Effect of roundabouts on accident rate and severity in Arizona

This study examines the outcomes of roundabouts in the State of Arizona. Two types of roundabouts are introduced in this study, single-lane roundabouts and double-lane roundabouts. A total of 17 roundabouts across Arizona were chosen upon several selection criteria and according to the availability of data for roundabouts in Arizona. Government officials and local cities’ personnel were involved in this work in order to achieve the most accurate results possible. This thesis focused mainly on the impact of roundabouts on the accident rates, accident severities, and any specific trends that could have been found. Scottsdale, Sedona, Phoenix, Prescott, and Cottonwood are the cities that were involved in this study. As an overall result, both types of roundabouts showed improvements in decreasing the severity of accidents. Single-lane roundabouts had the advantage of largely reducing the overall rate of accidents by 18%, while double-lane roundabouts increased the accident rate by 62%. Although the number of fatalities was very small, both types of roundabouts were able to stop all fatalities during the analysis periods used in this study. Damage rates increased by 2% and 60% for single-lane and double-lane roundabouts, respectively. All levels of injury severities dropped by 44% and 16% for single-lane and double-lane roundabouts, respectively. Education and awareness levels of the public still need to be improved in order for people to be able to drive within the roundabouts safely.