North Dakota’s Department of Transportation has completed a traffic study, that shows roundabouts reduce serious injuries – and save lives.
"We knew that roundabouts are a proven safety measure, from the Federal Highway Administration, and other states have seen great success, " said DOT traffic operations engineer Justin Schlosser. "We just wanted to prove that our roundabouts are also saving lives and reducing crashes at intersections that previously were not roundabouts."
The state highway system has 14 roundabouts, and the study looked at 12 of them. Schlosser said the data shows severe injury and fatal crashes dropped 59 percent, and overall crash numbers are down by 33 percent.
"The big thing with roundabouts is they reduce, or almost completely eliminate that angle crash," Schlosser said. "Angle crashes are the most severe type of crash you can get into."
Schlosser also said at roundabouts, you have to slow down when you enter that intersection.
"If you're in a crash at a roundabout, the severity of the crash is less, most likely because of the lower speed," Schlosser said.
DOT has plans to add another 13 roundabouts on the state system over the next few years