Roundabouts (Public opinion)

 Roundabouts
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 the roundabouts before construction, compared with 63 percent shortly after (Retting et al., 2002).
  • In three other communities where a one- or two-lane roundabout replaced stop signs or traffic signals, 36 percent of drivers supported the roundabouts before construction compared with 50 percent shortly after (Retting et al., 2006).
  • 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 (Retting et al., 2007).
  • When two intersections near Bellingham, Washington, were converted to two-lane roundabouts, support for the roundabouts went from 34 percent before construction to 51 percent six months after and 70 percent more than one year after (Hu et al., 2014).

Reprinted with permission from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Please visit here for the original article.

Full Article
Overview
Roundabouts defined
Safety benefits
Safety challenges
Traffic flow benefits
Public opinion
Effect on older drivers

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