Bonita Springs residents concerned about roundabout safety

Bonita Springs resident Jim Brown feels the roundabout at Old 41 Road and Terry Street is becoming more of a problem then a solution for drivers.

“You gotta make quick decisions in a roundabout, and if you don’t, next thing you know you’re in an accident,” Brown said.

Brown and other neighbors say this roundabout is so awful, they try to avoid it all together because of the traffic backing up around it.

“I can’t deal with this at 4:3o p.m., 5 p.m.,” Brown said, “Forget it.”

Brown says long lines of traffic form around the circle because drivers incorrectly treat the roundabout like a stop sign, and then many aren’t sure how to drive through it.

“People see that and thing, ‘Where do I go?’ and ‘What do I do?'” Brown said.

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, a roundabout is supposed to flow right around a roundabout. But, in the Old 41 and Terry Street roundabout, one arrow points left.

“Some people will come up on the right side, start to go around the roundabout, not make a right and keep going around the outside and then they are going around like, ‘When do I get out of here?'” Brown said.

Brown says an easy solution to the confusion would to reinstall a traffic light.

“The light was a light, I liked it,” Brown said. “You pull up, green you go. You got a little backup but nothing like this.”

WINK News is working with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to investigate this particular roundabout, and related traffic incidents in Bonita Springs.

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