Minimize right-hook accidents
- Rami Stucky
- Aug 13
- 2 min read
Central and Waco
This is Central and Waco. At 4:00 p.m. on May 26, 2026, someone riding an ebike was headed north in the bike lane on Waco. A driver, also driving north, intended to make a right turn to head east on Central. They didn’t see the cyclist, who was on the right, and right-hooked them. The cyclist flipped over his handlebars and was transported code yellow to Wesley Medical Center.
There is a design decision that could have prevented this crash: designing an intersection that mitigates right-hook conflicts. Right hook conflicts are conflicts like this that occur when a driver turns right while a cyclist proceeds forward.
A 2015 study conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, reported that cyclist right-hooks accounted for 13% of all cycling collisions at intersections over a 5-year period. A nearly identical proportion of right-hook collisions, 13.6%, was seen over a 7-year period in Boulder, Colorado. Finally, a nation-wide assessment of bicycle-related collisions in the U.S. found that right hooks were among the top 7 most common fatal collision types from 2014 to 2016.
In 2022, researchers with MicroTraffic, a Road Safety Video Analytics firm, published a study on how to reduce such crashes. Using green paint to create crossbikes, which are painted intersections, or including “yield-on-turn” signage was predicted to help reduce both turning vehicle speeds and decrease bicycle-leading conflicts by 33 percent. Cities can also reduce the corner radius of the intersection, create separated bicycle paths, or minimize crossing distances, which was produced to reduce conflicts by roughly 13 percent.
Any number of these additions would have helped prevent this crash.
Check back in to hear more about the dangers of right hook collisions and as always, Look, See, and Save.
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