Sidewalk Roundabouts Introduced on Campus

University works to reduce walking, texting injuries

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While the United States has been slow to adopt roundabouts as a way to control traffic and reduce accidents (there is one roundabout to every 1,118 intersections in the U.S., compared to one to every 45 intersections in France), they have been slowly gaining favor in this country. Andrews University has even added a few in recent years, especially with the introduction of the new J. N. Andrews Boulevard entrance to campus.

Roundabouts (also known in the U.S. as traffic circles, rotaries or road circles) make a difference in injuries and accidents for drivers, and research cited in a recent issue of the Washington Post noted that “data from the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that ‘roundabouts reduced injury crashes by 75 percent at intersections where stop signs or signals were previously used for traffic control.’ Apart from preventing cars from crashing into each other, roundabouts also saved the lives of countless pedestrians.”

That research caught the eye of Benjamin Panigot, director of Campus Safety at Andrews University, who has been dealing with a recent uptick in campus-based injuries from students who walk and text at the same time.

“It’s a concerning situation,” notes Ben. “Not only have students irrevocably damaged their personal technology, but people are getting hurt as a result of these run-ins at sidewalk intersections. This research made me wonder if the accident-reducing solution of traffic roundabouts for cars might also work for pedestrians.”

Panigot went to work with Paul Elder, director of Facilities at Andrews University, and even amidst tightened budgets it turned out that a volunteer team from the Grounds and Arboretum crew and some leftover bags of concrete from one of last summer’s repaving projects offered enough resources to install the first two texting roundabouts: One between the administration building and Nethery Hall, and the second in front of the Campus Center.

“You use them just like you would a traffic roundabout,” explains Panigot. “You enter to the right, and then exit where you need. For example, if you were coming from Nethery Hall to grab lunch, you would make a half circle—but unlike before, you’re less likely to crash into somebody while you’re trying to figure out how Instagram’s non-chronological posting system works.”

Within hours of reopening the modified sidewalks, benefits have been seen across campus, including in some surprising places.

“Our caseload has already been reduced,” says Dr. Judith Fisher, director of the Counseling & Testing Center. “We had seen a psychosocial impact for students who were temporarily unable to update their statuses, Snapchat with their bae or Instagram their Sam’s Chicken lunch. It stretched our resources and some of our own counseling staff were unable to confirm their appointments with students because they had broken their phones while texting and walking before the sidewalk roundabouts were put into place.”

“We plan to finish roundabouts at all of the key sidewalk intersections this summer, again using leftover concrete and some of our volunteer student, faculty and staff support who believe in injury free walking and texting,” says Jamie Wright, manager of Plant Services, while standing at the center of one of the two trial sidewalk roundabouts.  

“This is just another way I believe Andrews University can show that it’s a flagship university,” says Paul Elder, director of facilities. “We already have requests from Southern University, Union College, La Sierra University and Burman University asking how they can introduce these roundabouts on their campuses and help keep their students safe while walking and texting, too. Once again, Andrews has proven itself a thought leader in the Adventist Church.”