Roundabouts as an Effective Tool of Traffic Management

Abstract

Driving speed is one of the most important factors in road safety and speed not only affects the severity of a crash, but is also related to the risk of being involved in a crash. Inappropriate speed is responsible for more than a third of all fatal accidents occurring on roads. In Poland every year majority of all traffic accidents occur in urban areas from which most is recorded at junctions and their vicinity. Hence it is of great importance to effectively manage speed and enforce speed limits on existing road network. Replacing already existing three- or four-arm junctions by roundabouts and construction new ones is considered to be a good solution for safety improvements and also are pointed to be within traffic calming features but their effectiveness is influencing by type, shape and geometry of the junction.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of chosen traffic calming measures in comparison with the effectiveness of roundabouts. Research area was located in city of Bialystok, Poland and included a group of commonly applied physical measures together with small and mini roundabouts. Measurements of instantaneous speed by utilizing GPS data logger and assessment of the extent impact of selected TCMs on drivers’ manoeuvres were undertaken to develop the investigation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.9.4.7357