A friend sent me the following Q/A (and URL) on roundabouts, from a column
in the NYT:
*Q.* The United States has very few traffic circles, or roundabouts, as they
are known in the United Kingdom. Are there traffic flow benefits to using
traffic circles, assuming we could somehow teach the population how they
should be properly entered and exited? — Jeff Bean
*A.* Given that we actually invented the traffic circle, I think it's high
time we brought it back. But not the traffic circles of yore, but the modern
roundabout — a totally different beast. There are absolutely traffic flow —
and emissions — benefits to roundabouts (as well as the discussed safety
benefits above). Research by Mandaville, et al., at Kansas State University
has found that roundabouts can reduce average vehicle delay by 65 percent,
and other research has found signalized intersections generate twice the
emissions as those controlled by roundabouts.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/answers-from-
tom-vanderbilt-author-of-traffic/
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