We love to hate on traffic circles here in Seattle. So what if they make sense? Who cares about pilot programs, safety statistics, or traffic engineering studies? There’s something, well, un-American about them. Or at least that’s the very amusing response on Jalopnik.com to a piece or Slate.com.Some Seattle gardeners, of course, have taken to tending these unloved islands in the street. Which yielded tragic consequences in the notorious James Paroline incident last summer. Some motorists respond violently to being told how they ought to turn, how to drive, and when to yield. And some neighborhoods have protested and had traffic circles removed after SDOT planted them there.Quoth Slate of the traffic circle (or “roundabout”): “Roundabouts are safer than traditional intersections for a simple reason: By dint of geometry and traffic rules, they reduce the number of places where one vehicle can strike another by a factor of four. The fact that roundabouts may ‘feel’ more dangerous to the average driver is a good thing: It increases vigilance. It’s unlikely the average driver killed or severely injured in a high-speed ‘T-bone’ crash as they drove through a green light felt much risk.”Jalopnik retorts: “Americans don’t care about safety, they care about the illusion of safety. When the light is green, it’s safe to go; when it’s red, it’s safe to stop. No more thought is required, leaving US drivers to focus on what’s really important. Like their Big Macs.”And, I might add, their cell phones. So how do Seattle drivers (and pedestrians) feel today about those counterclockwise concrete directional aids? Pro or con….?