Planning Process of Modern Roundabouts in Turkey

Some intersections with traffic lights in the world and in Turkey are being replaced by modern roundabouts. So what is the reason why roundabouts are more preferred?

Which is Better, Signalized Intersection or Roundabout?

Roundabouts date back to the 18th century, but their more widespread use occurred in the 20th century. Europe’s first roundabout is considered to be the intersection in Charles de Gaulle Square in New York.

Although roundabouts lost their popularity in America since the 1950s due to increasing traffic density and the lack of clarity in some of their rules, they re-emerged in England in 1966 with a single rule. This rule; It consisted of the vehicles in the roundabout having priority and the vehicles at the intersection having to give way to this vehicle.

This change was accepted by people within a few years and became widespread in Europe. Today, France, Spain and the UK are the countries with the highest number of modern roundabouts in Europe.

The behavior of American drivers at roundabouts, which they are not accustomed to, has even been the subject of some movies. Drivers who were unable to exit the intersection were characterized.

In order to reduce traffic problems, America has started to prefer modern roundabouts again in recent years. In Turkey, some local governments prefer roundabouts.

Advantages of Roundabouts

• Thanks to their existing structure, roundabouts reduce the speed of vehicles significantly (up to 20 km/h), thus preventing speeding and collisions.
• Since vehicles move in one direction at the intersection, head-on collisions are prevented. Thus, the rate of accidents with loss of life is minimized.

• While there are 32 critical points at risk of accidents at four-arm intersections, this number decreases to 8 at roundabouts.
• According to a study conducted in America, the accident rate at roundabouts is 37% lower than at four-arm intersections, and the fatal accident rate is 90% lower.

• Roundabouts allow more vehicles to pass than other types of intersections. For example; While vehicles must stop at certain lights at four-arm intersections, this flow is provided almost continuously at roundabouts.
• Ensuring continuous flow ensures that the waiting rate at roundabouts is 20% less than at signalized intersections.
• Roundabouts ensure that waiting times are shorter, thus ensuring that vehicles cause less damage to the environment.
• Roundabouts do not require maintenance and repair for a long time after their construction. At signalized intersections, the maintenance and repair rate is much higher. This makes roundabouts a more profitable investment.

Roundabouts in Turkey

According to 2019 data, around 45,000 traffic accidents involving death or injury occurred in our country. 22% of these accidents occurred at intersections. In most of the accidents, failure to comply with passing priority caused the accident.

Drivers not knowing the rules to be followed at intersections or not obeying these rules cause accidents. Unfortunately, in our country, only a small section about intersections is included in the driving tests. Experts also think that the transitions at intersections are of greater importance than the parking problem.

Another reason for accidents is that roundabouts are not built in accordance with standards. Since the concept of giving way has not been adequately adopted and implemented, traffic lights are placed at roundabouts, and some incompatibilities arise as this contradicts the logic of roundabouts.

On the website of the General Directorate of Highways, roundabout definitions are clearly made and the rules are expressed with extra animations. However, most of the roundabouts in Turkey do not comply with these standards.

Click on the link to access the moderndonelkavsak.pdf file on the KGM Website.

The rapidly increasing number of vehicles in our country and around the world also causes traffic-related problems to increase. It is possible to find a solution to these problems and create smoother and safer roads by taking precautions in urban planning. Of course, drivers must also contribute to this solution by following the rules.

Roundabouts are also a proposed solution to ensure fluidity in traffic. Increasing their popularity day by day, roundabouts are rapidly becoming widespread all over the world. For example, in England, ‘Roundabout of the Year’ is chosen every year. Systems created by bringing together multiple roundabouts instead of large bridges are more practical and cost-effective.

In the Netherlands, roundabouts that can be used by cyclists are being built. However, as we have mentioned before, the solution to all these problems requires drivers to comply with the rules…