Do Sheffield City Council Have Something Against Roundabouts ?

[choogling 14]

Tankersly roundabout on the  A616  Stocksbridge Bypass can be very tricky to drive through I have seen many near misses .The main problem is lane markings that just disappear three into two with no clear path is never a good idea .Five roads go onto the roundabout but only four are controlled by the lights as an added bonus . 

[spilldig 190]

17 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Without looking it up, I would say light controlled flat junctions create less RTAs than roundabouts (even ones controlled by lights). I cant prove this though, maybe I am wrong.

I think you are right. As far as I know America has no roundabouts at all just intersections and there are far less accidents.

[spilldig 190]

For years First bus were pleading for traffic lights where the 53 bus attempted to cross  the dual carriage way to turn on Lowedges road. Really dangerous, the council always said lack of money prevented it yet they were putting dozens of traffic lights up meanwhile where they were not needed nearly as much. Also  they have school crossing persons on pelican crossings but not on other roads near schools with no pelican crossing.

[Planner1 438]

23 minutes ago, spilldig said:

For years First bus were pleading for traffic lights where the 53 bus attempted to cross  the dual carriage way to turn on Lowedges road. Really dangerous, the council always said lack of money prevented it yet they were putting dozens of traffic lights up meanwhile where they were not needed nearly as much. 

Often when something is perceived as being dangerous, there aren’t many injury accidents at that location because people take more care due to the perceived danger. Councils are generally interested in treating sites that have multiple collisions over 3-5 year periods resulting in killed or seriously injured casualties. Those are the ones the government are interested in and have performance indicators for.

Do you understand how the council gets money for schemes?

 

The vast majority comes from the government via the mayoral combined authority.

Much of it is scheme specific and can’t be used elsewhere. Most of the funding nowadays is for schemes that promote cycling and walking and public transport, because that is government policy.

 

You might see traffic signals going in other places, but they will be part of larger schemes that the Council have successfully bid for funding to construct ( like bus corridor improvements for example.) Signals also get put in where there are larger developments, paid for by the developer.

 

All of the schemes of any size have to develop a business case that shows why they are being proposed and what value they offer.

 

There are many places that people think would benefit from say traffic signals or a puffin crossing etc. There is only funding to deal with a small fraction of them in any year, so often it can be a very long time from people pointing out that there’s an issue, to something being done about it.

 

Thats just how local government funding works everywhere.

[Planner1 438]

1 hour ago, spilldig said:

I think you are right. As far as I know America has no roundabouts at all just intersections and there are far less accidents.

That isn’t true. They do have them, there were apparently about 9000 of them in 2021, about a third of the number in the UK. 
 

Over there they are known as traffic/road circles or a rotary.

[Bargepole23 337]

1 hour ago, spilldig said:

I think you are right. As far as I know America has no roundabouts at all just intersections and there are far less accidents.

2019 figures.

USA 5938 road accidents and 110 road deaths per million people 

UK 1847 road accidents and 27 road deaths per million people 

 

I can personally vouch that USA has at least 1 roundabout, having driven around it.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Bargepole23

[Dannyno 19]

Columbus Circle, New York:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Columbus+Circle/@40.7681121,-73.9823802,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c258f63a2b3a0f:0xcc6301f5e3cd955b!8m2!3d40.7680797!4d-73.9818957!16s%2Fg%2F11_q1k8k3?entry=ttu

 

US roundabouts database:  https://roundabouts.kittelson.com/

 

The American roundabout revolution:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/25/roundabout-revolution-traffic-circles/

Edited August 17, 2023 by Dannyno

[spilldig 190]

22 hours ago, Bargepole23 said:

2019 figures.

USA 5938 road accidents and 110 road deaths per million people 

UK 1847 road accidents and 27 road deaths per million people 

 

I can personally vouch that USA has at least 1 roundabout, having driven around it.

Ok Bargepole thanks for that. Just that I've personally not seen one over there, but all interesting facts 

23 hours ago, Planner1 said:

That isn’t true. They do have them, there were apparently about 9000 of them in 2021, about a third of the number in the UK. 
 

Over there they are known as traffic/road circles or a rotary.

Ok Thanks Planner.

[metalman 21]

I still think the Leppings Lane/Penistone Road junction worked better as a roundabout, though that was admittedly before the addition of an extra set of lights at Sainsburys.

[Longcol 607]

Most of the major roundabouts eg Park Square, Brook Hill, Moore St / Hanover, Hunters Bar etc are traffic light controlled anyway.

[Chekhov 488]

On 16/08/2023 at 20:47, choogling said:

Tankersly roundabout on the  A616  Stocksbridge Bypass can be very tricky to drive through I have seen many near misses .The main problem is lane markings that just disappear three into two with no clear path is never a good idea .Five roads go onto the roundabout but only four are controlled by the lights as an added bonus . 

That roundabout is a nightmare. Am I right they were supposed to be extending it but couldn't because of mining subsidence or something ?

I know underpasses are expensive, but that roundabout could do with one, or, failing that, some other method of increasing its capacity.

 

On 18/08/2023 at 20:56, Longcol said:

Most of the major roundabouts eg Park Square, Brook Hill, Moore St / Hanover, Hunters Bar etc are traffic light controlled anyway.

It's been said before that light controlled, but only at peak times, is a good compromise.

 

On 16/08/2023 at 18:49, Planner1 said:

Milton Keynes was a New Town, which was planned and built decades ago when car use wasn’t as high and the needs of motorists were prioritised above pedestrians and no-one thought much at all about the needs of cyclists.

 

Things have changed, I doubt it would be built like that now.

Two points :

 

1 - I thought the excuse given for not having more roundabouts was they did not always work well ?

 

2 - I thought Milton Keynes was a very popular place to live ?

Sounds about right, basically an authoritarian government telling people how they should live their lives : "unpopular or not you must make life more difficult for motorists".

Edited August 27, 2023 by Chekhov

[Chekhov 488]

On 16/08/2023 at 18:59, Planner1 said:

There are visibility problems at Burncross Rd / Bracken Hill. Don’t think a mini roundabout would be a safe option.

If there are visibility problems I'd have thought a roundabout would be safer, not more dangerous. Certainly in terms of serious accidents as roundabouts force everyone to slow down..

 

Having said that there are some right ****hole drivers round there. Just the other day some cretin in a black Astra overtook me going down Hollowgate, I was doing 30 in a  30 limit so he must have had to be doing about 50 odd to get past me.....