I read in a recent issue of The Times that roundabouts are being considered once again in Fountain Hills.

A roundabout traffic circle is once again being discussed by the town as an option for the intersection at Avenue of the Fountains and La Montana Drive.

The idea has been brought to the forefront by an ad-hoc committee focused on traffic and pedestrian safety in Fountain Hills.

Even though I don’t drive any more, I have seen many close calls at these roundabouts from my passenger position at various locations in Scottsdale (particularly the one near Costco), Wickenburg, north Phoenix and Sedona.

To make a twist of an old Will Rogers line, I never saw a roundabout I like.

The Fountain Hills roundabout proposal has been rejected by previous councils as too costly and controversial. A plan to make temporary traffic lane modifications at the intersection between Town Hall and the Post Office, was postponed just as the work was expected to begin. Public Works staff has sent the proposal back to an engineering consultant to refine cost estimates.

Popular in Europe, roundabouts or “traffic circles” as they are called in other parts of the world are increasingly being constructed at U.S. intersections.

Granted, they help keep traffic flowing without the starts and stops that occur at intersections with stop signs or blinking red lights. This results in greater traffic capacity that helps ease roadways.

But, roundabouts do come with problems.

The concept of the roundabout sounds simple and safe enough: Drivers are to yield at entry to traffic, then enter the intersection and exit at their desired street.

From what I’ve read, it’s when you add the human factor that problems begin. It’s called driver uncertainty about yielding.

When approaching a roundabout, drivers are to yield to traffic already in them. However, some drivers believe you have to stop completely at roundabouts while others may not know who has to yield the right of way, dangerously entering the intersection into oncoming traffic.

This is particularly true with drivers unfamiliar with roundabouts. As drivers become more familiar with roundabouts, the level of safety at intersections can improve.

Too many merge points, especially in roundabouts with more than four streets and multi-lanes can be especially confusing. The more traffic coming onto a roundabout, the greater the risk of collisions. There are also drivers who change lanes in multi-lane roundabouts which adds to the danger. This impacts pedestrians and bicyclists as well.

While roundabouts do force drivers to slow down, many drivers still enter and proceed through them at too high a velocity, imperiling others.

Drivers may try to “cut” the roundabout. At smaller intersections, instead of turning in a counterclockwise manner, some drivers turn left in front of the circles to save time. This endangers other vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Roundabouts also help limit the more dangerous aspects of traffic light intersections such as drivers who run red lights or fail to yield on left hand turns. But are roundabouts really safer?

As I researched round-abouts on the Internet, I found some positives for them.

Vehicles can keep moving through traffic, reducing commute time and easing driver aggravation. Also, the starts and stops and idling at traditional traffic intersections cause vehicles to emit more gas and diesel so roundabouts are more environmentally friendly.

Tens of thousands of traffic tickets are handed out each year in the U.S. for failing to yield at a stop sign or running a red light. In addition to fuel and vehicle maintenance savings, there are typically fewer traffic tickets handed out at roundabouts than conventional intersections.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, roundabouts have been shown to decrease the number of crashes, particularly those resulting in serious injuries. Roundabouts make violent and deadly T-bone and head-on collisions unlikely. The collisions that do occur tend to be minor.

So there you have some pros and cons about roundabouts. I still don’t like them based on my own experiences. Let’s hope the committee takes a long, hard look at them before proceeding.