Let me start this off by saying that I understand the people do this because they think theyre being nice. And there is always room in the world for more gestures of niceness. Is niceness a word? Anyway, Im digressing. However, this gesture, albeit an attempt to be courteous, is extremely dangerous.

Most of us who live and work in Central Maine, and even those of us who dont, are pretty familiar with Augustas two rotaries. We have Memorial Circle over on the westside of the Kennebec and Cony Circle over on the eastside 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: Heres where my pet peeve comes into play.

When youre 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. Ive 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 its an inner and an outer lane, so if the car next to you in the other lane doesnt also stop to let the traffic in its going to become a hot mess real quick.

Ive seen this happen more times than I can count which makes me think how many times its happened when Im 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 youre really effing up the flow and putting other drivers at risk.

Stop it. Still love you though.

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