Subject: FW: Roundabout revolution - unsafe is safer - the paradox

Here=E2=80=99s working the learning/education curve =E2=80=93 sharing with =

you for whatever use you can make =E2=80=93 this Sarasota section front pag=

e (attached pic today=E2=80=99s edition) feature piece by the reporter who =

came to Michael Wallwork=E2=80=99s presentation last week to the Sarasota M=

anatee MPO CAC.  As you will read, too, the reporter was intrigued by the M=

ondermanian paradox: unsafe is safer.

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=C2=B7   <http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20131006/COLUMNIST/131009720=

/0/search> Ernst: Area embracing roundabout solution to traffic flow

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Danger is safety.

It sounds like a slogan from George Orwell's "1984." It's not. Published Oc=

tober 6, 2013  <

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20131006/COLUMNIST/131009720/0/search

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20131006/COLUMNIST/13=

1009720/0/search=20

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~ Rod Warner

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20131006/COLUMNIST/131009720/0/search?p=1&tc=pg

Danger is safety.

It sounds like a slogan from George Orwell's "1984." It's not.

This contrarian syllogism sums up the philosophy of urban traffic engineers who are replacing traditional traffic signals with roundabouts. The trend has taken hold in Europe and spread to the United States, and yes, to greater Sarasota.

The city, alone, has three roundabouts downtown, 12 in the pipeline and four more under discussion. And that does not include the county's inventory of six roundabouts on Honore Avenue, one on Cattlemen Road, and one in Venice. Immediate plans call for two more on Honore and four on Bee Ridge Road east of Interstate 75.

That adds up to as many as 30 roundabouts when only a few years ago there were none.

Why the shift?

Several reasons: Roundabouts are generally cheaper, they move traffic as well or better than a light, they have a greater capacity, their lower speed limits and angled entry points cut down the number of serious accidents, and they work just fine during power outages, certainly a consideration in storm-prone Southwest Florida.

They also appeal to the better side of human nature. This is where "danger is safety" comes into play.

Perhaps nothing exemplifies that concept more than the work of Hans Monderman, a Dutch traffic engineer, who, until his death in 2008, designed intersections in Europe and influenced much of the roundabout movement there.

onderman defined urban intersections as shared spaces, in which drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists have equal rights and the obligation to treat each other with courtesy.

A Monderman intersection would have few signs, very few signs. In an interview published in 2008 by the Wilson Quarterly, he bemoaned a "bridge ahead" sign in his native Friesland. "Do you really think no one would perceive there's a bridge over there?" he asked. "Why explain it? When you treat people like idiots, they'll behave like idiots."

Instead of trying to instruct drivers and pedestrians about what to do, he preferred to throw them together at intersections and force them to use their common sense. In the chaos of convergence they have to watch each other and coordinate their movements. Danger makes everyone proceed cautiously, which in turn makes them safer.

Monderman used to demonstrate his faith in human nature by conducting interviews in the middle of an intersection or by walking backward into the street as cars parted around him.

There's a whole study in psychology behind this approach. Somehow, he made it work in areas where cars are already moving slowly. It still does work, in Europe at least.

Whether those principles can govern intersection design in the United States remains open to debate. Or, perhaps pedestrians and drivers on this side of the pond are just idiots who have to be told when to stop and start.

"Americans really don't know what yield means. Every other country in the world understands it," Michael Wallwork says.

Wallwork's observation carries some weight. He is one of the most prolific designers of roundabouts in the country. He designed the intersections on Honore and the Venice roundabout, and he is working with the city on a chain of roundabouts along U.S. 41 from the airport to the bayfront.

Wallwork and his team have already acknowledged the unyielding nature of American drivers by including pedestrian lights and bicycle ramps in their Sarasota designs. They did not want to take chances.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization, which coordinates the spending of federal funds on roads in Sarasota and Manatee counties, has prioritized the U.S. 41 improvements. The section of roadway from 10th Street to 14th Street, including roundabouts at both intersections, is scheduled for construction in 2017 at an estimated cost of $20 million. The rest will presumably make their way into future five-year plans of the Florida Department of Transportation.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. 41 Momentum Team sent a letter to City Manager Tom Barwin, requesting that the city expedite the construction of roundabouts at Fruitville Road, Gulfstream Boulevard, 10th and 14th streets. The organization, representing a number of civic and business groups, suggested that the city could front the money until it's reimbursed in 2016 or 2017.

If not, the construction could clash with the international rowing competition at Benderson Park.

The logistics could be daunting, if not impossible to execute. But do not bet against the roundabouts, which seem to display one counterintuitive characteristic after another.

In 2009, the Longboat Key city commission, fearful that the prospective roundabouts would create congestion for the key's residents, commissioned a study projecting traffic flow in 2021 under two scenarios: signalized intersections or roundabouts.

The engineers concluded there would be no difference, despite the fact that drivers have to slow down to navigate roundabouts.

Other studies have shown that drivers think they are spending more time than they actually are when they have to wait at a red light, not knowing how long the light will remain red.

Roundabouts eliminate that uncertainty.

Danger is safety.

Slower is faster.

Go figure.

Eric Ernst's column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at eric.ernst@heraldtribune.com or (941) 486-3073