Editor, Times-Union: After reading a letter to the editor last week, I decided to investigate the issue of roundabouts. One is under construction now at the intersection of Fox Farm Road and West Lake Street (Old 30 West) and one is being proposed for the intersection of Argonne Road, Winona Avenue, Kings Highway and Park Avenue in Winona Lake. The Winona Lake intersection is, in my option, a prime site for a roundabout.
I came across a Q&A: “Roundabouts: The Highway Safety Research & Communications Institute” at http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/roundabouts.html Here are a couple of excerpts from this site.
“How do roundabouts affect safety?”
Several features of roundabouts promote safety. At traditional intersections with stop signs or traffic signals, some of the most common types of crashes are right-angle, left-turn and head-on collisions. These types of collisions can be severe because vehicles may be traveling through the intersection at high speeds. With roundabouts, these types of potentially serious crashes essentially are eliminated because vehicles travel in the same direction. Installing roundabouts in place of traffic signals can also reduce the likelihood of rear-end crashes and their severity by removing the incentive for drivers to speed up as they approach green lights and by reducing abrupt stops at red lights. The vehicle-to-vehicle conflicts that occur at roundabouts generally involve a vehicle merging into the circular roadway, with both vehicles traveling at low speeds – generally less than 20 mph in urban areas and less than 30-35 mph in rural areas.
A 2001 Institute study of 23 intersections in the United States reported that converting intersections from traffic signals or stop signs to roundabouts reduced injury crashes by 80 percent and all crashes by 40 percent. Similar results were reported by Eisenman et al.: a 75 percent decrease in injury crashes and a 37 percent decrease in total crashes at 35 intersections that were converted from traffic signals to roundabouts. A study of 17 higher speed rural intersections (40 mph and higher speed limits) found that the average injury crash rate per million entering vehicles was reduced by 84 percent and fatal crashes were eliminated when the intersections were converted to roundabouts. Studies of intersections in Europe and Australia that were converted to roundabouts have reported 41-61 percent reductions in injury crashes and 45-75 percent reductions in severe injury crashes. “Do drivers favor roundabouts?”
Drivers may be skeptical, or even opposed, to roundabouts when they are proposed. However, opinions quickly change when drivers become familiar with them. A 2002 Institute study in three communities where single-lane roundabouts replaced stop sign-controlled intersections found 31 percent of drivers supported the roundabouts before construction compared with 63 percent shortly after. Another study surveyed drivers in three additional communities where single-lane roundabouts replaced stop signs or traffic signals. Overall, 36 percent of drivers supported the roundabouts before construction compared with 50 percent shortly after. Follow-up surveys conducted in these six communities after roundabouts had been in place for more than one year found the level of public support increased to about 70 percent on average.
My personal experience with roundabouts has been very positive. We lived in a small village in upstate New York where a roundabout was built about 10 years ago. The local residences were very skeptical about it when it was proposed but now they don’t see how they got along without. There is a learning period on how to use it but now that they are used to it, they love it.
