Citation

Leonardi S, Distefano N, Pulvirenti G. Transp. Res. Proc. 2020; 45: 293-300.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publications)

DOI

10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.019

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Roundabouts have been shown to provide significant safety and operational benefits, but a better understanding of public perceptions of roundabouts is critical in order to assess the contribution of the driving behavior of the users on their safety. Therefore, research on user behavior and preferences is a helpful tool in improving road safety and accident prevention. The aim of this study is to increase knowledge about Italian users' public opinion on road roundabouts. The authors estimated cross-national differences, and assessed correlations with personal variables, such as age, gender, travel mode most frequently used, perception of roundabout safety, etc. In order to collecting data, the instrument used is a national web based survey, the total sample comprised 1.728 participants. The data collected were analyzed by both Ordinal regression method and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. The results of this study show that the overall opinion that the respondents expressed against roundabouts is favorable. There are no substantial differences between the judgment of male drivers and that of females. Although for some categories of users the roundabouts are not considered safe and have no advantages in terms of functionality, their general opinion is always positive. The categories of respondents who expressed "Favorable" opinion are: women, those who travel daily with the private car or with public transport and who is a pedestrian. The categories of respondents who expressed "Very favorable" opinion are: men, and those who use the motorcycle as their main means of transport. Moreover, this study showed that web-based surveys provide an efficient means of collecting detailed public opinion data.

Language: en

Keywords

Intersections; Multiple Correspondence Analysis; Road Safety; Users’ perception; Web survey