Roundabouts
What is a modern roundabout?
It's not to be confused with the traffic circles that consist of a raised island at the centre of an ordinary right-angle intersection that direct cars counterclockwise at reduced speeds. Traffic circles are mainly in residential areas and are much smaller than roundabouts (20 meters or less in diameters as opposed to about 30 meters and greater for roundabouts). Roundabouts are intersections having a one-way circulation around a central island where entering traffic must yield the right-of-way to circulating traffic.
In B.C., the first ICBC-sponsored modern roundabout in the province was built in Ladysmith in 2000 as a pilot project with funding from the town and ICBC. There are new operating roundabouts in over a dozen BC communities, including New Westminster, Stanley Park in Vancouver, Burnaby, City of North Vancouver, Agassiz, Abbotsford, Township of Langley, Surrey, Popkum (east of Chilliwack) and Delta in the Lower Mainland, Penticton, Kamloops and Vernon in the Southern Interior, and as well as Ladysmith, Duncan and View Royal on Vancouver Island.
What's being called the modern roundabout is far from a new idea. What were originally called rotary intersections actually pre-date the automobile. It is believed that one-way circular intersections were invented by French architect Eugene Henard (born in 1877). In 1905, the first US traffic circle -- then known as a "gyratory"-- was constructed in New York City. In comparison, the first traffic lights weren't installed until 50 years later. Roundabouts continued to be built - but mainly in England, France and other countries in Europe - through the last century.
Roundabouts can help reduce serious crashes, particularly crashes involving bodily injury, while also lessening vehicle speed, improving pedestrian and bicycle safety and eliminating the need for traffic signals-- which itself is good news because it cuts down on maintenance and enforcement.
