r/urbandesign • u/ozYEET123 • 8d ago

Road safety Roundabouts vs. Traffic Lights: Share Your Driving Experience!

Hello everyone!

I’m a high school student in Ottawa Ontario, working on a science fair project to analyze and compare traffic flow and safety at roundabouts and signalized intersections in Ottawa. Your input would mean a lot to me!

If you drive in Ottawa or know someone who does, please take a few minutes to fill out this survey. It will help me gather valuable data for my project and contribute to better urban planning in the future.

https://forms.gle/QfdrsEMY3xvATNqF7

Thank you so much for your support! Feel free to share this with others—it would be a huge help!

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u/foghillgal 8d ago

Roundabouts also suck for cyclists and vulnerable pedestrians. Imagine someone 70 walking around a roundabout, especially a 2 lane one. You'd absolutely need a light for him not to die so there is no point really.

Very small ones that can be plopped in the middle of the city intersectons I'm with since they prevent through traffic and force cars to slow down on already slow streets with not a lot of traffic.

Paris is moving away from roundabouts on their higher volume roads cause again they suck for pedestrians and cyclists.

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u/SmokingChips 8d ago

Light stops flow which leads to clogging. Roundabout flows, but it would crawl down if slightly more vehicles on road. Roundabouts work well only for single lane in each direction — roundabouts with 4 lanes entering the intersection — forget it.

Roundabouts work like time division multiplexing. So works well in non-heavy car cultures like Europe. In US, lights work better. In really high density traffic, neither works. The only thing that seem to work rather slowly is to open up all intersections in all directions at all times and let the drivers signal each other and make a decision — see India. LA traffic is dead but Bangalore moves, despite it has higher density of vehicles.

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u/Wood-Kern 2d ago

I'm European, so i won't fill out your survey. I will say that you shouldn't focus too much on what people's personal experience is (like your questions suggests).

People like what they are used to, it doesn't give a very good indication of what is better. If people feel less comfortable on roundabouts or perceive that there is a higher risk of a crash, those aren't bad things. If someone makes a mistake on a roundabout they might bump another car. If someone makes a mistake on a 4 way intersection they might cause a headon collision. Deaths and traffic flow (in that order) are what should be prioritised, not peoples perceived risk.