What is the city doing to address the danger of pedestrians crossing roundabouts?

Thanks for this question, as it is a reminder that roundabouts were not built in order to allow motorists to speed through intersections. On the contrary, roundabouts are designed to get people to slow down as they take advantage of moving through an intersection without stopping.

“Roundabouts are designed to get people to slow down as they take advantage of moving through an intersection without stopping.”

Those “Yield” signs do not mean to “speed up” as motorists move through a roundabout intersection. Instead they mean to YIELD to traffic coming from the left – while at the same time – yielding to the pedestrian or bike traffic you may encounter as you move your way through the intersection.

Key to this matter is the placement of the crosswalks. What the city tries to do is place these crosswalks close to the roundabout, but at a location that makes it more possible for people to cross a straight line across the street – which means the crosswalks are typically found just north, south, east or west of the actual roundabout.

To increase safety, the City has also begun to utilize raised crosswalks in high pedestrian areas to further encourage our motorists to exercise caution as they drive through our congested areas.

Authored by Ron Carter, Sue Finkam, Anthony Green, Bruce Kimball, Kevin Rider and Jeff Worrell