To the editor:

It is time we do something about the bright yellow roundabouts that dot Harvard Road in Lawrence. Since the installation of these roundabouts, I have come close to being hit almost four times, simply because people do not know the correct way to drive through them.

Whenever I come to one, I yield. If a car is already there, I wait for it to pass, but more than once, I have found myself trying to get through a roundabout when another driver comes flying toward the intersection, expecting me to wait for him because “he has the right of way” simply because he is traveling on Harvard.

Not only do these roundabouts cause unnecessary hassle, but it is difficult for larger vehicles (such as school buses and fire trucks) to make it through. If my house were to catch on fire and I learned that the reason the damage was so great was because the fire truck had to find an alternate route or had to struggle through the roundabout to come to extinguish the blaze, I would be very upset, as I suspect the average citizen would be.

The roundabouts were supposedly added to stop speeding along Harvard Road. I might say that while they have helped some, people still speed just as they normally would down this street. Though they may help a little bit, I personally feel that the negatives of increased accident risk and difficulty of access for emergency vehicles outweigh the positives. So please, do us all a favor, and remove the atrocious yellow roundabouts from our community.

Erick Shields,

Lawrence