This paper presents the results of an inventory of roundabouts in Sweden compiled in 1982. There are at present about 150 roundabouts in Sweden, which have central islands of average diameter 50 metres, much larger than in most other countries. The general experience of roundabouts in Sweden during recent years has been favourable. Although these roundabouts have been found to have approximately the same number of accidents in relation to traffic volume as other types of unsignalized intersections, the 'injury consequences', ie the proportions of accidents resulting in injuries, are much less serious at roundabouts. This is explained by the fact that the types of accidents with the highest injury consequences in normal junctions are replaced by a similar number of accidents with low injury consequences in roundabouts. Very large differences were found between the distributions for different types of accidents at roundabouts, large urban junctions, and rural junctions. No figures are given about the severity or proportion of deaths for the different types of accident.
Samenvatting