THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	108
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

encouraging the Department of Transportation and county transportation agencies to actively seek opportunities to construct more roundabouts instead of signalized, right-angle intersections in the state.

     WHEREAS, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that fatal crashes at intersections nationwide increased eighteen per cent during the period between 1992 and 1998; and

     WHEREAS, modern roundabouts are designed to control traffic flow at intersections without the use of stop signs or traffic signals; and

     WHEREAS, in recent years, there has been growing interest in the potential benefits of roundabouts and an increase in construction of roundabouts; and

     WHEREAS, although uncommon in Hawaii, other states and countries are constructing roundabouts as a safer alternative to intersections; and

     WHEREAS, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington are among the states that are constructing modern roundabouts; and

     WHEREAS, the absence of right angles, combined with the necessary reduction in speed, makes roundabouts safer for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as for motorists; and

     WHEREAS, an eight-state study of twenty-four intersections before and after construction of roundabouts found a thirty-nine per cent decrease in crashes and a seventy-six per cent decrease in crashes that resulted in injury; and

     WHEREAS, the evidence is clear that constructing properly-designed roundabouts instead of right-angle intersections in Hawaii would likely reduce the number of crashes and the number of injuries suffered by Hawaii motorists; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Transportation and county agencies having responsibility for transportation are encouraged to actively seek opportunities to construct more roundabouts instead of signalized, right-angle intersections in the State; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation and to the Mayor and the Chairperson of the Council of each county.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

DOT; Construct More Roundabouts