Quote:
Originally Posted by Polar Bear
I never said the two were synonymous. Those are your words. But no engineer or anybody else with any common sense would ever consider an intersection efficient if it resulted in lots of accidents.
The roundabouts in TV are plenty large enough to handle the traffic load they are designed to handle, which is the traffic along Buena Vista, Morse, and cross streets. How many vehicles fits in the roundabout at any given instant has little to do with the efficiency of the roundabout.
The efficiency of an intersection is measured more by how many vehicles can pass safely through the intersection in a given unit of time and...more importantly...how much delay there is for vehicles attempting to pass through the intersection. Overall vehicle delays on Buena Vista and Morse would increase dramatically if stop signs or traffic signals were implemented at current roundabout locations.
Big "WHOOPS!!" here. My original post did say (I've since edited it) replacing roundabouts would result in fewer accidents. That is NOT what I intended to say. Replacing the roundabouts with stop signs or signalized intersections would almost certainly INCREASE the number of accidents.
Sorry our one apparent point of agreement was really just a bit of careless writing on my part. 
I particularly recommend the first link for a quick summary from the federal government, especially with respect to safety of roundabouts...
Intersection Safety - Safety | Federal Highway Administration
Intersection Safety - Safety | Federal Highway Administration
WSDOT - Roundabout Benefits
MythBusters Tackles Four-Way Stop V. Roundabout Traffic Throughput - nextSTL
The Case for More Traffic Roundabouts
Plenty more available, most easily found using typical searches.
Since you're going that route, actually it's "Professional Engineer", as I'm sure you're husband will confirm. And I didn't realized you were so interested in the gory details, so...my degree is Master of Engineering, Major in Civil Engineering, specializing in Transportation, University of Florida, 1976. Sorry I wasn't so verbose in my op.
I won't dignify that comment with a reply.
I know you were hanging on every word of this post, weren't you GE!!??!!  |
Okay, Polar Bear. Truce! It's okay that we mostly, don't agree.
Just a couple of observations and points and then I'll quit.
Since Buena Vista and Morse are our main thoroughfares, in the spirit of reaching a destination within a reasonable amount of time with no aggravation, it would be so nice to be able to drive from one end of TV to the other without so many of the circles. Unfortunately, not possible.
I would guess that 98% of residents never dealt with circles in their previous home town. They had 2 to 4-way stop signs and traffic lights. They probably had a similar amount of accidents as here, give or take a few.
Morse, north of 466, has no circles. Egress from each Villages is via a stop sign. Morse is only one lane in each direction with no median. There are hardly any accidents.
Okay. I'm done. Peace!
