I have lived in the Gallatin Valley long enough to remember when a “roundabout” was just something you did if you missed your turn into the supermarket. Lately, however, it seems the entire valley has collectively decided that the best way to handle a circular intersection is to treat it like a funeral procession waiting for a red light.

If you are approaching the roundabout at the end of the frontage road, please observe the simple physics of the situation. If there is no car currently occupying the circle, you do not need to come to a complete, engine-revving stop. You have the right-of-way. You are the master of your own destiny. Just go.

Last Tuesday, I sat behind a shiny, lime-green Jeep for a full three minutes while the driver waited for a sedan that was still two miles away in Manhattan. The driver of the Jeep was wearing a hat that said “Local,” which is curious because a true local knows that time is the only thing we have that doesn’t appreciate in value like a downtown loft.

“I just wanted to be safe,” said Brenda Miller, who I caught idling at the new Four Corners entrance despite the fact that the entire road was empty. “You never know when someone is going to come flying around the bend in a hurry, so I just give them the courtesy of the road.”

That is a very nice sentiment, Brenda, but courtesy is for a church potluck or a neighborly chat about fence lines. On the road, efficiency is the highest form of virtue. When you stop when you don’t have to, you create a ripple effect. That ripple turns into a traffic jam, which turns into a road rage incident, which eventually leads to us all sitting on North 19th for an hour contemplating our life choices.

We have built these roundabouts to keep the metal moving. They are designed to be the heartbeat of our transit system. By stopping when the coast is clear, you are effectively giving the city a localized cardiac arrest. It is not polite; it is an impediment to progress.

If you are scared of the roundabout, I have a simple piece of advice. Take the side streets. Drive through the back roads. Or, at the very least, look to your left, see that the road is empty, and commit to the turn.

The circle is your friend. Treat it with the respect of a steady foot on the gas pedal.

Gerald Fencepost has lived in Belgrade since 1991 and has strong feelings about most intersections.