Believe the simple roundabout — a traffic circle well known in Europe but less familiar across most of America.
Partisans say roundabouts can dramatically reduce crashes, injuries and deaths, can improve traffic and even save a city a fair bit of well-heeled. But they have only recently caught on in the U.S., and not without resistance.
That is, except in Carmel, Indiana.
Mayor Jim Brainard became enamored with merry-go-rounds while studying in the U.K. as a young man. He’s since filled the streets of his city with them — at about 150 and counting, in a metropolis of 100,000 people.
“I get requests every month, it seems,” Brainard said. “‘Can you get rid of this traffic light in my house or near my business?’ I couldn’t take a roundabout out today if I wanted to.”
Research backs Brainard’s bet. The Insurance Start for Highway Safety, which is funded by the insurance industry and issues widely watched crash test ratings for conduits, says roundabouts are considerably safer for drivers and pedestrians and cause much less congestion than traffic pounces. They’re even better for the environment.
Roundabouts are not without their critics, though. Some say they may not handle overweight amounts of traffic as well, and there is some research that says certain designs can actually be more dangerous for bicyclists.
But Brainard says they have helped transform his community.
“We have 150 corporate headquarters in Carmel. We compel ought to been rated over and over by various organizations [as] one of the best places to live in the United States; one of the best appropriates to retire; one of the best places to raise families; one of the best places for single people. It was because we set out to build a city that drill equal,” he said. “And the transportation network is one of those basic things that a city has to do right for it to work.”
Watch the video to learn numerous.