Vouches for Safety of Roundabouts

Vouches for Safety of Roundabouts - The Missourian: Letters To The Editor

Posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 6:32 pm

Vouches for Safety of Roundabouts By Eva Adams, Union The Missourian

To The Editor:

According to Versicherungen.de, an information source recommended by the German Consumer Protection Agency, roundabouts create much safer intersections. Among the various forms, the one-lane roundabout showed a 40 percent drop in insurance claims for auto repair. Car crashes that involved serious injuries were reduced by 80 percent.

Germany has built many roundabouts during the past 20 years, recognizing that France had been so successful with such intersections in reducing the number of serious accidents. France, a little larger than Wyoming and Oregon combined, has about 20,000 roundabouts.

Everyone who is afraid of using roundabouts should look up the safety record of roundabouts. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a good source. Fear of change should not stop a beneficial intersection improvement that the city engineer of Union is suggesting. Hats off to Mr. Zimmermann for being knowledgeable in his field and subsequently proposing a much safer configuration for the intersection of Independence and Main Street. Our high school students should be able to get to school as safely as possible.

I have driven through many roundabouts in Germany and can vouch for the ease of navigating them. Assuage your fear by acquiring information about roundabouts and then look forward to such fine intersection improvements in Union or Franklin County.