New Washington state laws sets roundabout rule for trucks

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed into law a bill to give large trucks permission to use two lanes to navigate through circular intersections, including roundabouts.

The states of Indiana and Wisconsin also have acted in recent years to address concerns about how to maneuver with large trucks through the increasingly popular traffic pattern.

Roundabouts have grown in popularity around the country in recent years following the U.S. Department of Transportation backing their installation to slow traffic and reduce the frequency of severe wrecks. The Washington State Department of Transportation reports that intersections converted to roundabouts show a 75% decrease in injury crashes and a 90% decrease in fatal crashes.

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety supports the traffic design.

Washington takes action

Washington state Sen. Dean Takko, D-Longview, and Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, this year spearheaded legislation to get a roundabout rule adopted in Washington state.

As introduced, the legislation called for requiring operators of smaller vehicles to yield the right-of-way to large trucks when driving through roundabouts. The rule would apply when the driver of the smaller vehicle is driving through the traffic pattern at or near the same time.

The same rule would also apply for operators of large trucks.

SB6084/HB2245 was amended in the Senate to remove the language on yielding. Critics expressed concern about a requirement for vehicles to yield the right-of-way.

Instead, legislators agreed to focus their attention on creating a rule in statute that covers the need for large trucks to “deviate from the lane in which the operator is driving” as the vehicle approaches a circular intersection. The definition covers roundabouts, rotaries and traffic circles.

Jeff Devere of the Washington Trucking Association said his group requested the bill. During committee testimony on the bill, he said the change would allow trucks to straddle lanes approaching a roundabout.

Devere pointed out that Washington law has not permitted the traffic maneuver. He said in testimony that legalizing the action would allow trucks to perform the maneuver that is intended to “keep everybody behind them so that we don’t have a problem.”

The rule change applies to trucks with a gross vehicle weight of at least 26,000 pounds. Hazardous material haulers are also covered by the rule change.

The new law is effective June 11.

More Land Line coverage of news from Washington is available.