Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Virginia USA, reprinted with permission. Drivers may be skeptical of or even opposed to roundabouts when they are proposed. However, several IIHS studies show that opinions quickly change when drivers become familiar with them. In three communities where single-lane roundabouts replaced stop sign-controlled intersections, 31 percent of drivers supported…
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Roundabouts (Traffic flow benefits)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Virginia USA, reprinted with permission. Several studies conducted by IIHS and others have reported significant improvements in traffic flow following conversion of traditional intersections to roundabouts. A study of three intersections in Kansas, Maryland and Nevada where roundabouts replaced stop signs found that vehicle delays were reduced 13-23 percent…
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Roundabouts (Safety challenges)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Virginia USA, reprinted with permission. Despite the demonstrated safety benefits of roundabouts, some crashes still occur. An IIHS study of crashes at 38 roundabouts in Maryland found that four crash types — run-off-road, rear-end, sideswipe, and entering-circulating — accounted for almost all crashes (Mandavilli et el., 2009). Another common…
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Roundabouts (Safety benefits)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Virginia USA, reprinted with permission. 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…
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