Around me I’ve mostly seen people “clip” the edge, but I’ve seen more than one island in Chicago residential streets with destroyed foliage and tire marks. (Which is more likely to have been speeding or drunk driving and less about the roundabout itself.)
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Severity beyond just number of accidents too.
For actual roundabouts not traffic circles or those multi lane high speed things. I’m convinced the NJ Traffic Circle has forever ruined roundabouts for some people despite them being nothing alike.
In a proper roundabout, the entry island should guide the car in the correct direction, the angle of the turn should force a slow speed, the center island should deflect the direction of car going straight across while allowing a slow tractor trailer to navigate over as it turns, the signage should reinforce that entering cars yield to cars already in the roundabout.
All of those things should make any accident occurring at a roundabout less severe than at a four way stop sign. Certainly less than someone blowing through a four way and t-bone a car in the middle. Instead, a slow speed fender bender as someone doesn’t yield.
Infinity better than a four way stop.
Still a better outcome than directly impacting another car crossing a four way stop. That foliage doing it’s work to absorb energy.
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I’m just curious if there are numbers to back that, though. Like, do accidents drop when you replace a 4 way with a roundabout? If so, by how much. 
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I agree. I don’t remember any recently. But those were all the pros listed out last time a new roundabout was being pitched near me. The “reduce severity of accidents” was the one that stuck with me. This was a while back and in a prior state. I don’t remember if they built it or not. In my current location, they just put in two new ones as part of a bypass road that was apparently 20 years in the making, the decisioning on it long before I lived here.
I’m not sure where one would look up specific details. Is there a civil engineer or city planner that posts here often?
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I live beside a roundabout and, around here, it’s always the weekend when there isn’t so much traffic and a greater chance of drunk divers that that kind of shit happens. Also the wands separating the cycle lanes only get taken out at weekends.
That said I haven’t run out to give first aid and call the ambulance since they put humps and pedestrian crossings in front of them. They’ve also stopped the relentless beeping too.
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Gods no, I hate having to drive that kaiju around town. It’s fine on the highway pulling things, but trips to Costco (where we use the cargo space) are freaking painful experiences.
In our state a regular “Class D” license is good for vehicles up to 26,000 pounds. They’ve structured the CDLs such that they exempt most “toy haulers” from requiring additional training or licensing. But I can tell you that dragging a 12,000 pound (GVW rating, not actual axle weight) trailer requires a large amount of extra understanding of driving, and really should require extra training.
If you’re ever on the highway near a big camper (or any large trailer), give the driver extra wide berth, and always be suspicious that they have much less knowledge than they should. Don’t tailgate them, and don’t spend a lot of time immediately in front of them. Either pass them carefully and just keep going, or stay well behind them.
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So do I, but I think it’s a matter of traffic volume. 4-way (or all-way) stops around my neighbourhood work fine because traffic is fairly light except for rush hour, when a few intersections get a little congested. At some level of traffic a roundabout makes more sense, but they take up more space.
As for severity of accidents, it’s true if some asshole blasts through a stop they will do more damage, but since the other drivers have stopped, I suspect the frequency of accidents is low. The danger is no more than that of someone running a red light, possibly less.
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Many of those are nightmare inducing! 
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