A red light means stop, right? That’s what we teach our kids from a young age. It’s a universal signal. Except for the one case when it doesn’t. In BC, drivers are allowed to turn right even when facing a red light. Right-on-red (RoR) serves to make car trips slighter faster at the expense of safety of people outside of cars. BC needs to ban it and let people cross the street safely.
Prior to the 1970s, RoR was not legal across North America. The change was introduced during the oil crisis, in an attempt to save motorists gal. Meanwhile, crashes where pedestrians or cyclists were hit by drivers soared, increasing anywhere from 40% to 107% in several states that collected data.
Under BC law, drivers must stop and yield to people crossing and to drivers facing the green light before performing RoR. But in practice, RoR incentivizes drivers to roll through crosswalks without stopping first or stop on crosswalks. Drivers encroaching on crosswalks push people closer to moving car traffic. Navigating around cars in a crosswalk is a great burden on people moving with a walker, wheelchair, cane or crutches, or those carrying a stroller or a heavy load.
Why is right on red so dangerous? Picture the situation: a driver pulls up to a red light, planning to turn right. They inch into the intersection, looking to the left to find a gap in the oncoming traffic. They see one, and hit the gas to squeeze into the lane of fast-moving vehicles – at the same moment that a pedestrian is entering the intersection to cross from their right, with the “walk sign” on. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Many studies emphasize show dangers of right on red, especially for pedestrians and cyclists (1, 2). With pedestrian fatalities on the rise, we need to take action. RoR is not allowed almost everywhere outside of North America, and several cities within North America have already taken action to ban right on red, including New York City and Montreal. More recently, Washington DC banned it at over 100 intersections; they found that red light conflicts between pedestrians and drivers were all but eliminated. It’s time for BC to follow suit.
Our Goal
Although RoR can be prohibited on individual intersections by municipalities, systemic traffic safety needs consistent policies so drivers behave predictably. Our goal is to remove the privilege of RoR from the so-called BC Motor Vehicle Act.
How Can I Help?
The stroad to safety is long. Banning a privilege that drivers are accustomed to at the provincial level is hard. First, we need to build popular support for banning RoR. Here are some ways you can help:
- Talk to other people about RoR. Not everyone, especially a non-driver, is aware of it or has formed strong opinions.
- As a driver you may choose to not make RoRs. Talk to other drivers about it.
- Had an incident with a RoR driver? Tell your story on social media.
- Where applicable use the hashtag #BanRightOnRedBC
- Also tag politicians. They need to see banning RoR is popular!
- Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure (@TranBC and @Rob_Fleming on Twitter)
- Your local mayor and city councilors
- Your MLA
Vision Zero Vancouver 