Crash and injury reduction following installation of roundabouts in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
This study estimated potential reductions in motor vehicle crashes and injuries associated with the use of roundabouts as an alternative to signal and stop sign control at intersections in the United States.


METHODS
An empiric Bayes procedure was used to estimate changes in motor vehicle crashes following conversion of 24 intersections from stop sign and traffic signal control to modern roundabouts.


RESULTS
There were highly significant reductions of 38% for all crash severities combined and of 76% for all injury crashes. Reductions in the numbers of fatal and incapacitating injury crashes were estimated at about 90%.


CONCLUSIONS
Results are consistent with numerous international studies and suggest that roundabout installation should be strongly promoted as an effective safety treatment.
Retting
R A
RA
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 N Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22201-4751, USA. rretting@iihs.org
Persaud
B N
BN
Garder
P E
PE
Lord
D
D
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003625:Data Collection; D004779:Environment Design; D006801:Humans; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*