General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

It's all the more frustrating because the answer is so simple, just move the pedestrian crossings slightly away from the intersections and maybe add some flashing pedestrian crossing signs and all is well, but no, that's far too much work to figure out.

I don't think there is one answer to the roundabout dilemma. But tightening the angles for vehicles would be the one that I would be looking at. The roundabouts we have are designed to keep vehicles moving as quickly as possible, which creates extra danger for pedestrians. Moving the crossings back gives drivers exiting the roundabout more acceleration room before they hit the crossing.

Indeed, in fact this "simple" answer is very anti-pedestrian, although I'm sure that's not what Bjays93 intended.

Moving the crosswalks further out from the roundabout makes it more dangerous for pedestrians because drivers are moving faster, it is also more inconvenient because now you must walk further, and also increases the chances that pedestrians won't cross at the crossing.

There isn't one answer, in the Netherlands, even on relatively major arterial roads (yes even four lane roads) most roundabouts have level crossings but they have a large number of design features that make the VASTLY safer than the roundabouts in Canada. However all of these features amount to prioritising safety over the smooth flowing of cars.

I wrote about it in detail here: https://thecutstack.substack.com/p/round...-they-dont

What I learned when this roundabout was discussed was that roundabouts are a useful tool for traffic planners because they increase the traffic flow in their traffic models. They are easy to sell for traffic engineers because they can improve safety, but it is VERY MUCH a non-goal for the engineers involved.

Now yes, some Dutch roundabouts have overpasses, but this is not really the norm. And at least in the city I'm in, more common is to actually use vehicle underpasses so that some or much of the traffic can bypass the circle. At least two major roundabouts here have the straight through movement for the arterial road bypassed in a tunnel. But I think this comes back to the Dutch engineering practice of unrolling things...