How Roundabout Entry Design Parameters Influence Safety

Abstract

Roundabouts are considered the safest intersection design; however, the safety effect may not be satisfactory at each specific roundabout. This is true especially in countries where roundabout design is a relatively new concept, such as in the Czech Republic. Specifically, most Czech roundabout crashes were found to occur on entries. This motivated the presented study to investigate how entry design parameters influence safety on Czech roundabouts and, if possible, use the findings to update current Czech roundabout design guidelines. To this end, the study comprised three analyses: crash-based safety performance functions, speed analysis, and finally safety performance functions which incorporated speed. All three analyses proved that entry design parameters have a statistically significant influence on safety, in terms of crash frequency, severity and speeds. Given the study objective, this fact should be considered in Czech roundabout design guidelines.