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 that 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 dramatic rise in accidents killing or injuring 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 on both sides.
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, Michigan, now prohibits right turns at red lights in the downtown area.
I’m totally down for this. Right turn on red is optional, but people behind me seem to think it’s required and lay on their horns if I stop for more than a second. Like come on, I need a moment to make sure someone isn’t trying to cross!
I’m in favor of prioritizing safety, but if right on red is permitted, then it’s not optional. Just like going on green is not optional. Once you determine that you have the right of way you are expected to take it. This makes you predictable and safe.
Other drivers should be giving you a reasonable amount of time to determine your right of way though. You are also supposed to come to a full stop which should technically take about 3 seconds.
Right on red is most definitely optional. No need to be “predictable” in this situation - you’re coming to a full stop no matter what. How is not moving again unpredictable?
I’ve never heard of such a requirement. Where is that?
Here in Massachusetts, the law (MGL ch 89 sec 8) says: “At any intersection in which vehicular traffic is facing a steady red signal, the driver of a vehicle may make a right turn” (summarized, emphasis mine). May, not shall.
I read the full section, which is about right of way. It is consist with my prior statement. The summary you provided is the one that states that drivers have the right of way on red lights under certain conditions.
You’re framing this as if the people behind you are in any way involved in your decision to make a right on a red. You’re also saying its not optional, which is just blatantly incorrect.
When turning right on red, you get to decide when is safe, not the people behind you. You are not required to turn because that would be a massive safety hazard because people would feel rushed into prevailing traffic, and objectively deciding when a turn was safe to execute is hard when you feel rushed. Being rushed makes everyone less safe, especially pedestrians, because you are distracted. Distracted.
You do not know how responsive their car is, you do not know how comfortable they are full sending it, and you probably cannot see the road as well as they do. This is why when they go is not your decision.
What a beyond stupid take, you are lucky you live somewhere where you are allowed to have your license even though you clearly cannot drive.
Hoonnnkk honnnnkk hooonnnk you go as the person in front of you has a ped crossing in front of them you can’t see.
Hoooonnnkk honnnkk honnnnkk you go as there’s a small gap, but the person in front of you is driving with their mom recovering from surgery, in pain and feeling carsick.
Hooonnkkk honnnkk honnnk you go as a mother is being screamed at by her kids and is trying to get a small moment of rest at the red light, slightly delaying their turn.
You’re a self absorbed dumbass.
You didn’t understand anything I said.