getting my mind around it

I have very mixed feelings about traffic circles.  I know they've been around for years, especially in Europe.  But it almost seems like a fad here in the mid-west US these days.  Especially here in Fort Wayne.  There seems to be a new one every time you turn around, or should I say drive around? I've been told that they are faster, safer, more efficient than traditional intersections.  There's probably a learning curve (pun intended) but I have seen someone going the wrong way around a traffic circle and, when they first installed a series of four of them on Tonkel Road, it seemed like there was a minor accident about once a week.  What got me thinking about this again today was a report on this evening's news that Ohio is replacing one of the deadliest intersections in their state with a traffic circle.  Evidently now it is a four way stop.  They say it will be safer and more efficient, not to mention less expensive, than installing a traffic light.  If nothing else it might slow people down as they pause to figure it out.  And don't even get me started on 'diverging diamonds' although the one on Dupont Road is kind of fun to drive.