I was pleasantly surprised by an article in the Golden Informer -- our city government newsletter -- that detailed the benefits of roundabouts. If you want to read it, the article is on page 7 of http://www.ci.golden.co.us/files/Informer-July2008_LowResWeb.pdf
Basically roundabouts have 2 main benefits over traffic signals:
1) They reduce car speed through an intersection
2) They pretty much eliminate the possibility of a T-Bone collision
The proof is in the pudding. From the article cited above: "The average reduction in accidents after a roundabout replaces a traffic signal is 35% to 60%. On South Golden Road, there has been an accident reduction of 66%, and an injury reduction of 95%."
Wow.
6 comments:
Maybe the reduction is because everyone now avoids South Golden Road. It would be interesting to see the data against passenger car miles or some other volume comparison.:)
Typical Conservative, if the numbers say what you want to hear -- trust the numbers; if they don't, ask for more data. :)
I think I have learned that it takes all the numbers in statistics to understand a given finding. Back in 1978, I redesigned a piece of equipment at Procter & Gamble to accomplish the same tasks with one moving part (that needed simple adjustment) to replace a dozen moving parts (that all needed to be adjusted in harmony wiht one another). The mechanics enjoyed fooling around with the old system and got a statistician to prove that my design was worse than the old one. This is one of many reasons why Huckiper's maternal grandfather no longer works for Procter & Gamble. I learned you can prove anything you want to with statistics. :) (I am going to quit adding the smile, you know this is all done in fun with lots of respect for your views) Every tine I am around you two you make me think about all sorts of issues for a couple of weeks. That is very, very good. BTW, tell Huckiper's carrier that I put florescent bulbs in the garage lights today and threw away those nasty incandescent bulbs. I do listen!
Thanks for the banter, and I totally cede your two basic points, 1) the traffic analysis would be greatly enhanced by volume figures and
2) Figures lie and liars figure.
Furthermore, liberals are also susceptible to cherry-picking data, so my dig on conservatives was unfair.
In the current instance, given that there are many businesses on South Golden Rd. and few alternative routes, I think it's safe to assume that the traffic pattern has not changed too substantively.
Furthermore, shifting car traffic from a road with many pedestrians to one with fewer might not be a bad thing either.
Nonetheless, I'll take incomplete data over no data any day, and the evidence I have before me indicates that traffic circles -- in the present circumstances -- are great. I reserve the right to change my mind, given more or better data, but for now the onus is on the defense.
We are going to have fun with our new column if we can get this engrossed in traffic circles.
At the ripe old age of 58, I have become fairly cynical. I have also learned that, at least from my experience, most human actions are motivated by money or pleasure (defined as sex, food or relief from boredom). Sadly, altruism is a fairly scarce commoditiy--Sister Teresa and Dr. George Washington Carver come to mind, but few others (when I try to quickly think of altruistic individuals).
Then, from whence come modern traffic circles? Somehow, I don't think it is an altruistic idea. And, since I have heard of their renaissance in two widely separated areas (Philadelphia, PA and Golden, CO) within a year, I suspect a larger, highly motivated entity is behind them.
For when any idea is put forth, one has to assume that somewhere there was a motivating spark that set it off. Where was the motivating spark?
So, putting all of this together, I suspect the motivating spark was some sort of group of highway contractors, for their members would benefit (money) from igniting a movement to do this. They would certainly not be altruistic in their motivation, but they may want to appear to be altruistic (this will save lives!) in their sales pitch.
All of that said, the reason I really need more data is this. In my modern experiences in traffic travel, I notice that people barely stop at stop signs and run red lights with abandon. Doing the "do-si-do" of traffic circles requires all parties in the circle or approaching the circle at the same time to behave in a predictable manner if an accident is to be avoided. This seems highly unlikely to me.
Now, one thing that does seem to work, and, despite its "big brother" attributes, I support, is the automatic cameras that give one a ticket for running a red light. Here, at the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road, to cite one example, this traffic control device has worked wonders. I'll support putting these everywhere, and they apparently pay for themselves very quickly (which must be in their early use at a given intersection, due to the behavior changes I have noticed).
Charlotte, NC has a lot of roundabouts too! I was wondering why the heck they had them...guess I know. I have two just within my apartment complex.
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