On modern racing circuits, chicanes are almost always placed after long straights, combining a heavy braking zone with the tight changes of direction. This placement makes them among the most common overtaking points on a circuit, as drivers must brake hard and commit to a late apex to carry the best exit speed. Circuit designers also use chicanes tactically to prevent cars from reaching speeds considered unsafe on a given section of track.
Three chicanes were added to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in the early 1970s to slow what had become one of the fastest circuits in the world. The Chase at Mount Panorama was added in 1987 to address safety concerns at the Australian circuit. The Tamburello chicane at Imola was placed in 1995 following Ayrton Senna's fatal accident at the original high-speed Tamburello corner, transforming a sweeping curve into a slow technical section.
At Le Mans in 1990, two chicanes were inserted on the 6-kilometre Mulsanne Straight after Group C prototypes had reached speeds of 400 km/h on the section. The chicanes were installed to comply with new international regulations limiting the maximum uninterrupted length of a straight on a racing circuit to 2 kilometres.
Chicanes can also reduce the effectiveness of slipstreaming, since the straight they interrupt is no longer long enough for a following car to build the tow needed to make a pass. The term is used in other forms of racing — including bobsleigh — to describe a similar lateral shift in the course.
A slower driver or vehicle that delays faster competitors is sometimes referred to disparagingly as a mobile chicane or moving chicane. In racing contexts, such a driver may fail to move aside promptly despite repeated blue flag signals from marshals, costing competitors in higher championship positions valuable time and points.
On public roads, chicanes serve as a form of horizontal deflection in traffic-calming schemes. By forcing drivers to negotiate a lateral displacement in the vehicle path, chicanes compel a reduction in speed without requiring speed bumps or other vertical interruptions. Traffic-calming chicanes generally fall into two broad categories:
Single-lane working chicanes use staggered build-outs that narrow the road to a single lane, requiring drivers travelling in one direction to give way to opposing traffic. Two-way working chicanes provide lateral deflection while maintaining two-directional flow, with lanes separated by road markings or a central island.
Available crash data for chicane schemes shows a wide range of outcomes on injury crashes, with studies recording changes between minus 54 percent and plus 32 percent depending on design, location, and local traffic conditions. Chicanes can also serve access control functions: the Vermont Agency of Transportation has considered adding chicanes to Route 108 in Stowe and Cambridge to prevent tractor-trailers from using a road where they frequently become stuck.
A pedestrian chicane is a permanent fencing arrangement used at railway crossings to slow pedestrians and require them to look in both directions before stepping onto the tracks. The S-shaped path forces a change of body orientation during the crossing, increasing the probability that an approaching train will be noticed. Similar arrangements appear at park entrances to impede access by bicycles, cars, mobility scooters, and wheelchairs.
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