I have lived here my entire life, and my parents and I both never navigate that Chevy Chase Circle due to the chance of getting in an accident. If I do go on the circle, I lay on my horn the entire time. I go down Western Avenue and turn left on Nevada and right on McKinley and then hit Western Avenue on the other side of the circle to avoid it. YES! Of course, that circle should have traffic lights. Traffic conditions are quite different in 2012 than they were in 1952, don't you think?

No, absolutely not. Where is the data to support this proPosal? What is needed is additional and better signage that exPlains how to drive in a circle as well as better enforcement. The theory behind a roundabout is to maximize traffic flow at all times. Additional signals( as there are two already acting as such for the circle- one south of the circle at the exit to Conn. Ave. and one at Western and Oliver) will stagnate the traffic and result in early exiting onto Chevy Chase, Md roads. There are four jurisdictions associated with the circle, the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia, the federal government-National Park Service, and the Village of Chevy Chase, Maryland making traffic circle rules enforcement tricky, but not impossible. Signals will clog Connecticut Ave and result in the spillage of commuter cars onto residential streets that cannot sustain such volume. The local government wilmost likely will react by prohibiting or greatly reducing usage of their streets, which will result in greater gridlock and increased emissions from idling cars. .
Let's enforce these laws and not install signals that are unnecessary, costly, aesthetically

Of course it would. People coming South on Conn Avenue do not yield even tho there is a sign. They just barrel right through so if you're coming around the circle toward Conn Avenue, you take your life in your hands due to the failure of drivers to yield. How could a light not improve the dangerous situation????????????

TomW

Have lived here for three years and although I am very aware entering the circle I seldom experience the dangerous driver. I have not seen an accident in those three years.
A traffic light will accomplish nothing if it is not coordinated with 6 or seven others that allow only one lane of entry at a time into the circle. If not, you are simply wasting time and promoting aggravation and aggressive driving for those who have to wait at a light as all others drive by.

No. Get a grip - it's a round about - cars in the circle have the right of way - don't even think of driving in europe if you can't even join traffic here when you have a space...what a group of......!

I say no, mostly because of the mess that happens when they DO put lights in traffic circles. Look all over DC and tell me that the circles with lights (*cough* Dupont *cough*) are better than the ones without. Maybe if people learned to drive and existing laws were enforced, this wouldn't be a problem.

Then again, given the way people have been driving after this storm, I'm convinced that nobody in this area actually knows how to drive, so maybe fixing it so less people have to drive (more/better mass transit, better zoning, etc.) would be the answer.

Adding traffic lights at Chevy Chase Circle is like wearing suspenders and a belt. Traffic circles slow down-- not stop--traffic. They are used worldwide to modulate traffic organically and research in the U.S. supports that finding. Every driver in DC and MD is REQUIRED to know how to navigate a traffic circle competently. Alternative routes exist for those unwilling to do so. So what problem will traffic lights address?
It takes nearly 10 minutes to cross Dupont Circle, Chevy Chase circle, at its worst, takes only a few minutes—lights would add congestion and traffic pollution to our neighborhood. Then there’s aesthetics, Chevy Chase circle is beautiful as it is and lights would detract from the beauty and character of our neighborhood.
The money needed to install and maintain the traffic lights will be better used in projects that deliver a concrete benefit.

I was almost in a major accident last night in this circle. I was in the inside lane in the circle continuing North onto Connecticut, and the other driver was in the outside lane continuing around the circle. Luckily I was paying attention and guessed the driver's intention; if I hadn't we would have collided. I looked online and to find the appropriate right-of-way and found this site, but the statement from the Montgomery County PD in this article hasn't cleared it up. There does not appear to be a clear right-of-way in this situation. How would the police and/or insurance companies handle this if the collision had occurred?