ABSTRACT
A significant proportion of reported 2-party casualty accidents at roundabouts in New South Wales (NSW) - 66% of severe or fatal accidents and 50% of all injury accidents - involved a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. More than 70% of these 2-party accidents to cyclists or motorcyclists involved circulating riders hit by entering motorists or riders hit from behind. Single vehicle accidents accounted for 40% of all severe/fatal accidents and 23% of all accidents at roundabouts.
The high proportion of single vehicle accidents and predominance of entering motorist/circulating rider accidents together suggest excessive vehicle speeds, especially on the approaches is a major contributory factor to accidents at roundabouts in NSW. Safety measures should therefore be directed at preventing these most common accidents types, e.g. by reducing speeds of those drivers who tend to approach at unsafe speeds. Motorists could also be encouraged to take special care in looking out for cyclists when entering a roundabout and cyclists encouraged to position themselves where motorists are likely to be looking - exactly where a car would be - in the middle of the circulating lane.
Over-representation of cyclists in accidents at roundabouts is indicated by the fact that only 6% of those injured at cross intersections in NSW were cyclists, compared with 18% at roundabouts. Motor-cyclists were also over-represented in accidents at roundabouts. In non-metropolitan areas where cycling is more popular, 32% of those injured in 2-party accidents at roundabouts were cyclists. Fur-thermore, only 16% of reported accidents at roundabouts appear to be the fault of the cyclist. Safety of cyclists should therefore be an important consideration in the decision to design and build new roundabouts. Treatments other than a roundabout might be advised for intersections used by greater than average numbers of cyclists. In particular, for intersections with a history of accidents in which drivers have difficulty realising they should give way, improved road markings might be considered.
Lane change accidents accounted for only 9% of accidents to cyclists at roundabouts, probably because the vast majority of roundabouts in NSW are single-lane. The data analysed here therefore do not invalidate overseas research that indicates multi-lane roundabouts are especially difficult and dangerous for cyclists.