Turning Left on Red?

subxero

subxero

subxero

Soldato
Joined
13 Feb 2003
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4,353
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Over the Moon
On my way home last night I was stuck in traffic quite badly, and couldn't help but think, why don't we turn left on red?

The Americans us the same system for turning right and it works, so why shouldn't we? It would most likely let traffic flow more at peak times, and possibly relieve some congestion. When I drove in America, it was strange to get used to at first, but it makes sense I guess.

Besides the safety issue, I don't see this to be a problem, and i'm amazed that this hasn't been considered before.

Thoughts?
 
Probably the same reason that we don't have 4-way stop junctions here or zip merging. It's based on road manners, which we are sadly lacking here.
 
Road manners are probably so poor in this country because we have a poor infrastucture, which leads to congestion which in turn leads to angry and frustrated drivers, but I do understand where you are coming from.
 
Simple reason is that it's a fundamental change and will lead to a shedload of accidents in the short term.

At major traffic light junctions people are used to the green light meaning then can go straight over without looking anywhere other than straight ahead. If they suddenly have cars trying to merge in from the left then there are going to be shunts. Big ones in some cases.
 
Yeh, when I went over to the USA, i notice how well that worked, but when turning right over a carriageway, they have a seperate signal completley, and normally takes longer to get over the theres an extra cycle too with the lights to allow the people turning right to do so, so the opposite side of the road is stopped whilst the right turn signal operates.
 
Well we do use it. But we use green arrow signals where there is 2 lanes. If there is only 1 lane then you would only get 1 or 2 cars turning before someone wanted to go straight on.

And secondly the traffic lights will be set with pedestrians in mind as well. You don't want cars turning into pedestrians.
 
It's fun having that system if you're a pedestrian. When I was over in Florida whenever you needed to cross the road at a junction with traffic lights you'd get the green man and suddenly you'd get cars pouring round the corner quite legally because they are allowed to turn right on red.
 
Jet said:
And secondly the traffic lights will be set with pedestrians in mind as well. You don't want cars turning into pedestrians.
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This is what I didn't like in the US, crossing a road when the green man is lit up and a car suddenly drives past, I was thinking wtf when it happened to me.
 
^^^
IIRC the police sometimes stop you if you are walking in some areas because it just looks suspicious.


Legal undertaking was another nice rule in the US.

.
 
rayb74 said:
True. Only mad brits who get funny looks ;)
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Damn right. I stayed with some friends in New Jersey a few years back. They ran short on a few supplies so I volunteered to walk to the local store (about 1/2 mile away max) and pick them up. They looked at me in shock and couldn't seem to grasp the concept, offering me the use of their car which I declined. I got to the end of the housing estate and found the pavement (sorry, sidewalk!) just stopped dead, so had to walk along the grass verge. You can't walk safely even if you want to in many places it seems.
 
In the US we haven't always had right-on-red. It was bourne of the 1970s gasoline crisis on the pretext that waiting at red lights for less time would save fuel. At the time it was also proposed that left-on-red be allowed under certain conditions as well. However, this was more problematic when put into practice.

Also, remember that right-on-red is not allwed at all intersections. It is generally only allowed at intersections of roads that meet at 90 degrees when there is good visibility on both sides. Particularly busy roads frequently have "no turn on red" signs as well.
 
there are discussions to make this legal in the UK. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen, but from my experience driving in the UK and the US it's a bloody good idea if executed properly and would save me boodles of time queueing in the morning where there are rarely any pedestrians and you just sit and watch the traffic crossing when you just want to go left onto what is a clear road!
 
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