General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

So far, I think all of the comments have been about motorists' safety. I agree that the statistics show that the rate of collisions between vehicles is increased at roundabouts, but the severity is decreased. What about the rate of people being struck by vehicles in roundabouts? Anecdotally, motorists seem not to understand who has the right-of-way in roundabouts, and do not stop for people crossing as they should. I think a lot of it (here) has to do with the fact that motorists are not accustomed to them, and are focused on other cars, and not other types of road users.

By people do you mean, people on foot i.e., pedestrians?

I don't know that there report highlights anything specific, but it is worth noting that all but one of the top pedestrian collision intersections are signalized intersections.  The same things that make roundabouts safe for drivers make them safer for pedestrians, even in the face of poor motorist behaviour.  Specifically, there's only one place to look for cars to be coming from, pedestrians will see them, even if drivers aren't looking or yielding.  And relatively low speeds mean that collisions which do happen are relatively minor, compared with a signalized intersection.

This especially makes sense if you think of the directions a car may hit you while making a crossing on a walk sign:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12fxnvC...CIrXDwoDJI&usp=sharing



Three potential collisions, all from different directions, including possibly behind.  A pedestrian must keep their wits about them.  Where as at the roundabout, only one possible direction cars can be coming from.

Now yes, you might have drivers who go the wrong way round like mentioned earlier, but that's rare, in fact that's much more rare than people running red lights (which happens quite frequently), which adds another two possible collisions to the map below as well.

I of course, would like to see some data, but that's why I would expect a roundabout to be safer for pedestrians.

On the other hand, the same thing which makes roundabouts scary for drivers (they're different, they're new) makes them scary for pedestrians, plus the added discomfort of having to manage eye contact and moving between possibly multiple lanes of possibly failing to yield drivers.  It's much more uncomfortable than a signalized intersection, even if it is safer.