This column includes what the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has to say about using a roundabout.

You’ll find a roundabout at Warings Corners in Prince Edward County. A roundabout is an alternative form of intersection traffic control.

A modern roundabout is a circular intersection with yield at entry. It promotes safe and efficient traffic flow. Typical characteristics of a roundabout include: Yield at Entry; One-Way Travel around the central island (counterclockwise); Slower Speeds.

Roundabouts have the potential to reduce collisions, traffic delays and fuel consumption resulting in improved air quality through reduced vehicle emissions.

In Ontario, vehicles travel counterclockwise around a central island. Traffic entering the roundabout must yield to circulating traffic. Curves on the approaches to roundabouts require all vehicles to slow down before entering. Designs ensure that slow speeds are maintained around and at exits to the roundabout. Drivers approaching a roundabout must reduce their speeds, look for potential conflicts with vehicles already in the roundabout, and be prepared to stop. Once in the roundabout, drivers should not need to stop and can proceed to their exit.

Because approaching traffic only has to yield to vehicles already circulating in a roundabout, movement is often without delay. It has been shown that a roundabout can move traffic through an intersection at a much higher rate than traditional intersection controls.

Several features of roundabouts promote safety, primarily lower operating speeds, one-way traffic circulation and a reduced number of conflict points. At traditional four-leg intersections with stop signs or traffic signals, there are a total of 32 potential collision points. With roundabouts, these potentially serious collisions are essentially eliminated because vehicles travel in the same direction at a reduced speed. The elimination of traffic signals removes any incentive for drivers to speed up as they approach green lights, or to stop abruptly at red lights.

In contrast, there are only eight points of conflict in a roundabout. Typically, vehicle-to-vehicle conflicts in a roundabout are related to vehicles merging into the circular roadway, however both vehicles would be traveling at low speeds. The most common types of conflicts in a roundabout are, rear-end, sideswipe and entering-circulating. Proper design can help to optimize the safety benefits of roundabouts.

Relative to other age groups, senior drivers appear to be over-involved in crashes occurring at traditional intersections.

Roundabouts eliminate a number of problem areas for older drivers that are typical of traditional intersections, such as left turns and entering busy thoroughfares from cross streets. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has a safety brochure with diagrams on how to use roundabouts, featuring tips on how to drive, walk, and cycle safely in roundabouts. Find it at www.mto.gov.on.ca. MTO’s Driver Handbook includes recommendations on using roundabouts.

The MTO website has a video on how to navigate a roundabout. Sign up for the 55 Alive Mature Driver Refresher Course coming up this fall by calling 613-476-7493. The trainer always covers how to navigate roundabouts.

-Debbie MacDonald Moynes