An Open Letter to Idiots Who Do This on Augusta, Maine, Rotaries

Let me start this off by saying that I understand that people do this because they think they're being nice. And there is always room in the world for more gestures of niceness. Is niceness a word? Anyway, I'm digressing.

However, this gesture, albeit an attempt to be courteous, is extremely dangerous.

Most of us who live and work in Maine, and even those of us who don't, are pretty familiar with Augusta's two rotaries. We have Memorial Circle over on the west side of the Kennebec and Cony Circle over on the east side of the river.

Nevertheless, every time I see this particular thing happen it always seems to occur on Cony Circle.

There are lots of roads that merge onto Cony Circle in Augusta. Traffic is entering the busy roundabout from Memorial Bridge, Stone Street, Cony Street, Bangor Street and the other side of Cony Street on the hill.

This means that it tends to be pretty busy all day long.

There is a certain flow to the way the rotary works. People that are currently on or in the circle have the right of way, while those sitting at an intersecting street have to wait their turn to pull into traffic.

Spoiler: Here's where my pet peeve comes into play.

When you're in the middle of driving around the rotary, do NOT hit the brakes and stop halfway around to let other people in that are waiting at an intersecting street. I've seen this happen SO many times!

Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to literally STOP in the middle of the rotary to let others in? Not to mention it's an inner and an outer lane, so if the car next to you in the other lane doesn't also stop to let the traffic in it's going to become a hot mess real quick.

I've seen this happen more times than I can count which makes me think how many times it's happened when I'm not there to see it.

Remember, the whole idea of these traffic circles is to prevent traffic from stopping and to maintain a continuous flow, so when you stop in the middle of it you're really effing up the flow and putting other drivers at risk.

Stop it. Still love you though.