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Session 801
Roundabouts and Low-Vision Pedestrians
Lal C. Wadhwa
Head, Civil and Environmental Engineering
JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
Townsville Queensland Australia
P03-6042
Thursday 16 January 2003
8:00 am - 9:45 am - Marriott
ROUNDABOUTS AND PEDESTRIANS WITH
VISUAL DISABILITIES:
How Can We Make Them Safer?
Lal C. Wadhwa
James Cook University
Abstract
Roundabouts are a common feature in Europe and Australia. They are becoming
increasingly popular in the United States. Their wide-spread use is credited to
increased safety, higher vehicle flow capacity and reduced delay to motorists at
roundabouts compared to traditional signalised intersections.
Roundabouts
The era of modern roundabouts began in the United Kingdom in 1956 with the
construction of the first "yield-at-entry" roundabout. In 1966, a nationwide yield-at-
entry rule launched the modern roundabout revolution. Australia and most other
British-influenced countries soon built modern roundabouts. Countries such as the
United States, where people drive on the right side of the road, were slower to follow,
but many of these countries including France, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland
have been rapidly catching up since the eighties. For example, roundabouts have
greatly increased in number in France since the adoption of the yield-at-entry rule on
national routes in 1983.
There are an estimated 40,000 modern roundabouts worldwide and over 250 in the
U.S. (with many more planned or proposed). The greatest roundabout ever built in
the US. is in Clearwater Beach, Florida. It carries up to 58,000 vehicles and 8,000
pedestrians per day. Each roundabout has been an outstanding success. Roundabouts
have been described as “the safest, most efficient and attractive form of traffic control
in the world”. (http://www.roundabouts.net/newpage3.htm) Roundabouts slow all
vehicles, provide refuges for pedestrians, and are the only traffic control device in
which trees can be planted, fountains can bubble or spray, statutes can sparkle into the
next century. When constructed as part of new road construction they are cheaper to
build than signalised intersections. If used instead of traffic signals they save money.
Their maintenance cost is almost zero. They require no electricity, no regular tune-
ups, no annual replacements of parts, suffer no blackouts and cannot be blown away.
Modern American roundabouts have produced remarkable safety records. Since this
experience is similar to the roundabout experience reported in other parts of the
world, the safety of roundabouts compared to other forms of control has been well
established. As a result, the number of roundabouts in the United States is expected to
increase geometrically in the next decade.
♦ Since traffic yields rather than stops, smaller gaps can be accepted.
♦ Omission of lost time (yellow and red) results in higher capacity compared to
signalised intersections, especially at isolated locations.
Vehicle safety
Modern roundabouts deflect and slow entering traffic.
There are a reduced number of conflict points compared to uncontrolled intersection.
Lower operational speeds yield fewer and less severe accidents.
Slower speeds because of intersection geometry reduce accidents
Netherlands achieved 95% reduction in injuries to vehicle occupants with roundabouts.
Pedestrian safety
A splitter island provides a refuge for pedestrians that will increase safety.
Low speeds reduce frequency and severity of pedestrian-vehicle accidents.
b. Factors contributing to reduced safety for pedestrians and cyclists
Difficult for visually impared pedestrians to interpret vehicle-pedestrian priority.
No stopped phase for pedestrians who want security of a signal.
Tight dimensions of roundabouts may create an uncomfortable feeling to bicyclists.
Longer paths increase travel distances for both pedestrians and bicyclists.
Roundabouts may increase delay for pedestrians seeking acceptable gaps to cross.
Safety record for bicycles and motorcycles has been mixed. According to one study
in the United Kingdom, the percentage of accidents involving cyclists was higher in
roundabout accidents compared to other forms of intersection (Layfield and Maycock,
1986). Another survey in 1989 of mini-roundabouts in England, Scotland, and Wales
found that the crash-involvement rates of motorcycles and bicycles in 50-km/h speed
zones was about the same for four-leg mini-roundabouts as for four-leg signalised
intersections. However, the rate for cars at the mini-roundabouts was much lower than
at the intersections.
International Comparison
Causes of accidents at roundabouts
The single largest cause of roundabout accidents is the failure to yield at entry to
circulating vehicles. The other major types are single vehicle crashes including
vehicle running-off the circulatory roadway.
As shown in Table 1, three major crash types have been observed at roundabouts
1. entering-circulating crashes as a result of drivers failing to give way at entry.
2. rear-end collisions
3. single vehicle crashes
Together these three types constitute 75-95% of all roundabout crashes and are shown
as the first seven categories of accidents at roundabouts.
Crash rates
Crash rates are expressed as average annual number of injury crashes per roundabout
and per million entering vehicles.
Table 3: Average annual injury crashes per roundabout and per million entering vehicles
Studies have conclusively shown that there is significant reduction in the frequency of
crashes on roundabouts compared to other types of intersections. In other words,
roundabouts are safer as shown in Table 4.
