As cars snake through the intersection at Coast Highway 101 and El Portal Street, there are signs of accidents at this relatively new roundabout: Broken cement on the curb, tire marks and missing light poles.
“I have to ask, 'Was the design not so good?'” said Scott Campbell with the advocacy group Encinitas Citizen Review Panel.
He said people are getting hurt, so perhaps it’s time to take a second look at the design.
“The design itself is flawed," he said. "Maybe let's revisit the initial design. We're going to put more of these roundabouts in right up the street, and we need to make sure that they're safe right off the bat and not have to do fixes.”
He thinks the radius of the roundabout is too tight, making it difficult for cars to go through safely.
“It doesn’t take much for a car to get out of control,” he said.
City engineers want to install rumble strips to slow down traffic and bollards to protect infrastructure and businesses.
Rick Smith, who owns Leucadia Glass in that intersection, thinks there’s a simpler answer.
“On ... Leucadia Boulevard, and Encinitas Boulevard and Santa Fe (Drive), the roundabouts have a sign that says, 'Yield to traffic in circle.' We don't," he said. "There's just a yield sign there. I'm petitioning that they put ‘to traffic in the circle’ because, well, (not) everybody knows how to use a roundabout."
Smith is not against roundabouts. He thinks they work but some drivers need a little extra help.
“If they could put in a blinking light or something,” he said.
Campbell is not against roundabouts either. He thinks the design is the issue. However, the city staff don’t think the design is the issue; rather, it is one of driver inattention or error.
According to a staff report, between February 2023 and August 2024, 19 accidents happened at that roundabout. Eighteen were at night, and 12 of them involved drivers under the influence.
The City Council has asked city traffic engineers to come up with more options to make that traffic circle safer.
In the meantime, Campbell thinks the city should increase traffic enforcement in the area to curb drunk driving.
