Paul St-Aubin edited Methodology.tex  almost 10 years ago

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These sections are termed \textit{quadrants} as they cut the most common configuration of roundabout, a four-way roundabout, into four sections using two axes of symmetry. Though other configurations do exist and roundabouts are rarely perfectly symmetrical in reality, the general principle still applies: a quadrant is defined as the section of a roundabout delimited by an approach and the next immediate exit, bounding a central weaving zone (depicted in Figure~\ref{fig:roundabout-weaving-zone}, first presented and discussed in \cite{St_Aubin_2013}) where the approach and exit lanes overlap with the lanes of the central ring. In this zone, road users experience weaving conflicts in addition to all others.  These weaving conflicts are virtually unique to roundabouts and the key aspect of the yielding mechanisms that governs right-of-way behaviour at the roundabout as a whole. These weaving zones are also of particular interest because they contain the most complex driving situations: single-lane corridors generate rear-end conflicts, multi-lane corridors generate rear-end and lane-change conflicts, while weaving zones generate rear-end, lane-change, and weaving/merging conflicts. This is still a smaller theoretical conflict diversity than at signalisaed intersections, a point commonly brought up in the literature as justification for roundabout safety \cite{Wallworl_1991,NHCRP_2010}, \cite{Wallwork_1991,NHCRP_2010},  yet this does not account for conflict frequency. Pedestrian-motorist conflicts normally do not overlap with the weaving zone as the cross-walks are normally set back from the roundabout by a couple of car-lengths. Interactions between users, motorists and pedestrians alike, located on an approach and an adjacent exit, and vice versa, can be considered independent from one another as they are normally always separated by a median.