Is that a Railroad Crossing at the bottom left too? All they're missing now is a light rail going down the the street.
By the way, this conversation is exactly what we deal with all the time as an Engineering firm. The township/planners want the traffic circles installed due to aesthetics, improved traffic flow, and that they're generally considered safer in the design community. Then we present the design to the general public during community board meetings and they're up in arms that they're impassible death traps.
I think the issue is familiarity. I grew up in central jersey, there are several circles on major local roads towards the shore that see a lot of volume in the summer. I would drive through pretty frequently and never noticed or heard of any issues with accidents or pedestrian strikes. My wife grew up in Brooklyn, a land completely devoid of traffic circles. She still gets nervous driving through them.
Traffic circles are supposed to be safer because motorists are supposed to slow down and pay more attention to their surroundings as they approach. Unfortunately, these motorists are humans who get nervous, don't pay attention, make bad decisions like decide to check facebook while hurdling a 2 ton missile at 65mph, etc. It's not like four way stops or traffic lights are immune to people blowing through an intersection when they're not supposed to.
