Talked to a city planner at the Bothell farmers market who totally changed my view on roundabouts

I was grabbing some peaches last Saturday and ended up chatting with this guy named Dave who works for the city. He started explaining why they put that roundabout at 104th and how it actually cuts accident rates by like 40% compared to a stoplight. I always thought they were just a pain for drivers but he had all these stats about traffic flow and safety. He even showed me a diagram on his phone about how emergency vehicles get through faster cause cars just pull right instead of blocking the intersection. It made me realize I been complaining about something I didnt understand at all. Now I look at that roundabout different every time I drive through it. Has anyone else here talked to a city worker or engineer and gotten a new perspective on something local?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_patricia4d agoMost Upvoted

That 40% accident reduction stat lines up with what I read about the roundabout in Issaquah on Front Street. They put one in a few years back and the city planner there said it cut severe crashes by almost 50% because you can't do those high speed T-bone hits anymore. Makes me wonder how many other things we complain about are actually better than the alternative if we just knew the facts behind them.

nathanj563d ago

Yeah the data doesnt lie.