3 ms·

Roundabouts take a lot more space and suck for pedistrians. They're great in certain use cases, but not city traffic lights

icebraining 8y ago
What's the problem with roundabouts for pedestrians? I live in a country with a lot of them, and I don't see why they would be worse than intersections.
- takk309 8y ago
  It can really depend on the roundabout layout and the pedestrian. For multi-lane entry/exits, it can be daunting to cross for some pedestrians. The refuge island between the entry/exit can help with this. For individuals with sight limitations, roundabouts can be one of the most confusing intersections. A sight impaired individual uses the sound of the cars to orient themselves with the crosswalk. At a normal intersection this generally means to listen for traffic going the same direction, align with it, and proceed. (I skipped a few steps for brevity.) At a roundabout, there is not one direction of traffic. For example say you are standing on the southwest corner of a roundabout that is oriented with the cardinal directions. A vehicle making a westbound through movement will sound the same as a southbound through movement up until the southbound through vehicle exits the circulating lane. I agree that these are both edge cases and vehicle drivers need to be away of the possible other users. However, as we all know from experience, there are a lot of inattentive (for whatever reason) drivers on the roads. I think roundabouts have their place and can be a great solution in the right situation. But like any intersection design, they are not a silver bullet for all problems. [EDIT] To give some context to my response, I am a traffic engineer in a semi-rural part of the US. In my area we have around 12 roundabouts of various sizes and configurations serving a large range of traffic volumes and user mixes.
- dingaling 8y ago
  > What's the problem with roundabouts for pedestrians? Experience as a pedestrian and a cyclist, I don't drive: 1. Obscured sightlines over the roundabout make timing my crossing more difficult 2. Exit speeds are usually higher 3. Drivers on the roundabout seem to be more distracted than at junctions, since they're also watching the static traffic at each entrance they pass. They seem less focused on what's in the exit path than at muttering 'stay there' to the drivers trying to get on 4. Difficulty of integrating traffic lights for pedestrian crossings 5. Some drivers are just poor or lazy at navigating roundabouts and I can't trust their indicators, I have to wait to see their actual physical actions before I commit to crossing
- ElBarto 8y ago
  Roundabouts usually do away with traffic lights. Crossing a road when cars are not held by traffic lights always 'suck' for pedestrians.

icebraining 8y ago

What's the problem with roundabouts for pedestrians? I live in a country with a lot of them, and I don't see why they would be worse than intersections.

takk309 8y ago
It can really depend on the roundabout layout and the pedestrian. For multi-lane entry/exits, it can be daunting to cross for some pedestrians. The refuge island between the entry/exit can help with this. For individuals with sight limitations, roundabouts can be one of the most confusing intersections. A sight impaired individual uses the sound of the cars to orient themselves with the crosswalk. At a normal intersection this generally means to listen for traffic going the same direction, align with it, and proceed. (I skipped a few steps for brevity.) At a roundabout, there is not one direction of traffic. For example say you are standing on the southwest corner of a roundabout that is oriented with the cardinal directions. A vehicle making a westbound through movement will sound the same as a southbound through movement up until the southbound through vehicle exits the circulating lane. I agree that these are both edge cases and vehicle drivers need to be away of the possible other users. However, as we all know from experience, there are a lot of inattentive (for whatever reason) drivers on the roads. I think roundabouts have their place and can be a great solution in the right situation. But like any intersection design, they are not a silver bullet for all problems. [EDIT] To give some context to my response, I am a traffic engineer in a semi-rural part of the US. In my area we have around 12 roundabouts of various sizes and configurations serving a large range of traffic volumes and user mixes.
dingaling 8y ago
> What's the problem with roundabouts for pedestrians? Experience as a pedestrian and a cyclist, I don't drive: 1. Obscured sightlines over the roundabout make timing my crossing more difficult 2. Exit speeds are usually higher 3. Drivers on the roundabout seem to be more distracted than at junctions, since they're also watching the static traffic at each entrance they pass. They seem less focused on what's in the exit path than at muttering 'stay there' to the drivers trying to get on 4. Difficulty of integrating traffic lights for pedestrian crossings 5. Some drivers are just poor or lazy at navigating roundabouts and I can't trust their indicators, I have to wait to see their actual physical actions before I commit to crossing
ElBarto 8y ago
Roundabouts usually do away with traffic lights. Crossing a road when cars are not held by traffic lights always 'suck' for pedestrians.