Ahhh…. Dysfunction junction.
True story, swear to God. One Saturday last summer me and the family are coming back from Gilford on the “go” side, approaching the junction when I see a Laconia PD cruise sitting at the “stop” side, turning left, and a steady stream of people on the “yield” side coming through. As I approach the junction one of the yielders decides that his vacations more important than those pesky rules and runs the yield sign directly in front of me. Both cars screech to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection, directly in front Laconia’s finest, and narrowly miss each other and the cruiser. As opposed to my usual highly vocal pep talk to the flatlander, complete with the “your #1 buddy” sign, I decided to let the officer who was dang near involved in this dang near accident handle it. I drive off, the non-yielding yielder drives off, and Laconia’s finest, err, well they drive off too.
My phone conversation immediately after with the Laconia PD supervisor taught me that a. its very loud in those cruisers, b. she really didn’t care about my issue and her officers complete inability to notice me stopping directly in front of them when I shouldn’t have been, and c. your on your own in dysfunction junction.
If you should be going through the go side, you not only have to worry about non-yielding yielders and non-stopping stoppers, you have to watch the guy in front of you who decides that since there’s no signs at all they can make up their own rules! And stop! While your watching the other 2 directions!
I would say that overall I see as many capt. Boneheads navigating the junction now as I always have. Some of my earliest car accident memories are from the junction. My wife and I have joked about hanging a giant green “go” sign on the go side. But a rotary? I don’t think I can drunk walk through a rotary every bikeweek without making my own accident, albeit in my pants.
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Is it bikeweek yet?
Now?
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