There's two types of round-abouts: the Continental European kind and the UK/Australian kind. The UK/Australian kind are designed to keep traffic moving, so the angles are arranged to make entering similar to a merge. European ones are designed to slow traffic, so you enter at a right angle and have to turn hard to enter.
The UK/Australian kind kill cyclists[1]. I understand the European kind are safer, but I don't have personal experience with them (OTOH, I have been hit at a roundabout, and seen another 2 car/cyclist accidents).
Roundabouts don't kill cyclists, unobservant drivers kill cyclists. They kill cyclists on the straight and at intersections too. Don't blame the roundabout for it.
That's correct of course. However, roundabouts increase the risk enormously. I assume you read the stats in my links?
49% of crashes at roundabouts involved cyclists
It specifically addresses the "look but didn't see" problem, and how the Australian design makes that worse: Herslund & Jørgensen videoed cars and cyclists at
roundabouts and noted that bicycles are often located in drivers’ peripheral vision. They suggest that experienced drivers use fast search strategies such as concentrating on where cars usually are, so may be more prone to LBFTS collisions than less experienced drivers.
The UK/Australian kind kill cyclists[1]. I understand the European kind are safer, but I don't have personal experience with them (OTOH, I have been hit at a roundabout, and seen another 2 car/cyclist accidents).
[1] http://acrs.org.au/files/arsrpe/Cumming%20-%20High%20rate%20...
[2] http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=38012654206...