You may start to see roundabouts turning up in your neighborhoods. Roundabouts can also be called traffic circles or rotaries. These are circular paths that take the place of conventional intersections. They may look confusing if you have never driven through them before, especially if you have just started driving.

* Roundabouts promote safety in several ways. At traditional intersections with stop signs or traffic signals, some of the most common types of crashes are right-angle, left-turn, and head-on collisions. These types of collisions can be severe because vehicles may be traveling through the intersection at high speeds. With roundabouts, these types of potentially serious crashes essentially are eliminated because vehicles travel in the same direction and at low speeds.

Tips on approaching and navigating through a roundabout

• As you approach the intersection, you want to make sure you know where it is you want to go.

• You want to look for signs to indicate whether you need to yield or stop.

• If someone is cruising around the circle already, they have the right of way and you need to yield to them.

• You can never rely on other drivers to see you. Often, people are not used to roundabouts and can get completely absorbed in just trying to figure out where they need to go.

• Once traffic clears you can enter the circle and merge while looking for your exit and for other cars.

• Once you find your exit you can find your path. If you miss your exit you get another chance by simply going around the circle again.

For additional information on how to navigate through a roundabout, visit The Academy to watch the video “Traffic Circles - Roundabouts.”

* Insurance Institute for Highway Safety