In some ten years, roundabouts have spread all over Europe and even throughout the world. The Americans also have imported this type of crossroads but, for once, they followed the movement instead of starting it. Three reasons have contributed to this quick growth : a good mark on safety point of view, a progressive cut in the sizes and a central space available for the decoration. If the French architect EugÃf¨ne HÃfÂCnard created the idea of roundabout from the beginning of the 20th century, the British first had the idea of roundabout as we know it now. The priority to the "ring" was tested in the late fifties to be widespread in 1996. In the late seventies, the French discovered the roundabout again and, from then on, the roundabout got a worldwide reputation in the late eighties and nineties. Some years after that flooding wave in Belgium, it's interesting to stop for a while, to assess these roundabouts and to compare them with the French roundabouts and with the traffic lights.
Samenvatting