Left turn on RedA has-been Tory politician has come up with this daft idea to relieve road congestion. News must be slow today; this is why I think it is silly.
In order to work it would require a dedicated left lane on the roads leading up to the junction. Without that, no traffic would move anyway.
If such a lane does exist then a suitable filter can be put in place if it would be effective and after taking into account pedestrians and the path of cross flowing traffic. This facility already exists. If they need a “proceed with caution” indication then there is a flashing amber filter arrow available.
The example cited of the USA where it is available (except it is “Right turn on Red” of course)Â is not a good one. Roads are generally wider allowing for dedicated lanes and in cities it is often overruled with “No Right turn on Red” signs which confuse visitors and add to the proliferation of street furniture. The benefit is due to the majority of light signals having a fixed cycle rather than traffic sensing. I have also noticed that it has the potential to trigger road-rage if the driver at the front doesn’t move either because they are in the wrong lane or is unaware of the facility.
Non-intuitive rights of way should be removed not added in the interests of safety. The prime example is the “Prioritaire á droit” which has all but gone in France, thank goodness.
The proposal was raised in parliament in 1997 when Glenda Jackson gave a well thought out reply to the proposal.
Webmaster
I am a Civil Engineering Student and have been studying this manoeuvre for 2 years as part of my senior dissertation. I disagree that the manoeuvre is stupid, it has potentially large operational benefits at certain junctions and safety studies throughout the world show that the manoeuvre is no more dangerous than any other taking place at a junction. Ye, there are circumstances where left turn on red is not suitable and these tend to be in the city centres where high pedestrian volumes and poor sight visibility are the main factors which affect the safety of the manoeuvre. And i am currently studying in the USA, where i interviewed a traffic engineer from the SCDOT, whom suggests that as low as 5% of South Carolinas traffic signals work on a fixed time cycle, which makes the argument that the manoeuvre only works in the US due to wide spread fixed time signal timing to be complete rubbish. I feel that a though cost / benefit analysis of left turns on red in the uk should be done as i feel that the results would be surprisingly beneficial.
Thanks
Duncan Macfarlane
Thanks for that insight. My observations were in UP Michegan, Vermont and upstate NY so perhaps they were different. Certainly here in the UK my experience is largely with city and busy town areas so you could be right, though I don’t see any perceived benefit over sensing and controlled filters. My prime concern was over confusion and think that, in general, if trafic direction is necessary then it should be explicit and that there should not too many exceptions requiring yet more sign posts. Anyway, thanks for responding, it is always worth hearing the other view.