The Modern Roundabout

"Navigating the Modern Roundabout," a video created by Councilor Debbie O'Malley, explains the benefits of a roundabout and how to use one as motorists, a cyclists, or a pedestrian.

In the past few years, the City has installed several roundabouts. Two more roundabouts will be constructed in the immediate future, and potentially several more in the not too distant future.

Though still uncommon, and often unfamiliar, and a bit intimidating, roundabouts are gradually becoming more prevalent.

Dangers at Intersections

The most dangerous and life threatening auto accidents happen at intersections, including T-bones (the front of one car slams into the side of another car) and head-on collisions.

By drastically reducing these accidents, the potential for becoming injured in an auto collision on an urban or local roadway is dramatically reduced. Traffic Engineers have found that roundabouts reduced these injury crashes by 75 percent at intersections where stop signs or signals were previously used for traffic control, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Reduction of Collisions

Studies by the IIHS and Federal Highway Administration have shown that roundabouts typically achieve:

• A 37 percent reduction in overall collisions,
• A 75 percent reduction in injury collisions,
• A 90 percent reduction in fatality collisions, and
• A 40 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions.