Published: 2025-04-22

Effectivness of using neighborhood traffic circles in traffic calming

Stanisław Majer

Abstract

Limiting the speed of traffic by introducing reduced speed zones is one of the most effective methods of improving road safety. Built-up areas, and especially housing estates, are among the most sensitive locations at which prescribed speed limits should not be exceeded. That is where additional calmed traffic zones are introduced. In such zones, in addition to administrative speed limits, supplementary road infrastructure elements are relied upon that physically force traffic participants to reduce their speed (e.g. speed humps or roundabouts with a raised island). This article aims to analyze the effectiveness of traffic circles used in calmed traffic zones in order to reduce the speed of road users. Three study areas located in north-eastern Poland have been selected, with calmed traffic zones established therein more than 20 years ago. Research consisted in measuring the free-flow speed on selected streets. Geometrical and height-related parameters of roundabouts located along those streets were determined, and factors characterizing the streets in question and their closest surroundings were analyzed. Statistical analysis of data obtained through the measurements has revealed some complex dependencies between speed reduction and selected roundabout parameters, such as the height of the raised island at a given traffic circle or the length of the approach to the junction. The analysis conduced has also allowed to identify the remaining determinants that may effectively contribute to reducing the speed of vehicles and maintaining their lower velocity in calmed traffic zones.

Keywords:

central island, reduce speed, streetscape character approach, street function, swept path, traffic calming, traffic circle

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Majer, S. (2025). Effectivness of using neighborhood traffic circles in traffic calming. Roads and Bridges – Drogi I Mosty, 24(1), 103–122. https://doi.org/10.7409/rabdim.025.005

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