PennDOT: Roundabouts reducing fatalities, injuries, crashes
PennDOT has announced that according to department data, fatalities, injuries, and crashes decreased overall after intersections at 39 locations were replaced with 42 roundabouts.
“PennDOT is continuing its work to identify and implement innovations and best practices across Pennsylvania,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said. “I’m proud to see that the data on roundabouts remains consistent on saving lives and reducing crash severity.”
PennDOT recently reviewed data for 36 single-lane and six multi-lane roundabouts on state routes at intersections that were previously stopped or signal-controlled. This update to data released in 2022 now includes an additional seven roundabouts. These intersections were selected based on having at least three years of crash data available before and after the roundabouts were built. This accounts for a total of 460 before years and 250 after years of data.
Department data from 2003 through 2022 obtained from police-submitted crash reports and weighted based on the number of before and after years, but not for increases in traffic volume shows that crashes involving suspected serious injuries were reduced by 24 percent; crashes involving suspected non-serious injuries were reduced by 51 percent; and the total number of crashes were reduced by 3 percent.
Although roundabouts are frequently installed to address intersections with safety issues, they are also commonly installed to improve traffic flow or for other reasons such as traffic calming.
Although roundabouts are typically safer and more efficient than traditional signalized intersections, they may not always be the best option due to topography or other reasons, such as property impacts, capacity issues, and proximity to other intersections.
Roundabouts are recognized by the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) as an innovation that has become standard practice within the transportation community.
The Pennsylvania STIC facilitates the rapid implementation of proven, well-researched and documented state, regional, national, and international technologies, tactics, techniques, and other innovations that are new to Pennsylvania. The STIC also supports the implementation of the Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC)innovations.
To educate Pennsylvanians on how to navigate a roundabout, the department created a video on how to use both single and multi-lane roundabouts whether in a vehicle, on a bicycle, or on foot. The video can be accessed by visiting the roundabout page on www.penndot.gov or by visiting the department’s YouTube channel.
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