Style Weekly lambasts traffic circles, including at A.P. Hill monument

Traffic circles are something Richmonders have dealt with for years — ever since our forefathers began plopping down idol-worship statues of the Civil War’s losing top brass. Take, for instance, Gen. A.P. Hill, once brave protector of Richmond, now relegated to disrupting the natural traffic pattern at Boulevard and Laburnum.

The problem is this: Drivers turning left in a traffic circle controlled by a traffic light simply can’t grasp that this traffic pattern is identical to any intersection where they are permitted to make their turn on the same green light that allows them to enter the intersection in the first place — and to ignore the red light that’s supposed to keep cross traffic from T-boning them.

In other words, what right-minded traffic planner would want cars turning left to wait for the opposing light to turn green before completing their turn?