Thread by @iWalkSafe

THREAD: Right turns on red. Why are they a problem?

1/ As designed, drivers are supposed to stop, check that no one is coming, and then make a right turn.

However, drivers have so accustomed to not finding anyone in the crosswalk that many treat the stopping part as "optional." This is when people get hurt.

2/ Right turns on red also create an unnecessary exception to two basic rules:

-- Red lights mean "stop."
-- "WALK" signals are *supposed* to mean "crosswalk is clear."

Yet, a right turn on red allows a driver to go on a red, and a crosswalk to be unsafe on "WALK."

3/ Confusing rules like these create dangerous situations.
There are two places - in a single crosswalk - that you may encounter someone turning right on red.

Try to explain this to a child when encouraging #walktoschool. Or a parent.

P.S.: We know the arrows need to be fixed.

4/ Guess what? RTOR's aren't the only issue. There is another place a driver can come from unexpectedly: An unprotected left turn, where a driver can turn left on a green - and a WALK signal.

This alone is responsible for 25% of all crashes in the US involving people walking.

5/ Think about it - the driver in the yellow car has to concentrate on oncoming traffic too. On some streets, that oncoming traffic may be two, three, or four lanes of vehicles coming towards them, all at once.

Can you spot the pedestrian? (Well, we did put an arrow...)

6/ This increases the number of potential crash areas to three, in a single crosswalk, with the WALK signal on.

See what we mean? Crossing the street can be a lot more complicated than "just stopping and looking left-right-left."

7/ Put simply, right turns on red and unprotected left turns on green have had their day.

If we really care about "safety first" on our roads, the "first" thing we need to do is to remove RTORs and unprotected left turns on green in all urban (and even suburban) areas.