‘Portable rotundas’ make rounds of Metro Manila

CIRCLE OF SAFETY What looks like a pocket garden at the intersection of Ayala Avenue-Edsa is actually a portable rotunda, the latest traffic scheme rolled out by the MMDA to help prevent accidents. JAYMEE GAMIL

It’s not a mirage, folks.

If you run smack into what looks like a pocket garden in the middle of a gritty and busy intersection in the Metro, don’t be surprised.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has launched another innovative traffic development, in the form of “portable rotundas” or roundabouts, to prevent road accidents.

The first of the portable rotundas, which resemble pocket gardens, was placed at the Ayala Avenue-Edsa intersection in Makati City early Thursday morning.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said one more will be installed at the Naia Road-Roxas Boulevard intersection in Parañaque City.

The MMDA chief said his agency currently has three rotundas, which will be installed on a rotation basis as deemed necessary in the busiest intersections of the Metro.

“Installing roundabouts reduce the likelihood of rear-end crashes and their severity by removing the incentive for drivers to speed up as they approach green lights and by reducing abrupt stops at red lights,” Tolentino explained in an earlier press statement.

Tolentino cited a study in the United States in 2011 saying that incidents of vehicular accidents in 23 intersections that shifted from using traffic lights or stop signs to using roundabouts had been reduced by 40 percent, and injurious crashes by 80 percent.

The rotundas have a wooden base painted with black-and-yellow directional arrows all around it.

Within the circle, potted plants, including poinsettias, flowers associated with Christmas, had been arranged to lend a holiday  mood.

The rotundas are also lit with solar-powered lights to make them easily visible to motorists at night.

The MMDA public affairs office said more rotundas may be set up at Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City and Padre Burgos Avenue and the Nagtahan intersection in Manila.