Turn on red right? As pedestrian deaths rise, US cities consider bans

Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bike safety rally in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right ran a red light and collided with her bike, which was leaving the curb and entering the crosswalk.

The car was traveling slowly enough that Langerman was not seriously injured, but the motorcycle required extensive repairs. For Langerman, it’s yet another argument for ending a practice that nearly every American city has adopted for decades: the driver’s legal prerogative to turn right after stopping at a red light.

A dramatic increase in crashes that kill or injure pedestrians and cyclists has led to myriad policy and infrastructure changes, but moves to ban right turns on red have generated some of the most intense feelings on both sides .

Last year, the Washington DC City Council passed a right-wing ban on red that will take effect in 2025. New Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition plan called for “restricting right turns on red.” red,” but his administration did not provide specific details. . The college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, now prohibits right turns on red lights downtown.

San Francisco leaders recently voted to urge their transportation agency to ban red lights citywide, and other major cities like Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver have also explored the possibility of bans.

“Drivers shouldn’t have the ability to decide for themselves when they think it’s safe,” Langerman, 26, said. “People are busy. “People are distracted.”

But Jay Beeber, executive policy director of the National Motorists Association, a drivers’ advocacy organization, called it “sophistication” to assume that such blanket bans would make roads safer.

Here is a close association study that analyzed accident data from California between 2011 and 2019 and encountered riders who were driving in red only representing approximately one death of a rider and a small number of dead cyclists at all times. two years.

“What’s really behind this movement is part of the agenda to make driving as painful and difficult as possible so people will drive less,” Beeber said.

Safety advocates respond that official accident reports are often mislabeled, understating the dangers.

The United States is one of the few major countries that generally allows right turns on red. Fearing that cars stopped at traffic lights would worsen an energy crisis, the U.S. government warned states in the 1970s that they could risk some federal funds if cities banned right turns at red lights unless in specific and clearly indicated areas. Even though another provision limiting speed limits to 88.5 km/h has long been abandoned, the right turn on red has been reinforced.

“It’s an example of bad policy,” said Bill Schultheiss, director of engineering at Toole Design Group, which advises public transportation agencies. “It made sense in the context of the fuel crisis, but the results obtained were exaggerated. “It’s a mandate that doesn’t take into account all the consequences.”

Red lighting has never been allowed in most of New York City, where large signs warn visitors to Manhattan that the practice is prohibited there. But it was the default policy virtually everywhere else in the United States until last year’s vote in the nation’s capital.

Safety advocates who have pushed for change in Washington, D.C., are bracing for backlash from drivers, particularly if the city also allows the so-called Idaho stop, in which cyclists are allowed to drive through a red light after stopping to make sure. the road is clear.

“There are some battles, in terms of public opinion, where you have to just sacrifice it for people’s safety,” said Jonathan Kincade, communications coordinator for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “It makes no sense to treat cars and bicycles the same way. “They’re not the same vehicles and we’ve seen the results of that.”

Critics say the right-to-red ban will not only inconvenience drivers, but also slow down buses and deliveries. United Parcel Service has not taken an official position on right on red, but has long ordered its drivers to avoid left turns whenever possible, considering them inefficient.

Priya Sarathy Jones, deputy executive director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, worries that the penalties imposed by right-wing red bans will disproportionately fall on low-income drivers who must drive to work because they cannot cannot afford accommodation nearby. transportation. If there is more red light enforcement, more cameras will surely follow, he said. And in the Chicago area, any discussion of red light policy often evokes memories of the region’s maligned red light camera program, which led to corruption charges against officials accused of trying to influence redundancy contracts.

“It generates a lot of money for the city, rather than basing our decisions on evidence-based safety strategies,” he said, suggesting that improving road infrastructure would be a much more effective way to reduce accidents.

There are no recent nationwide studies on the number of people injured or killed by right-turning drivers.

According to a national report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, more than 7,500 pedestrians were killed by cars in 2022, the highest number since 1981. The increase, which includes all crashes, not just those involving turns right to red, was attributed to This is partly explained by the increase in the use of larger vehicles, such as SUVs and pickup trucks.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the odds of a pedestrian dying when struck by a car turning right were 89% higher when the vehicle was a pickup truck and 63% higher when it was was an SUV, due to the larger blind spots and deadlier force associated with heavier models.

“These big blunt front hoods are knocking people over and crushing them, unlike before where people were falling on the hood,” said Mike McGinn, former Seattle mayor and executive director of America Walks, a national nonprofit that advocates for pedestrians. -friendly neighborhoods.

Most research directly analyzing the impact of red-right shift policies is years or even decades old, but both sides argue that it remains relevant.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a 1994 report to Congress, analyzed four years of crash data from Indiana, Maryland and Missouri and three years of data from Illinois, counting a combined total of 558 accidents with injuries and four deaths resulting from the right turns red. Supporters of a ban point out that the study was conducted before the country’s car fleet became much larger and more deadly.

But Beeber said the National Motorists Association of California study found that even when there was an accident associated with a right turn on red, at least 96 percent of injuries suffered by pedestrians or cyclists were minor .

“One injury or one death is too many,” said Washington state Sen. John Lovick, the lead sponsor of a bill this year that would have banned right turns on red nationwide. State near schools, parks and other specific locations. “If I were the one at this intersection, I would like to see something done.” »

Lovick’s bill did not make it out of committee, but Seattle adopted a default policy this year of banning right turns on red lights until new traffic signals are added.

Melinda Kasraie testified in support of Lovick’s bill at a legislative hearing, sharing her experience of being hit by a car turning right on red in Seattle. Needing a total knee replacement, he had to quit his job of 20 years and move to a small town, in part because of his new fear of crossing the street.

“I just needed to wait 20 seconds more and I would have gotten the green light, and those 20 seconds had a big impact on me,” Kasraie said.