Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts

Let’s be honest: drivers either love or hate the traffic circles that have been popping up all over the state. While these circular intersections are intended to improve traffic flow and reduce the severity of crashes, some high-traffic or poorly designed locations have become frequent sites of collisions involving passenger vehicles, motorcycles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Understanding where and why these crashes occur can help drivers make safer decisions, highlight the need for improved roadway design, and support injured victims in identifying potential legal claims after a serious accident. That is why our car accident lawyers created this list of Michigan’s most dangerous roundabouts — to help keep drivers informed and safer on the road.

The Michigan Department of Transportation reports that car accidents significantly increase after a traditional intersection has been converted to a roundabout making them more dangerous. MDOT says that traffic circles “significantly increased the number of total crashes but reduced the number of fatal and injury crashes.” 

This is significant because:

• It becomes a numbers and percentage game. The danger of being involved in a car accident at a circular intersection is higher.  
• The likelihood of being seriously injured or even killed in a car accident is also going to be higher at circular intersections with higher traffic volume and where there are more car accidents than it would be at a traffic circle where there is less traffic volume and fewer accidents.
• While your risk of serious injury or death is lower at a circular intersection, you still face a risk of suffering a serious injury or being killed whenever you are involved in a car crash, whether it is at a circular intersection or not. The MDOT injury and fatality data is helpful but it is not definitive on if someone suffers serious injury from a crash.
• Car accident injury and fatality data is based on the number of ambulances that are called to a crash scene. But this paints a very incomplete picture, at best. People can have very serious injuries from crashes where an ambulance is not called to the scene.  Ask any spine surgeon and they will tell you that they have lobbies full of people who go on to have major neck or back surgery and other serious personal injuries from a car accident where an ambulance was never called to the scene. Ambulance data is helpful, but it is not authoritative.  
• This is because for many people, perhaps for most people, pain and symptoms get worse, not better, in the hours and days after a car accident.  
• Police reports also can be misleading as they only tell us what people reported immediately afterwards at the scene. They do not  – and cannot – accurately take into account all the people who go home and then later that day go to the emergency room or who go to a family doctor the next day.  

In fact, on our list of Michigan’s Most Dangerous Intersections for 2024, five of the top twenty intersections with the most car crashes in the state were these uniquely designed roundabouts.

1. 18 1/2 MILE RD @ VAN DYKE AVE, Sterling Heights, 162, Total Crashes, 12 Injuries
2. MARTIN PKWY @ N PONTIAC TRL, Commerce Township, 151 Total Crashes, 9 Injuries
3. ORCHARD LAKE RD @ 14 MILE RD, Farmington Hills, 109 Total Crashes, 5 Injuries
4. STATE RD @ W ELLSWORTH RD, Ann Arbor, 85 Total Crashes, 5 Injuries
5. LEE RD @ WHITMORE LAKE RD, Green Oak Township, 80 Total Crashes, 3 Injuries
6. OAKLEY PARK RD @ MARTIN PKWY, Commerce Township, 69 Total Crashes, 6 Injuries
7. FARMINGTON RD @ W MAPLE RD, West Bloomfield Township, 64 Total Crashes, 7 Injuries
8. SPRINKLE RD @ CORK ST (NORTH OF I 94), Kalamazoo, 49 Total Crashes, 15 Injuries
9. DRAKE RD @ W MAPLE RD, West Bloomfield Township, 48 Total Crashes, 6 Injuries
10. REMEMBRANCE RD NW @ WILSON AVE NW, Walker, 38 Total Crashes, 7 Injuries

– Source: Michigan State Police Traffic Crash Reporting Unit (Note: Any circular intersections constructed in 2024 or after are not included on our list of Most Dangerous Michigan Roundabouts. A full year of data is necessary before a circular intersection can be evaluated for whether it should be included in our annual list.)

This Macomb County traffic circle tops our Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts list for 2024 as it saw a 20% increase in total crashes in 2024, jumping from 135 in 2023 to 162 in 2024. In 2022, there were 118 total car accidents, down from 168 in 2021. In 2020 and 2019, there were 131 and 229 crashes, respectively.

In 2024, there were 12 injuries, up from 9 in 2023. In 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, there were 10, 17, 8 and 14 injuries, respectively.

Number two on our Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts list for 2024 is this Oakland County traffic circle dropped to 151 in 2024 from 160 in 2023. In 2022, there were 126 total crashes. There were 140 in 2021, 110 in 2020, and 161 in 2019. 

In 2024, injuries from car accidents in this dangerous Michigan roundabout dropped to 9 from 11 in 2023. In 2022 and 2021, there were 13 and 18 injuries, respectively. And in 2020 and 2019, there were 4 and 12.

Number three on our Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts list for 2024 is this busy Oakland County circular intersection as it saw a 17% drop in total crashes in 2024, falling from 132 in 2023 to 109 in 2024. In 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, there were 64, 122, 89 and 178 total crashes, respectively. 

Injuries fell 58% in 2024, from 12 in 2023 to 5 in 2024. In 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, there were 4, 15, 11 and 22 injuries, respectively.

Number four on our Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts list for 2024 is this heavily-trafficked Washtenaw County traffic circle as it saw total crashes plummet 32% in 2024, going from 126 in 2023 to 85 in 2024. In 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019, there were 93, 79, 69 and 154 total accidents, respectively. 

In 2024 and 2023, there were 5 injuries from car accidents in this dangerous Michigan roundabout each year, compared to 7 in 2022, 1 in 2021, 6 in 2020 and 8 in 2019. 

Number five on our Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts list for is this Livingston County circular intersection as total crashes fell to 80 in 2024 from 85 in 2023. In 2022, 2021 and 2020, there were 70, 71 and 35 total crashes, respectively. 

There were 3 injuries in 2024, down from 4 injuries in 2023 – the same as in 2022. In 2021 and 2020, there were 5 and 2 injuries, respectively.

Driver education is a critical component of driving safely through these circular intersections.

We’ve seen an increase in recent initiatives by local law enforcement to monitor drivers and provide needed education. Hopefully these efforts, along with other Michigan safety initiatives, will help drivers navigate these intersections with less overall car crashes throughout the state.

To learn how to safely drive through these circular intersections, you can visit our Resource Center to view an interactive map of both existing and proposed traffic circles as well as an explanation of how to determine who is at fault in an auto accident in these types of junctions.

Our safety tips include the following from our state’s Department of Transportation:

• Remember, traffic in the circular intersection always moves counterclockwise.
• Choose your lane before entering.
• Yield to traffic already in the circular intersection.
• Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.
• Indicate your exit by using your turn signal.
• Use signs and pavement markings to help guide you.

We also invite you to visit Michigan’s Most Dangerous Intersections page for a complete list of which intersections, including traffic signals, roundabouts and stop signs, had the highest number of crashes.

If you or a loved one was injured in one of Michigan’s Most Dangerous Roundabouts in 2024, call now (800) 968-1001 for a free consultation with one of our experienced car accident lawyers. There is no cost or obligation. You can also visit our contact page or use the chat feature on our website.

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[NOTE: Our attorneys would like to recognize and thank the Michigan State Police Traffic Crash Reporting Unit for their assistance in providing the underlying car crash report data that we use to identify the Most Dangerous Michigan Roundabouts. The underlying auto accident report data analysis for the list below is based on traffic accident reports filed by local law enforcement and police departments throughout Michigan. It was released in August of 2025 and reflects the most up-to-date data in our statebased on car accidents in circular intersections from 2024.]