The Region has announced a pilot study to look at safety improvements to the standard roundabout design in the Region. They are testing two possible improvements – raised crosswalks to force cars to slow down when crossing the crosswalk area, and push button flashing lights to make a person crossing at the crosswalk more visible. You can view the project in EngageWR.
While both ideas would improve roundabout safety, they don’t really address the underlying issues with the standard roundabout design utilized in the Region. This is an opportunity to tell Regional planners about the things you don’t like in the basic design, and perhaps get more fundamental safety improvements.
Linked here is a letter we submitted to Darryl Spencer, the Regional staff person who is working on this initiative. The most important points we made are:
- There should be true crossrides at roundabouts. Today there are only crosswalks, which means it is illegal to ride your bike through the roundabout – legally, you must dismount and walk through.
- At roundabouts, you must turn from the path going around the roundabout in order to cross one of the roads entering the roundabout. After the turn, there is often only 1-2 metres to look left to view oncoming traffic. We think (at least at the crossings) the cycling facility should be further away from the road, giving at least 5 metres and preferably more after turning to look before you have to decide whether to ride across or dismount. Drivers and cyclists have a better chance to see and avoid each other.
- The overall shape of the roundabouts today are tangential , which encourages drivers to speed through the roundabout. It should be radial, which forces sharper turns that require cars to slow down more.
The picture below exemplifies the points 2 and 3:
And below is a satellite picture of the tangential design in our roundabouts today:
If you agree roundabout design in the Region could be safer, we ask you to email Darryl with our suggestions or ones of your own at dspencer@regionofwaterloo.ca