Banning Right Turns on Red: Lessons From Atlanta

In a piece for the Vision Zero Cities Journal republished in Streetsblog USA, Rebecca Serna and Jason Dozier outline how Atlanta, Georgia passed a ban on right turns on red this February in an effort to make streets in three central neighborhoods safer for pedestrians.

As the authors explain, “Research shows that turning right on red poses significant risks to people who are most vulnerable in crashes: people getting around by foot, wheelchair, and bicycle. As drivers make right turns on red lights, their attention is focused on oncoming traffic from their left — not on people walking across the street or waiting in the bike lane on their right. With their attention elsewhere, drivers are more likely to turn into people outside of cars who have the pedestrian signal to cross.”

Planetizen has covered right turns on red in previous pieces, noting that allowing right turns on red lights was largely a result of the 1970s energy crisis. However, transportation planners and policymakers are now recognizing its negative impact on road safety and working to reverse the laws that allows these turns.

In Atlanta, 65 fatalities and serious injuries occurred at intersections with legal right turns on red in the last nine years, with close to half of them happening while drivers were turning right at red lights. The effort to ban them was led by city council member Jason S. Dozier, who urged fellow council members — some of whom have experienced close calls as pedestrians themselves — to support the ban. “In an unexpected turn, we also found allies in councilmembers who drove some of the largest vehicles, who supported the effort due to near-misses they’d experienced with pedestrians.”

According to the authors, “Atlanta’s new no-right-on-red policy is a step towards real, measurable change in pedestrian safety. It’s also a chance to live out our declared values as a city that is both pedestrian-friendly and supportive of sustainable and safe ways of getting around.”