https://soundcloud.com/db_drivenmedia/little-roundabouts-can-they-work
A listener contacted us the other day with a comment about a street in his area. Now this guy was a bit of a rev head, he races cars so he is confident in his skills and is not afraid to go at the speed limit and you might assume he wants the speed limit to be a high as possible. You know, the sort of guy who sees every speed limit as a repressive action from an authoritarian government.
Well in fact he wants the speed limit on a nearby road decreased and it’s not some quiet cul-de-sac that is 350 metres long. It’s a significant road – perhaps it would be classified as a collector road or a sub arterial.
His point is that the road has a number of small roundabouts and cars don’t slow down enough. Consequently if you enter the roundabout, you run the risk of a car rushing at you and causing an accident even if you have the right of way.
To help us understand what might work and what might not, we are joined by John Jenkins a Traffic engineer consultant with 40 years experience in the business
• Is this a bad designed roundabout?
• The approach angle is critical – visual cues
• Could we do other things on the approach – I don’t mean a speed hump but maybe ripple strips
• Noise is a problem
• So will changing the speed limit help
• Do roundabouts work in all situations
• Of course it is not give way to the right – it is who is the first on the roundabout