It may be possible to improve the design of some roundabouts and further reduce the
crash frequency.
The risk of pedestrians being involved in a severe collision is low because of reduced
speeds at roundabouts. U.K. studies have shown a 50% reduction in crashes at
roundabouts compared to other forms of intersections (Maycock and Hall, 1984,
Crown, 1998).
Analysis of Queensland crash data for 1997-2002 has been analysed with particular
attention to pedestrians at roundabouts. However, information on visual disability is
not available. It was thought that contributing circumstances might provide some
insight into pedestrian disability but this has not been very revealing.
Total number of crashes by severity level for the period 1997-2002 at roundabouts
and intersections are shown in Table 8. The data in this Table shows the relative
proportion of fatal and severe injury (hospitalisation) accidents based on the type of
intersection.
multilane
0-50 18 479 647 379 1036 2559 0.7034
51-60 84 2193 3329 1914 4753 12273 0.6844
0-60 102 2672 3976 2293 5789 14832 0.6877
• Less than 1% of all crashes at roundabouts in speeds upto 60 kmph are fatal
crashes.
• This proportion increases to 4 times in higher speed zones.
• The proportion of fatal crashes is slightly lower on multi-lane roundabouts.
With traffic signals and stop sign intersections, break in traffic flow provide
identifiable and predictable periods (gaps) during which pedestrians can cross. Such
breaks usually do not occur at roundabouts. Research suggests that selection of
appropriate gaps at roundabouts is problematic for visually impaired at roundabouts.
Circulating vehicles can mask the sounds of entering or exiting traffic making it
difficult to identify an appropriate time to cross. At entry leg, it may not be clear
from auditory information whether a driver intends to yield to a waiting pedestrian.
Yielding behaviour may be difficult to detect. At exit legs, auditory information may
not be adequate to reliably convey whether circulating vehicles will exit or continue
around the circulatory roadway.
The problems faced by visually impaired pedestrians are the result of inherent
characteristics of roundabouts, as shown in Figure 2.
Inherent characteristics of
roundabouts
c. crossing direction
♦ remaining in the crosswalk
♦ ultra-high contrast marking
♦ raising or otherwise marking the crosswalk edges to provide a boundary
♦ providing a raised guide strip at the centreline of the crosswalk
♦ constant-contact cane technique
Design Issues
Technologies
"Wayfinding" refers to the techniques used by people who are blind or visually
impaired as they move from place to place independently. The techniques are
commonly divided into skills concerning orientation and mobility. Technologies
designed to assist the visually impaired persons in orientation enhance the ability to
monitor one’s position in relationship to the environment. These technologies help
the visually impaired in identifying the directionality and distance of objects. The
mobility aids are designed to help find and pursue a safe path through the
environment. These technologies improve the ability to travel safely by detecting and
avoiding obstacles and other potential hazards. Long canes and guide dogs are
commonly used by people who are totally blind, and optical systems are generally
used by people with low vision.
Technologies
Mobility Aids
Future technological development may lead to the "remote sighted guide concept"
whereby a user could transmit a picture of the scene to a sighted person for
interpretation. Computer vision or "smart vision" techniques also hold out the
prospect of sophisticated software allowing analysis of pictures taken by a camera in
order to find the object or information the user is looking for.
References
(1) E.J. Myers. Press release on Lisbon, Md., roundabout; Hurst-Rosche Engineers,
Cockeysville, Md., April 13, 1995.
(2) P. Wessel. Information transmittal from Santa Barbara Public Works Department
to Peter I. Doctors, March 16, 1995.
(3) J. Goodway. Report by the Las Vegas Public Works Department, May 4, 1995.
(10) C. Shoon and J. Van Minnen. "The Safety of Roundabouts in the Netherlands,"
Traffic Engineering and Control, March 1994, pp. 142-148.
(14) G. Maycock and R.D. Hall. Accidents at 4-Arm Roundabouts , Transport and
Road Research Laboratory, United Kingdom, 1984.
(20) http://www.access-board.gov/news/roundabouts-bulletin.htm
(21) Jacquemart, G., “Modern Roundabout Practice in the United States” Transportation
Research Board, Washington DC 1998; NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice No. 264
(22) Robinson, Bruce W.; Rodegerdts, Lee; Scarborough, Wade; Kittelson, Wayne;
Troutbeck, Rod; Brilon, Werner; Bondzio, Lothar; Courage, Ken; Kyte, Michael;
Mason, John; Flannery, Aimee; Myers, Edward; Bunker, Jonathan; Jacquemart,
Georges “Roundabouts: An Informational Guide” Turner-Fairbank Highway
Research Center, McLean VA 2000, FHWA-RD-00-067
(23) Bared, J.G.; Prosser, W.; Esse, C.T., “State-of-the-Art Design of Roundabouts”
Transportation Research Record, No. 1579, 1997, pp. 1-10
(25) http://www.apbp.org/rid2001.pdf