Roundabouts Are Safer. So Why Does The U.S. Have So Few Of Them? - CNBC

[Jeebo]

16. First in 1990?

This video claims the first modern roundabouts in the U.S. started showing up in 1990. I spent two weekends in 1986 in Boston and that was the first time in my life that I ever encountered the roundabout. They called them "carousels", as I recall. I was visiting a first cousin who lived in Dorcester and I told her I thought they were a pretty good idea. She didn't agree. There are suddenly quite a few of them now here in Columbia, Missouri, where I live. It seems to me that they HAVE to be much safer than an intersection. You can't just blow at breakneck speed through a roundabout the way you can through an intersection. Therefore, even if there is a collision, which is less likely, it will be at a much lower speed and therefore not as injurious. Also, a roundabout gives you access to several side streets, an intersection only one. If this is a ballot measure, I vote for roundabouts.

-- Ron