Navigating a busy Jersey Shore traffic circle already takes a sharp eye and nerves of steel, and this week two of our busiest local circles got new traffic patterns, and early reports aren't exactly encouraging.

Last week, I saw signs at the Manasquan circle at Route 34 and Allaire Road alerting drivers to an impending new traffic pattern. The circle at Route 35 and Atlantic Avenue was also on the list for a switcheroo.

Basically, according to NJ.com, the well-ingrained traffic pattern that's been the rule of the road for years was just up and switched.

Previously, traffic going into the circle from the major roads, Route 35 and Route 34, had the right of way with traffic in the circle yielding.

But as of this week, it's the opposite.

Traffic in the circle has the right of way with cars coming in from the highways expected to yield.

According to early reports, the start to the new pattern hasn't been going so well.

A News 12 New Jersey reporter posted a video on Wednesday of a bemused seeming vehicle in the Manasquan circle sitting there waiting patiently while Route 34 traffic whizzed by:

And thank goodness the driver did wait! With the pace of the cars zipping past, things could have ended much worse.

You have to give credit to whoever wrote NJ.com's headline that pretty much says what we're all thinking: