REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - The gateway to the nation's summer capital is causing safety concerns.
Gabriella Angelone who works at Lilla Cavallo by the circle, said it makes traffic much worse,
"I live in Lewes, so on the way a fifteen minute ride could easily turn into about fourty five minutes," said Angelone, "For me there has been so many times where especially with that yielding, I have had to kind of slam on my brakes and be like, 'Okay!' "
Before the roundabout was created in 2006 the Rehoboth Beach police chief said that there was an average of 50 accidents a year. This year, there has been just three.
But the Chief said congestion from the circle is intentional and necessary,
"We want to slow the traffic down, it's a calming device - that's okay as long as they're negotiating the traffic in all lanes."
"That happened to me where I had to be like 'Okay alright..' well this person is going to go. It's just very confusing.." said Angelone.
Others said the roundabout helps,Â
"I believe it's a very effective way rather than a stoplight or an intersection so traffic continues to move." said visitor Chuck Jones.
Good, bad or indifferent, roundabouts continue to be a debate that goes round and round.
The police chief tells me that this portion of Rehoboth Avenue is set to be repaved in the near future and with that could present an opportunity to move crosswalks further away from the circle to improve pedestrian safety.
