Roundabouts: Help Save Drivers Time and Gas Money

In this September 15, 2008 TIME article 'YOU WANT A REVOLUTION' by Tim Padgett, it states that "because roundabouts force cars to travel through a crossroads in a slower but more free-flowing manner - unlike traffic circles, roundabouts have no stop signals - in seven years, Carmel, IN has seen a 78% drop in accidnets involving injuries, not to mention a savings of 24,000 gallons of gas per year per roundabout because of less car idling."

"About 1,000 roundabouts have been built in 25 states, and reserach bears out the benefits to states like Kansas, where the new design has produced a 65% average drop in vehicular delays ... Most roundabouts are also more aesthetically pleasing and cost much less to construct and maintain than stoplight intersections."

The problem? "Teaching Americans how to navigate roundabouts". Big hint: cars entering a roundabout YIELD to those already in it. "The heightened anxiety people feel in roundabouts makes them drive more carefully, and remember that intersections are dangerous places ... therefore, according to Tom Vanderbilt, 'The system that makes us more aware of this is actually the safer one'."

DID YOU KNOW Tim Padgett, TIME

• With all cars traveling in the same direction, roundabouts eliminate head-on collisions, as well as left turns, one of the most dangerous moves in an intersection;
• With no traffic lights to divert drivers' attention upward, roundabouts keep motorists focused on the cars and pedestrians around them;
• In addition to improving traffic flow, roundabouts are often easy on the eye, with elegant landscaping;
• France has about 30,000 roundabouts, nearly a third of the world's total;
• Roundabouts cut hydrocarbon emissions at intersections by as much as 42%;
• Ten roundabouts in Virginia save 200,000 gallons of gas a year.