Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 6, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 ii pm r in 2000 mounting evidence Points to fewer better traffic flow getting there in a roundabout Way City weighs traffic Circle for York Provencher Bridge Extension the City of Winnipeg is considering a plan for a traffic roundabout on the Extension of York Avenue towards Provencher Auto insurers believe roundabouts improve traffic flow and reduce by the insurance Institute for Highway safety roundabouts May be an unfamiliar Type of intersection in North but there becoming More familiar As evidence of their benefits improved traffic and Cost savings make roundabouts a Good and the safety gains Are a study by the insurance Institute for High Way safety shows far fewer crashes occur at intersections with roundabouts than at intersections with Sig nals or Stop this is especially True of crashes resulting in occupant researchers at Ryerson polytechnic the Institute and the University of Maine studied crashes and injuries at 24 intersections before and after construction of the study found a 39 per cent Overall decrease in crashes and a 76 per cent decrease in injury producing collisions involving fatal or incapacitating injuries fell As much As 90 per these findings Are consistent with those from other countries where roundabouts have been used Exten sively for they also Are consistent with preliminary studies of the safety benefits dont come at the expense of traffic in where roundabouts replace intersections with Stop signs or traffic delays in traffic can be reduced by As much As 75 per the recent study focuses on Urban and Rural intersections in South Carolina and ver the roundabouts replaced Stop signs or traffic in its Basic a traffic Circle consists of a raised Island at the Centre of an Ordinary Rig tangle the which directs cars coun is intended to reduce although this goal int always other configurations can be More they May involve split lanes and combinations of yield Stop signs and traffic lights All of which can be confusing to Drivers try ing to negotiate the modern roundabout improves a roundabout like the one at top is being considered for the York Avenue Extension at Provencher on such this is an important because the older traffic circles Arent always easy to so they Haven been very at modern triangular islands at each Entrance slow approaching explains Richard Institute senior traffic Engineer and an author of the in older traffic no physical structures prevent Drivers from speeding right into the this Lack of control contributes to High Speed conflicts inside the Circle a problem solved by the islands at another feature is that vehicles approaching roundabouts yield to curating no stopping is some older traffic circles and Many conventional intersections alternate traffic with Stop signs or Sig roundabouts enable All cars to move continuously through intersections at the same Low other design elements set roundabouts apart from traffic pedestrians Cross Only at the prime vehicles cant turn left ahead of the Central Island and parking int allowed inside the these requirements minimize distractions and opportunities for the traffic calming properties of roundabouts May explain Why Treyve been widely used in other countries but not in the United states and Cana the North american penchant for fast driving has created a culture where slowing Down seems an encroachment of but the Bias for Speed int just among american universities and institutions that influence Road planning and Engi Neering have reinforced the historical practice of building High Speed inter teachings Haven emphasized traffic calming As a preventive at least not until roundabouts Benefit from Good exhibiting Only a fraction of the troublesome crash patterns Typ ical of Rig tangle such intersections place vehicles on a High Speed collision with crashes avoided Only if Drivers obey traffic Laws and use Good research shows Many Drivers so the potential is High for left and reared Retting such conflicts make up about two thirds of police reported crashes on Urban the geometry of roundabouts eliminates Many of the angles and traffic flows that create opportunities for particularly the Rig tangle and reared kind that tend to produce the Lack of right combined with reductions in make the intersections safer for pedestrians and bicyclists As Well As people in the Speed depends on the intersection but generally remains at about 25 pm at that Drivers and others on the Road have More time to so theres a smaller Chance of when crashes do most will be concern has been expressed that installing roundabouts might endanger but these fears appear experience in Europe shows roundabouts reduce the risk of pedestrian environmental and aesthetic Bene fits add to the roundabouts Cut vehicle emissions and fuel consumption by reducing the time Drivers sit idling at traffic that moves More slowly through intersections creates less noise and congas minimizing the expressway look and feel of roads in Urban and suburban landscaping on the islands replaces the Asphalt of conventional which offers visual Appeal and restores a bit of roundabouts also create visual Gate ways to and in Commer Cial areas they can improve Access to adjacent roundabout construction should be strongly promoted As an effective safety treatment at ret Ting theres nothing to lose from constructing them and everything to the proof is already the insurance Institute far Highway safety is an nonprofit scientific and educational or Uniza lion dedicated to reducing the losses injuries and properly dam Aye Highway it is wholly supported by automobile insure letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email . Dont blame the Hunters i live right beside Riding Mountain National out of Square Miles of Park and Crown lands surrounding the i have Ridden the majority of it on on these i have seen a lot of bears and sometimes sows with i have also seen sows with More than two and sometimes As Many As it is a known fact that sows will you cant blame the death of these animals solely on in most wild Ani Mals die from loss of Auto Colli Sions and other in the Case of they prey on each boars will attack sows to get their i know All the outfitters in this area and talk to them quite in my 20 i have never heard of their clients shooting a sow with Newborn first of it is against the Law and these Hunters dont travel All this Way and spend a lot of Money to har Vest a the reason for this is they Are too regardless of some of the letters Ive read in the paper about sows sending their cubs up a tree before coming to a this is cubs stay close to their mothers at All when people make statements like they Are watching too much Walt the Hunter will always see the cubs this situation is also rare because sows find it dangerous because of boars in the which puts their cubs in Dan Ger of being this takes care of the three bears if Goldilocks had looked in papa bears she would have found baby Bear not por if the Bear Hunt is the Farmers will take Over to protect their baby calves and they Are not then you will see a lot of orphaned Marshall Quelch Riding Mountain Cut subsidy to health body the Manitoba Centre for health policy and evaluation contends that Mani Toba is leaps and Bounds ahead of the rest of North America in using health data to help manage the time to Tell real Story behind healthcare Sta free May Mchue claims bragging rights Over the Canadian Institute for health info insisting that Mcphie is widely recognized and respected by certain so called readers Are reminded that Mcphie is the same academic thin tank that in 1996 asserted there was a surplus of 113 general practitioners in Winnipeg and an opinion dismissed As being sheer nonsense by the Mma and other knowledgeable frontline health proves one can Only imagine the chaos that would have occurred had the provincial government accepted and acted on Mchoes unreliable patient Access to primary care physicians today would be even More severely limited than it already in Mcphie speculated that Manitoba was Well supplied with most Spe within months reality set and regional health authorities were scram bling to fill Many vacancies in Ane the neurology and paediatric to name just a Mcphie did not warrant anyone respect in this Case the nip government released the health care financial management and accountability known As the Webster it recommends various Cost control and management measures for Manitoba health and the regional health health minister Dave Chomiak would be Well advised to save taxpayers another million per year by cutting off the provinces wasteful subsidy to we can ill afford As a province to continue with the leaps and Bounds credited to Lorraine my president Manitoba medical association Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau listen to push on Howa Koft h too quasi Verrea it Small can sound to Sto making Donn pc you have to simplify ;