Why The U.S. Hates Roundabouts

Carmel Indiana is home to an unusual record the city of 97 thousand people north of Indianapolis boasts over 125 modern roundabouts more than any other US city and they're proud of it this number accounts for three percent of the country's four thousand total roundabouts but compared to other countries the u.s. is not holding any records France has the most roundabouts with over 30,000 constructed across the country it has followed closely by the United Kingdom with twenty five thousand roundabouts so how did one small Midwestern city become the roundabout capital of the US the reason can be credited to Mayor Jim Brainard during his graduate school trip to England he observed the ease and safety of the country's numerous roundabouts drivers were yielding to traffic and to bikes and to pedestrians no unsightly traffic signals and no long lines or congestion it made me wonder why the US had not done more roundabouts when Brainard was elected mayor of carmel in 1996 he made it his mission to cover the city with roundabouts but an ease and traffic congestion was not the only reason behind his campaign in fact the roundabout is the intersection of choice for many modernized countries because of his proven safety carmel indiana alone has seen a reduction in the number of injuries from car accidents by about 80 percent since the 1990s so if roundabouts are increasing safety for drivers why is america lagging behind i hate them they're the worst things ever just americans like me hate it and don't think they're not serious I think that it's taking a long time and I'm scared I'm gonna miss the exit I need and so I end up going maybe two or three times more than I need to there are over 300,000 existing signalized intersections in the United States according to the Federal Highway Administration more than 50% of the combined total of fatal and injury crashes occur at or near these intersections on average over 10,000 people are killed each year and collisions at them yet studies show that modern roundabouts produce accidents by 38 percent in fatal crashes up to 90% so why does the collision rate drastically drop well the answer lies in the construction a roundabout is a small one-way circular intersection built around a raised center island drivers must yield to circulating traffic as they enter and exit at their desired Street because drivers are forced to slow down upon entry the collision rate drops they are no longer racing to beat the red light even if an accident occurs injuries are less likely due to the lower speeds take note though this is the definition specifically for what is called the modern roundabout this is because the modern roundabout is often confused with the similar intersections known as traffic circles or rotaries unlike modern roundabouts traffic circles are much larger in shape drivers enter traffic circles in a straight line at faster speeds and they're not required to yield to oncoming traffic and modern roundabouts drivers navigate a gentle curve at a slower pace traffic circles often use stop lights or stop signs within the circular intersection business Columbus Circle in New York City built in 1905 it's considered to be the world's first traffic circle following its construction large traffic circles begin spreading around the United States because their layout enabled high speed merging and weaving they caused more vehicle collisions and they quickly fell out of favour big issue with these circles was safety the fact that cars had to suddenly be stopped in the middle of it while everyone's coming in at speed and that's scary that's Gordon Matt a civil engineer in the holler cars perform as fast as others then they would get congested those were the reasons why circles fell out of fashion and a lot of government agencies went around trying to get rid of circles by the 1950s development slowed to a halt worldwide fast forward to 1966 a city engineer named Frank Blackmore of the United Kingdom wanted to rectify the problems caused by traffic circles so he developed what is now known as the modern roundabout black more established could give way rule for his modern roundabouts which required entering drivers to yield to circulating traffic this created a much safer intersection than the original traffic circles the idea quickly gained favour and the modern roundabout begins spreading throughout parts of Europe the changes Blackmore made were successful and over time accident rates dropped drastically but the trend is not catching on in the United States engineers weren't convinced that the improvements Blackmoor enacted were safer for drivers and Americans still had a largely and popular opinion about them so American engineer Leif arstan set out to change that in 1984 arstan reached out to Blackmore for help in 1941 Sir Winston Churchill asked America to join Britain and a struggle to protect democracy we join you and together we triumphed now 45 years later I am calling upon you to help me with a difficult struggle in which we are both engaged we are trying to bring the British style roundabout to the Western Hemisphere the fighting is tough the slogging is slow and the resistance is stiff and the spirit of anglo-american cooperation will you join us and lend a hand Blackmore quickly agreed to a meeting with orsten and travelled to the United States together the two set out around the state of California persuading traffic heads to begin building modern roundabouts however the public was not convinced surveys showed only 20 percent of drivers approved of their construction even at project proposals for roundabouts were approved the two men were often met with protests and the plains were quickly shut down finally in 1990 orsten and Blackmore's hard work paid off and the first two modern roundabouts were successfully constructed in a Las Vegas subdivision the feat caught the attention of city planners other communities followed in their footsteps and roundabouts slowly began popping up around the u.s. although constructions started later in the US the timeline of events is not an exclusive explanation for the lack of roundabouts in fact there are a few theories that could account for the answer first the American detestation for roundabouts could derive from what is called the availability heuristic this term describes the way people form an opinion on something based on the immediate thoughts or memories that are associated with it the scene of Clark Griswold getting trapped while driving in a traffic circle and European vacation may come to mind it's a big been kids Parliament or perhaps the time Homer Simpson drives hopelessly around the Lambeth bridge roundabout before swerving out in a desperate attempt to escape the never-ending nightmare only to crash into the Queen of England herself when thinking about modern roundabouts many Americans tend to envision traffic circles this is an easy misconception because the two appears similar at first glance ever since the Falla of the original traffic circle that enabled high collision rates in the early 1900's Americans were left with a bad taste in their mouths so the assumption that modern roundabouts will be just as dangerous as form'd plus American drivers they are comfortable with the binary system that controls their actions and makes decisions for them red lights stop green light go simple enough right and a since drivers care more about the illusion of safety created by stoplights but when they are forced to rely on their own driving abilities along with the actions of others it causes a confusing and distressing experience another theory could be that Americans just don't know how to use a roundabout there are certain parts the country where they're starting to gain favor but the reality is or I used to come up to this intersection this circle and it tells you to yield but you're not totally sure how to use it and you're not used to the concept going around in a circle to find your exit so it's a matter of so I think that's what many states don't even require teenagers to navigate one during the road skills drivers exam to obtain their licenses even in the turn section on the virginia state driver's evaluation the roundabout portion reads only if available american drivers end up learning how to drive through a roundabout during their first real-world encounter with them this can cause a stressful experience due to the lack of familiarity therefore the disdain for the experience is established lastly it comes down to awareness many Americans don't know how beneficial roundabouts are not only do roundabouts reduce vehicle collisions by 38% they are also cheaper to construct reduce congestion and are better for the environment roundabouts save about five thousand to ten thousand dollars per year due to the reduced maintenance and electrical cost they also improve traffic flow cars do not have to stop and wait for the light to change one study of three locations in New Hampshire New York and Washington found an 89 percent average reduction in vehicle delays and a 56 percent average reduction in vehicle stops in areas where roundabouts replace intersections another study in Kansas across 11 intersections found similar results with the 65 percent reduction in delays and a 52 percent decrease in traffic stops because of the reduction in traffic delays and stops roundabouts have a relatively non-existent carbon footprint one study in Sweden found an average reduction in carbon emissions by 29% and a reduction in fuel consumption by 8% fortunately it is proven that more and more Americans are coming around to accepting and using around the balanced studies show that once drivers learn how to use them their attitude towards roundabouts drastically changes community surveys where roundabouts were built shows that only 30% of people approved of them before construction but approval increased to about 50 to 70 percent after they were built so while modern roundabouts may not be widely popular in the US Americans are slowly coming back around to the idea of them [Music] how do you feel about driving in roundabouts do you prefer them over traditional intersections tell us in the comments below while you're already here be sure to LIKE and subscribe and go ahead and click on that notification bell to be the first to find out when we post new videos

