I remember when Prince Edward Island introduced its first roundabout, in a place called Travellers Rest. The year was 2006. A notorious intersection along the Island’s busiest highway was converted from a “T” junction into a traffic circle that funnelled vehicles seamlessly in three directions, without the pesky need for stop signs or traffic lights. This is the same intersection where—during the summer crush of the Island’s busy tourist season—you might have had to wait fifteen or twenty minutes just to make a left turn. Such brutal wait times often encouraged impatient drivers to take reckless chances zipping into oncoming traffic, which made this particular junction one of the most dangerous and lethal on PEI.
In the lead-up to the roundabout’s debut, Islanders, as usual, were fiercely divided. Plenty were outraged, some were vocally supportive—though most were simply confused. Many had never seen a roundabout before. Older Islanders in particular were concerned about how to navigate the darn things without causing themselves embarrassment. To allay such fears, the provincial government launched a public campaign to teach Island drivers what to do when approaching the new roundabout, including setting up a scale model in a large parking lot at the old air force base in Slemon Park so Islanders could get in some practice before attempting the real thing, without fear of being found out.
