Title: A Comparative Evaluation of the Safety Performance of Roundabouts and Traditional Intersection Controls
Abstract: One consideration influencing the deployment of roundabouts is that they help improve the safety characteristics of an intersection. This is partly because of factors such as the elimination of conflict points, and the reduction in the speeds of vehicles that traverse the intersection. This paper summarizes the results of a safety analysis of the roundabouts located in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in the USA. The Las Vegas metropolitan area has had several new roundabouts installed over the last decade or so. The evaluation consists of a comparison of traffic crashes in the proximity of roundabouts with those at comparable conventional stop controlled and signalized intersections. Traffic volumes were used to normalize the number of crashes. Five years of crash data were used for the study and the comparison of the intersection controls is done with respect to the time of the crash, contributing factors, type of crash, roadway conditions etc. Statistical tests were used to evaluate the significance of these results. The results indicate that intersections that had minor and medium levels of traffic volumes roundabouts were generally safer than the intersections that were stop controlled and signalized. However, high volume intersections with signalized traffic controls appeared to be safer than the corresponding candidate roundabouts. But, the results for the high volume intersections were statistically not significant.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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