Channel: Cheddar

Views: 2,126,472

Rating: 4.8148546 out of 5

Keywords: Cheddar, roundabouts, rotary, roundabout, city planning, cities, roads, design, explainer, intersection, traffic circle, urban design, streets, cars, transportation, highways, england, france, united states, america, traffic, car accidents, stop light, car crash

Id: AqcyRxZJCXc

Length: 12min 23sec (743 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/EricHatSwag]

Never! But I guess we ourselfs can barly notice how good our roundabout system is, if we have never experienced other systems without or less roundabouts. I was in the USA for 2weeks and I really did notice how much I like it better, to wait/slow down on a roundabout, than stopping every 50-100m for a trafficlight.

[u/notinecrafter]

As a Dutchie, I have to approve of the glorious turbo-roundabout

[u/Neker]

One is never too Yuropian.

[u/PM_ME_MY_FRIEND]

I just don't understand this attitude. They hate roundabouts just for hatings sake and how on earth is it hard to use a roundabout?

[u/[deleted]]

American'ts. Maybe they should bring a gun and shoot at the round-about to gain confidence?

[u/sogerep]

There's a dark side to roundabouts, though: The 'speed-bump' roundabout, where a perfectly straight quiet road will get interrupted every 200m by one, even if a stop sign on the intersecting secondaries would have sufficed.

However, the fact that you can put massive setpieces on them (or all of the yuropean flags) is an undeniable advantage for scenic commutes.

[u/EDI-Thor]

We're too regulated not to have roundabouts.