Q: Why don’t some drivers ever take their free right on red? It’s frustrating sitting there behind someone when they could just go.
A: I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the people reading this question are cheering you on. I am not one of them. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not entirely opposed to the right turn on red. It’s more the attitude I’m not agreeing with.
I’ll explain myself in a moment, but first, a bit about how we got here. The Right Turn on Red (RTOR) has been around for a long time in some parts of the country, but it didn’t become a national institution until the 1970s. The energy crisis prompted the federal government to tie highway funding to energy conservation. One of the conservation requirements was reducing idling for a few seconds by permitting drivers to make a right turn on a red light.
The Federal Highway Administration sponsored a study that predicted that the increase in RTOR-related crashes would be small. Did that sentence alarm you? Yep, they knew the RTOR law would increase crashes, and they made it a requirement for funding. That’s an indication of where our traffic safety priorities were in the 1970s. Also, it turns out that the study was wrong. Crashes increased by 37 percent; a rate more than three times greater than what was predicted. Pedestrian and cyclists-involved crashes were even higher.
The Revised Code of Washington states that drivers may make a right turn after stopping. Drivers must “allow other vehicles lawfully within or approaching the intersection to complete their movements” and “remained stopped for pedestrians.” I emphasized the “may” part to point out that this is optional. If you don’t feel comfortable making a right turn on a red light at a particular intersection, you’re under no obligation to do so.
A growing number of cities across the country are considering or implementing No Turn on Red (NTOR) rules. In Seattle, NTOR is the default for any new or modified traffic signal. In 2018 Washington, D.C. selected 100 intersections for NTOR implementation. Their pilot study showed a 97 percent reduction in vehicle-to-vehicle conflict and a 92 percent reduction in failure to yield to pedestrians.
Why are cities adopting NTOR rules, rather than states making it a law? I can’t say for sure, but it is more of an urban problem than a rural one. On rural roads pedestrian traffic is minimal and the gaps between cars are usually big. In contrast, here’s a typical RTOR crash scenario in a city: a driver at a red light looks both ways to check for pedestrians, and then spends a long time looking left for a gap in traffic; long enough for a pedestrian to approach and enter the crosswalk. Once the driver spots a gap they jump into it, forgetting to look right again, and hit the pedestrian.
Notice that even though the initial question referred to a “free right on red” I haven’t used that term. That right turn is not free. It has a benefit (a few seconds saved) and costs (increased crash risk, especially for vulnerable road users). Is RTOR the greatest existential threat to humanity? No. And its biggest downside can be solved by being patient. Therein lies the problem. RTOR is a shortcut that feeds our impatience.
If someone chooses not to engage in a legally allowed (but not required) traffic movement that is known to increase crashes by nearly 40 percent, pedestrian-involved crashes by nearly 60 percent, and bicyclist crashes by over 70 percent, take a breath and let them make that choice.
The problem with the NTOR way of thinking is the rulemakers would typically apply it to the entire jurisdiction (e.g. the City of Seattle), rather than the problematic intersections. I believe they have that power now. Renton seems to abuse it, putting NTOR signs up where there is little traffic and no pedestrian traffic.
As to the original question though, many drivers are simply not turning right because their off in some dream world. Sort of like the driver I saw at a roundabout yesterday that was sitting there waiting to enter the roundabout when there were no other cars in or approaching. I was watching them and it took about 5 seconds for them to proceed.
How do you know they are “off in some dream world”? I teach Driver Education. I strongly suggest to my students not to take the RTOR for the exact reasons Doug explained above. I know his statement is true, my husband & I worked on a fire department & ambulance. There are many intersection collisions with pedestrians, bicyclist, motorcycles. You should never trust anyone that is on the roadway. You aren’t guaranteed they will not pull out in front of you, cross the center line & hit you head-on, etc. Also, a reminder that anyone using the crosswalk has the right of way, You never know who is coming down that sidewalk, a kid on his skateboard? Bicyclist? A child running ahead of their parent?
Well I obviously don’t know the “dream world” situation for every driver, but I see that type of situation frequently, like the roundabout situation I mentioned. As a driver’s ed teacher you should know that many drivers don’t pay enough attention to what they are doing while driving, and/or are distracted.
Another example of this is drivers dealing with four way stops, where they clearly are not thinking about what to do when they approach a four way stop, and instead only think about it when they actually come to a stop. That delays their decision process because they were in a “dream world” before they actually came to a stop.
interesting that you can marked off for not taking a right on red on the driver skill test still –
I have frustrated drivers on Holly (in Bellingham) for not doing this. There are so many pedestrians and bicyclists- both can be unpredictable. I’m gonna choose to wait and frustrate the driver behind me than chance hitting a person.
I am a former examiner, and there is a deduction on the exam if the applicant doesn’t go ROR when they can, even though we teach them it is optional. This should be eliminated from the exam.
Also, the person that initially trained me as an instructor taught us to have the student creep ahead into the intersection to see if they can go ROR. This is actually illegal, as there is no exception to entering/blocking the crosswalk to see better to go ROR, but you see it all the time.
can you site the stop and creep for vision RCW ?
One thing people not taking right on red should consider is we live in a world of outrage. Some driver behind you might take offense at your not having turned and start a road rage incident. I’ve often suspected that some of those “random” shooting incidents on highways may be the result of someone driving in an inconsiderate fashion that they are totally unaware of, and thus think they did nothing to instigate the incident. Not to justify the criminal act, but just to note the world we live in.
So, while it’s perfectly fine to be concerned there might be pedestrians or some other safety reason to not take a FROR, to totally avoid doing so in every situation could be risky, because in most situations there is no such safety risk. You’re just holding everyone up.
And on that last point, something I’ve always done is try to be in the left lane at a stop light rather than be the first person in the right lane, in case someone might want to turn right. That’s just common courtesy that is far to uncommon. I feel like a jerk holding someone up even if I’m going straight and not turning right. I’d use a worse word to describe myself if I were turning right and purposefully not doing so.