersection. Nearly every day I see a vehicle ignore a red light at high speed and bully its way forward.
The perception that roundabouts are dangerous may actually help to prevent accidents. Most drivers who don't know how to use them will exhibit more caution and are more likely to yield as they drive through one. And because the pattern of traffic is in a circular flow, the odds of someone getting T-boned are close to zero. (But we've seen it happen.)
Motorists who travel through these traffic circles tend to do so at slower speeds (I sure did, until I grew comfortable with using them). The circular shape of the road should make people slow down.
The last accident I was in was at a four-way intersection with traffic lights, on an early morning like the one of the marathon. I had a green light; another driver ran his red light and hit my rear bumper. Not a big deal. But so annoying! The hassle of dealing with witnesses, taking photos, filing police reports, wrangling with insurance companies, finding a body repair shop that isn't booked for the next 20 months, waiting for parts to come in (supply issues: they're still going on), finding a rental car (good luck), and in general stressing about the whole mess, and you have better odds using a roundabout.
But not when it's shut down for a marathon.
Karen Martin is senior editor of Perspective.
kmartin@arkansasonline.com