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 islan

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.