Traffic Circle Safety: Berkeley Meeting

BERKELEY, CA — The Berkeley City Council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon on the controversial issue of traffic circles.

The city for many years has had neighborhood traffic circles, which it describes as islands in the middle of intersections whose main purpose is to calm and slow traffic.

But the city is considering changing its traffic circle policy because in the last five years there have been at least two serious collisions involving cars and pedestrians in the vicinity of traffic circle intersections.

In one case, the attorney for a pedestrian who was injured in a collision alleged that the traffic circle vegetation obstructed the view of an approaching driver and contributed to the collision with the pedestrian.

Traffic engineers for the city say their primary concern with traffic circles is maintaining sight lines for good visibility, which could mean reducing the number and height of trees and other vegetation in the circles.

However, neighborhood groups who like the traffic circles as they are don't want the city's traffic circle policy to be dramatically changed.

The special meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Berkeley Unified School District's board room at 1231 Addison St. — Bay City News