What's the crash tally on Napa's 3 new roundabouts?
It's been 15 months since the three roundabouts at First Street and Highway 29 began spinning vehicles toward their destinations. Napa Police Sgt. Kristofer Jenny can answer that question, but not definitively. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: $1 for your first 6 months! "I'd have expected there to be far more collisions than we have had, based on the unfamiliarity with the traffic circles, but people have managed them well," Jenny said in an interview last week. Digging through 18 months of records, Jenny said he tallied six minor crashes at First and California and one at Second and California, but noted this isn't the complete story. There have been an unknown number of fender-benders where motorists pulled over, exchanged insurance information and a police officer never took a report, Jenny said. Also, any collision on the freeway's on- and off-ramps are in the California Highway Patrol's jurisdiction, he said. Several of the reported collisions involved motorists who were waiting to enter a roundabout and got rear-ended, Jenny said. Others occurred when a vehicle in a roundabout drifted out of its lane and side-swiped an adjacent vehicle.