Getting around the dinky neighborhood roundabouts in the best of times is sometimes problematic. On Saturday night—with the Mariachi Festival at the Santa Barbara Bowl, a huge moving van and an outsized roundabout in a tiny intersection—it was the worst of times. At least for the surprised driver who had to cope with the immovable obstruction impeding his progress through the neighborhood. Add in parked cars, honking drivers and curious spectators trying to be helpful, and what should have been a routine turn turned out to be a daunting task.
He finally, impressively, backed the enormous truck down a full city block, turned around at Santa Barbara High, and tried it again—this time avoiding the traffic “calming” device, using streets with intersections that have conventional stop signs. But there was nothing calming about the hour-long ordeal as he finally reached his destination, just a block away from the site that caused all the commotion, but with the traffic circle, it might as well have been a hundred.
Classic! I cant stand that roundabout either – small cars can barely get by. And who is in charge of watering a roundabout?
Those who wanted it do the watering. Rob Dayton visits it weekly, along with Grant House and friends.
Great story and perfectly illustrated!
Thanks for the story, I guess. But you never say exactly which intersection. We couldn’t tell from the photos?
That’s not a roundabout, or even modern roundabout, it’s a neighborhood traffic circle. If a moving company decides to bring a full size tractor trailer into your neighborhood without checking out the path in and out, who’s fault is that?
This is the moving company and/or movers fault. A semi-truck should never be on that road in that first place.
That “calming device” is for decoration, and is easily navigable by all personal vehicles. It was not designed with semi-trucks in mind because that is not an expected nor allowed type of traffic in that area.
Wrong Martin there is no prohibition against semis on the street, as for designed lets not gloss over the fact fire department vehicles also couldn’t get through we’re they also part of your imaginary “not allowed” class of vehicles?
I’d pay the moving company extra to drive right over it.