Christiaan,
Good letter. Nice to see science and not just anecdotes.
I suggest you submit the letter, if you have not already done so.
Be well.
Bill Bill Reger-Nash, EdD Professor Emeritus
Walk 30 to 60 minutes daily. Feel the Power of Half an Hour.
West Virginia University Emerging School of Public Health Room 3812 E, Health Sciences South One Medical Center Drive Morgantown, WV 26506-9190 Pbones: Office - 304-293-0763; Cell - 304-685-6740 Email: wreger@hsc.wvu.edumailto:wreger@hsc.wvu.edu Home Page: www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/cmed/wreger/index.asphttp://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/cmed/wreger/index.asp
________________________________ From: Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board [walkmgw@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:48 PM To: Angela Wiley; Jonathan Rosenbaum; Matt Cross; Kierig, Hugh; Rye, Jim; Ella Belling; Nick Hein; Leyden, Kevin; Damien Davis; Nutter, Roy; Mike Breiding; Bill Austin; Woods, Joshua; Courtney Pawlak; Frank Gmeindl; Ron Bane; Claire Chantler; Michael Simms; Danielle Williams; Brann, Maria; Melody Thomas; Don Spencer; Reger-Nash, Bill; Anderson, Robert; George Lilley; Chertok, Ilana; Jimmie Simmons; Summers, Martha; Cohen, Stanley; Sarah Bias; Christiaan Abildso; Dwight Harshbarger; Maria Smith; Regina Mayolo; Jan Derry; David Small; Michael Graham; Bias, Thomas; Cain, Deborah; Mary Gutmann; Stout, Margaret; Harris, Dan C Cc: Bicycle Board Subject: Fw: Opinion letter (response to June 14th letter)
Pedestrian advocates and colleagues on the bicycle board- The following is a letter I've composed in response to a June 14th letter to the editor I've pasted at the very bottom of this message...facts, not anecdotes should rule the day...I removed text from my letter about NJ residents not being allowed to pump their own gas or being required to turn right to go left ("jughandle" intersections). Too much haterade in recent DP letters unfortunately. Best to all, Christiaan
Walk more, safely
Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Christiaan Abildso, Chair Bill Reger-Nash, Vice Chair http://www.morgantown.com/ped-safety-board.htmhttps://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?hOqr9EVLtUSUqejhOYYCyYr01aw0txeFy7bUJW1uCK_cIn8lSa704dTVeZXTLuZXCXCP6DBli9w55J9RHOVJd5AsYrhpoKCMOCYCrod79Inc96y0cbixaI3h0vYV_4Qg6yyfQmH2DCy2tjh013sfd42b4OpEwf-s_yqajs_3VU3zq9J4SUqejhOYYyUOr2H3y
----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Christiaan Abildso cabildso@yahoo.com To: "opinion@dominionpost.com" opinion@dominionpost.com Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:42 PM Subject: Opinion letter (response to June 14th letter)
Title: "Facts About Modern Roundabouts" Unfortunately, a letter was published on June 14th that contained no evidence about modern roundabouts (or "circles" as the author called them), only second-hand anecdotes from an anonymous New Jersey resident. I suggest readers learn more facts about modern roundabouts at the Federal Highways Administration website: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/roundabouts/ before they accept the unsubstantiated claims of one person.
Recent independent research findings about the safety, performance, and cost of roundabouts to consider: 1) they typically reduce the number of crashes at an intersection by roughly 35%; 2) they typically reduce injury crashes by about 75%; 3) they reduce traffic delays; and 4) they are less costly to maintain than intersections with traffic signals. (Source: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/roundabouts/fhwasa10006/ppt/)
I'm glad the author of the letter mentioned pedestrians. Modern roundabouts can actually improve conditions for pedestrians in multiple ways. When compared to signalized intersections between two, 2-lane roads, the number of potential pedestrian-vehicle conflicts are reduced from 24 locations with the traffic signals to 8 locations with roundabouts. Roundabouts decrease vehicular approach speed, and provide a median to serve as refuge for pedestrians crossing the road. Even though the average speed for a road with a roundabout is lower, cars travel through the roundabouts faster because they don’t have to stop at red lights.
One local example of how a roundabout would benefit our community would be in front of the Coliseum. The length of time you sit at the Patteson/Mon Boulevard intersection can be frustrating and many people have witnessed a collision at the right turn from Patteson onto Mon Blvd. If a roundabout were installed at that intersection it could reduce the number of traffic lanes on Mon Boulevard from 6 to 4, and there could be a dedicated right turn lane from Patteson to Mon Boulevard (eliminating the nearly daily crashes there). The roundabout could also eliminate the thousands of jaywalkers from the CAC to Coliseum by creating a median refuge at the approach (or an underpass as is done at Western Michigan University and Ohio University) to the roundabout with warning signals that would allow pedestrians to cross 2 lanes of traffic at a time rather than 6 or 7 as is the current situation. This roundabout could still easily accommodate large truck traffic, and football, basketball, and other event day traffic without a police officer (rather than the 2 or more currently required for basketball games).
The author's fears are common in communities without roundabouts. In multiple studies resident acceptance of roundabouts is greatly improved after they are completed and users see the benefits. Get to know roundabouts - they could be good for all of us
Christiaan Abildso Morgantown ---------------------------- TEXT FROM ORIGINAL 6/14 LETTER:
Traffic circles bode ill for intersections
I was talking with a neighbor who used to live in several counties of New Jersey where there were traffic circles. She said that there always were accidents and bottlenecks at the traffic circles, with traffic coming to an unintended complete stop, so the locals avoided them when possible.
Three or four of those circles have been taken out, because they were absolutely hated. The worst one, in Summer Point, N.J., was just removed. Imagine our football traffic going through a traffic circle on W.Va. 705. The police won’t be able to direct traffic through it unless an officer is placed at each entry point — not an effective use of personnel.
At a circle, it’s intended that everyone keeps moving, forcing you to pull out in front of cars already in the circle, whose drivers are looking across the circle for their exit, rather than for new arrivals.
Depending on the relative caution or aggression of the two parties involved, one of them will slow down. Now you have an uncontrolled or freefor-all intersection, which is a worse condition than before the traffic “improvement.”
Another point to consider: If the traffic is constantly moving how does a pedestrian cross at a traffic circle? We can’t even accommodate pedestrians at conventional intersections like Boyers Avenue and Monongahela Boulevard, Burroughs Street and Van Voorhis Road, or Pleasant Street and the Westover Bridge.
The busiest and most dangerous intersection in town, University Avenue and Patteson Drive, doesn’t even have a street light. Apparently, God’s chosen people own cars.
Something different isn’t always better. If traffic circles are superior, why don’t we have more of them? Have you even seen one?
Although the traffic circle proponents insist on using a cutesy British term like “roundabout,” I think that travelers will make better time in getting to their proverbial point B by going on a “walkabout.”
Now if they can just get across the streets ...
Dave Ornick Morgantown