Permitting right turns at red lights increases cyclist crashes up to 120 percent.
- Rami Stucky
- Jun 18
- 2 min read
33rd and Woodlawn
This is Woodlawn and 33rd Street in Wichita, Kansas. On February 26, a cyclist was coming from the Chisholm Creek Park Trail on the west side of Woodlawn north of 33rd. He pressed the crosswalk button, which stops traffic on Woodlawn, and traversed the crosswalk close to the entrance to Home Depot and the North Branch YMCA. Meanwhile, a driver in the right turn lane of northbound Woodlawn stopped at the red light, then proceeded to make a right turn into the private drive. The driver stopped to check on the cyclist, then proceeded to drive away immediately.
There is a design decision that could have prevented this crash: explicitly prohibiting right turns at red lights. The origin of allowing this turning movement has an interesting history. In 1974, the State of Kansas legalized right turn on reds, a decision done in conjunction with several other states. The 1973 oil crisis, brought on by Arab countries halting oil shipments to those that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The United States was impacted. As a result, ideas like right turn on red were implemented in effort to curb idling and save fuel. Congress sped up states’ adoption of right-on-red laws with a provision in the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. It tied states’ eligibility for federal energy assistance to allowing right-on-red “to the maximum extent practicable consistent with safety.”
However, research shows that allowing right-turn-on-red leads to more conflicts between cars and pedestrians. For instance, permitting right-turn-on-red led to a 43% to 107% increase in pedestrian crashes and a 72% to 123% rise in cyclist crashes, according to a 1982 study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The same paper, which analyzed crash data collected in the mid-to-late 1970s in three states, including Ohio, New York and Wisconsin, and two cities — Los Angeles and New Orleans — found that 67% of pedestrians and 75% of cyclists involved in crashes came from the driver’s right.
Rather than blanket banning right-turn-on-red citywide, “local governments may want to ban it at especially dangerous intersections or times to get the most benefit at the lowest political and economic cost,” urban planner Eric Dumbaugh said.
Introducing a “no right turn on red” sign here might be a welcome addition to this intersection.
Check back in to hear more about right-turn-on-reds and as always, Look, See, and Save.
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