The Bay Area’s first turbo roundabout sent crashes soaring. Commuters and experts say it’s still a better intersection

When a turbo roundabout rolled into the southernmost corner of the Bay Area early last year it became the first-in-the-state adoption of a accomplished Dutch traffic innovation a multi-lane roundabout shaped like a cartoon hurricane And while the roundabout in San Benito County far south of San Jose was meant to improve safety it brought with it a wave of confusion and a spike in accidents that saw drivers colliding at rates a multitude of times higher than before it was installed Wayne Wallace has witnessed the chaos On his commutes between Hollister and San Jose he has watched crashes unfold in front of him and seen drivers heading the wrong way hopping over dividers and he even declares to have spotted selected cars catching air A year later Wallace stated it s calmed down selected but he still catches remnants of crashes At least once a month I see chunks of taillights everywhere and I m like oh I guess somebody else had an accident he declared The debris is a testament to dozens of fender-benders that have taken place around the intersection in the year since it opened A Mercury News analysis of crash facts shows that crashes skyrocketed at the intersection in the year after the turbo roundabout was completed But even as accidents have soared serious injuries and deaths have disappeared leaving multiple to assert that the roundabout is safer I m converted for sure declared Wallace recalling the long stops and accidents of the prior intersection There s no more long waits to get through the intersection and I haven t seen anyone get T-boned by a semi which is a good thing Caltrans built the turbo roundabout at the crossroads of SR- and SR- because the stoplight that preceded it was not doing enough to control the flow of traffic in a notoriously dangerous spot the site of more than twice as plenty of accidents as similar intersections in the state with chosen resulting in serious injuries or death Before building the roundabout Caltrans attempted several small fixes such as changing the timing on the traffic signals and adding rumble strips After these failed to resolve the problems the agency opted to create the special roundabout The turbo roundabout first invented in the Netherlands is meant to slow down drivers and reduce conflict points places where drivers might strike each other The Dutch design includes extra features to prevent drivers from changing lanes while going through the intersection Approaching drivers must choose their lane before entering the roundabout and follow overhead signage that shows which lane leads to which exit Additionally the Hollister rotary features lanes wide enough to accommodate semi-trucks which are separated by raised concrete dividers While a Mercury News analysis indicated a spike of crashes around the roundabout when it was first completed experts promised that crash rates would decrease over time So far though that hasn t been the episode The Mercury News analyzed reports of crashes from the California Highway Patrol s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System from January to February that occurred at the intersection and up to feet away Crashes nearly quadrupled leaping from in to in In the year after construction was completed in February crashes happened at a rate of about one every and days compared to the year before construction began in August when crashes happened about once every days March the first full month after the roundabout opened saw more crashes than any month in the preceding six years though that total was beaten in December of the same year But the type of injuries tells a different story Technically total injuries have gone up significantly peaking in the teens in preceding years then up to injuries last year The vast majority of injuries since the roundabout was installed though are categorized by the Highway Patrol as realizable injuries with relatively mild indicators like nausea a limp or a complaint of pain but no other physical signs The rest of the crash injuries last year were minor injuries like bruises scrapes or minor cuts and those happened at similar numbers as preceding years Since construction began on the roundabout in August there have been no deaths or serious injuries covering everything from broken bones to paralysis or unconsciousness at the intersection according to the crash details Those statistics have specific experts heralding the roundabout as a net win for constituents safety If you ve eliminated deaths and serious injuries at this location this project is a success declared Julia Griswold director of the Safe Transportation Research and Instruction Center at University of California Berkeley There s going to be fender benders but the societal cost of those is far lower When Hollister to Gilroy commuter Toni Bowles first encountered the roundabout she and others expressed nervousness about using the intersection and the lack of learning on how to confront it Now she tries to be mindful when she goes through the rotary and sees the benefits Back when it was a stop light there were selected severe fatalities recalled Bowles who has commuted past the intersection for years and remembers coming south through the intersection late at night to see ghastly crashes It would be one in the morning and you would see three ambulances Now things are different I still see people in collisions but they re out of their car and their airbag isn t even off announced Bowles Selected experts attribute the ongoing spike in crashes to the growing pains of a new roundabout That s a common characteristic when you convert an intersection disclosed Kakan Dey who researches traffic safety at Michigan State University of the spike in minor crashes It s perfectly normal for any roundabout In the next sparse years Dey expects the crash rate to go down as drivers get used to the new intersection We have seen a learning curve that occurs for a while at each location in our district where we have installed a roundabout The vast majority of travelers experience a safe and uneventful trip through the roundabout commented Jim Shivers a spokesperson for the Caltrans district where the turbo roundabout is located He maintains that Caltrans often sees crashes decrease around three years or so after a roundabout is opened and believes that at this point it has saved lives That was the entire idea of building a roundabout You just do not have this occurrence of fatal traffic incidents Despite the spike in crashes and their initial trepidation commuters like Matea Rodriguez are now fans of the roundabout She used to see big lines back up at the stoplight but the new rotary keeps traffic flowing during her commute It s been a huge improvement I don t think about the roundabout anymore disclosed Rodriguez who commutes from Campbell to Hollister It s just an afterthought now which I think is the best-case scenario