Cities weigh banning right-on-red turns
Critics say 1970s-era policy has outlived its usefulness
Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bicycle safety rally in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right rolled through a red light and slammed into her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk.
The car was moving slowly enough that Langerman escaped serious injury, but the bicycle required extensive repairs. To Langerman, it’s another argument for ending a practice almost all U.S. cities have embraced for decades: the legal prerogative for a driver to turn right after stopping at a red light.
A rise in accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists has led to a myriad of policy and infrastructure changes, but moves to ban right on red have drawn some of the most intense sentiments.
Washington, D.C.’s City Council last year approved a right-on-red ban that takes effect in 2025. New Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition plan called for “restricting right turns on red,” but his administration hasn’t provided specifics. The college town of Ann Arbor, Mich., now prohibits right turns at red lights in the downtown area.
San Francisco leaders recently voted to urge their transportation agency to ban right on red across the city, and major cities like Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver have looked into bans as well.
“Drivers should not have the option to decide for themselves when they think it’s safe,” said Langerman, 26. “People are busy. People are distracted.”
But Jay Beeber, executive director for policy at the National Motorists Association, an advocacy organization for drivers, called it a “fallacy” to assume blanket bans would make streets safer.
He said an upcoming study by his association that analyzed California crash data from 2011-2019 found drivers turning right on red accounted for only about one pedestrian death and less than one bicyclist death statewide every two years.
“What’s really behind this movement is part of the agenda to make driving as miserable and as difficult as possible so people don’t drive so much,” Beeber said.
Safety advocates say official crash reports are often mislabeled, undercounting the dangers. Much of the research looking directly at the impact of right-on-red policies is years if not decades old, but both sides argue it’s still relevant.
In a 1994 report to Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looked at four years of crash data from Indiana, Maryland and Missouri and three years of data from Illinois, counting a combined 558 injury crashes and four fatalities stemming from right turns on red.
Critics argue banning right on red would not only inconvenience motorists but also slow commuter buses and deliveries. UPS hasn’t taken an official position on right on red but has long directed its drivers to avoid left turns whenever possible, viewing them as inefficient.
The United States is one of only a few major countries that generally allows right turns on red. Concerned that cars idling at stoplights could compound an energy crisis, the U.S. government warned states in the 1970s they could risk federal funding should cities prohibit right-on-red turns, except in specific, clearly marked areas. Although another energy-conscious provision capping speed limits at 55 mph has long been abandoned, right on red has endured.
“It’s an example of bad policy,” said Bill Schultheiss, director of engineering at Toole Design Group, which consults with public transportation agencies. “It made sense in the context of the gas crisis, but it was way oversold on what it would achieve.”
Right on red has never been allowed across most of New York City, where large signs alert Manhattan’s visitors the practice is prohibited. But it was the default policy practically everywhere else in the U.S. until last year’s vote in the nation’s capital.
Safety advocates who pushed for the change in Washington are bracing for blowback from drivers.
“There are just some battles, in terms of public opinion, where you have to be content to sacrifice that for the safety of the people,” said Jonathan Kincade, communications coordinator at the Washington Area Bicyclists Association. “It doesn’t make sense to treat cars and bikes the same. They’re not the same vehicle, and we’ve seen the outcomes of that.”