Safety effects on pedestrians at urban roundabouts: an overview

Pedestrians are important users of the transportation system, but most guidelines have given them little importance in the geometric design of roads and intersections. Thus it can be difficult for vehicles and pedestrians to share the road, particularly at intersections where vehicle-pedestrian conflicts can be frequently recurring situations even with low pedestrian volume. In a sustainable safety vision, pedestrians and vehicles are required to safely share the road; thus the need that roads have a recognizable design and predictable traffic situations where users know what they should do and what they can expect from other users, should be even more deeply felt. It is well-known that modern roundabouts are safer than other intersection forms for effects on speeds and conflicts between users; several road authorities, indeed, have foreseen to convert specific types of intersections into roundabouts. To produce a better understanding of the potential impacts for the roundabout alternative, design considerations should be evaluated already at a planning level, emphasizing elements most favourable to the sharing and to use of road spaces equally distributed from a pedestrians safety perspective. Summarizing international experience with roundabouts and pedestrians, this paper provides a review of the existing literature dealing with pedestrian safety and accessibility issues at roundabouts. First, safety aspects at modern roundabouts are presented, followed by a brief explanation of the effects of roundabouts on pedestrian safety documented in the scientific literature. Finally, this research provides an overview of the current state of practice and implications in roundabout design to maximize potential with regard to safety for pedestrians