Dive Brief:
- Right turns on red traffic lights put pedestrians and bicyclists at risk, a Mineta Transportation Institute report issued in December says.
- The study noted that “most drivers do not come to a complete stop and instead roll through” the red light, creating a safety hazard for pedestrians in the crosswalk.
- The study’s authors recommend that states should allow cities to prohibit right turns on red as the default practice and only allow such maneuvers at select intersections. Cities could allow right turns on red based on intersection design, the amount of pedestrians and bicyclists at specific intersections and their proximity to transit stations.
Dive Insight:
The practice of allowing right turns on red lights dates to the energy crisis of the early 1970s, following a disruption in oil supplies from Arab state members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, enacted in 1975, required states to permit these maneuvers as an energy-saving measure.
Except for New York City, which mostly prohibits right turns on red except for some locations in the borough of Staten Island, most communities only disallow such turns on a case-by-case basis in response to pedestrian volume or collisions.
Multiple prior studies cited by the MTI researchers identified intersections where right turns on red are permitted as having high rates of pedestrian crashes. A 1984 study saw a 60% increase in pedestrian collisions and bicyclist crashes by approximately 100%. A 1994 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that pedestrians were involved in 44% of incidents in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Missouri over a 10-year period.
The MTI researchers looked at data from traffic collisions in California and conducted a case study of intersections in the city of Los Angeles. The statewide data showed 98 pedestrian fatalities in the 2011 to 2022 period, with the fatality rate increasing in recent years based on a three-year moving average. The Los Angeles study found that intersections with a high number of right-turn collisions were often near transit stops in commercial areas with large parking lots and heavy, fast-moving traffic.
The MTI research, quoting an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study, noted that the odds of pedestrians dying were 89% greater in a right-turn collision involving pickup trucks and 63% greater with SUVs. These vehicles now account for more than three-quarters of all new personal automobile sales, according to the study.
Researchers also noted that increased sales of electric vehicles, which are heavier and accelerate faster than comparable combustion-engine vehicles, make prohibiting right turns on red lights more essential to protecting vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
