Letter: Sea Pines Circle only one that works

I truly cannot understand Hilton Head Island’s fascination with traffic circles. Now there is talk about re-structuring the Sea Pines Circle, the only one that functions properly and safely.

The key to these supposed traffic aids really has to do with the size of the circle. The one on Arrow Road is so small that you are hardly into it before you are out of it. On top of that, cars entering the circle from Dunnigan’s Alley rarely pause or yield to traffic coming from U.S. 278. They just blow into the tiny fraction of a circle, making a quick right to Arrow Road or continuing straight ahead.

It is not much different on Mathews Drive at Marshland Road. There, cars coming from U.S. 278 rarely yield to the cars coming from Marshland.

It would help if drivers knew what a yield sign means. Certainly it doesn’t mean looking to the left and pausing before blowing into the circle, or mini-circle.

But if you hardly have to turn the steering wheel right and then left in traversing these little circles, then maybe it’s not a circle but just an odd intersection where everybody seems to have the right of way.

Yes, the “Arrow Road Blow-Into Intersection.” That’s a better description. Bright, flashing, neon yield signs might help, or perhaps a sign as you leave the bridge coming onto the island: “Hey, welcome to Hilton Head. We have these tiny traffic circles. YIELD before entering.”

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Letter: Sea Pines Circle only one that works."