Right turn on red? With pedestrian deaths
rising, US cities are considering bans

If you're on a bike, you're not a pedestrian. You're subject to the rules of the road. If you're a pedestrian, get your head out of your phone and pay attention to what's going on around you.

Once got a ticket for turning right on red in a state where it was illegal. Years later the law was changed. But I couldn't go back in time.

More laws for drivers to ignore and to provide revenue enhancement for cash starved municipalities. I prefer law enforcement personnel to be patrolling for thugs and criminals.

FTA" "Pedestrian Deaths Rising" - and completely coincidentally. illegal alien population is rising, too.

NO, $1000 fines for not looking is more appropriate! Second offense, lose Yo Car!

Leftists governments need to get out of the herd mentality where they drag on someone else's apron strings and just do what is right for their own city and let other cities do what is right for them. For being such know-it-all bullies, they sure are big cowards.

Phone zombie = likely pedestrian fatality. For once, I agree with Darwin.

Inattention all around but it's a cash grab.

In Houston, the biker punches a button that advises them ok to cross the street---but the right on red is turning behind, and in front of the biker. You have to watch out for both. Then, the person across is also turning to their left in front of you. Then, there are those that try to beat the red light --- but don't. So I handle it this way: the light says walk, but I wave the right turners to go ahead to remove that danger. Then, I allow the left turners from across the street to turn, and remove that danger. After that, the walk light started at 30 seconds. I am down to 15 seconds, so I run to get across. Bikers should have advanced safety training, before riding in traffic. Vehicles almost never stop coming from side streets, only slowing down and looking the direction opposite from the biker. Stop and let them go. Also, never ride your bike in front of a vehicle's front bumper. Stop, and let them go ahead. If your bike does not have a rear view mirror, get one, as what is coming from behind in a big danger. Driver's and pedestrian's are always on their phones these days, and vehicle window shading does not allow the biker to see them. It is best to assume they do not see the biker, and act accordingly. But there is more. There are those that will intentionally throw things at you, and spend up very fast and pass within an inch of you. They think that is a thrill. There may be a dog leash law, but there are those that ignore that, and those dogs don't bite, says their owner, who never calls the dog back, but stands there and looks while the dog attacks. Every bike ride has something new, but I don't want to write a book here.

There's a schoolbus company near here that has sign on the back of each bus which reads This Bus Does Not Turn On Red. It is extremely frustrating to get behind one of these in a turn lane on a red light. To me they're implying that they don't employ safe drivers.

If you make pedestrians and bicyclists obey the traffic and light laws there would be a lot less of this.

What a ridiculous idea. We have had RTOR for decades with no rise in pedestrian deaths. Some slacker really wants to earn his paycheck and couldn’t find any substantive things to write about. Geez…

Too many drivers do not stop first on the red, but just do a rolling turn. Turning on a red is supposed to be after a full stop and then only when safe. Most don't read the fine print.

For those who missed it, the Intro says: CHICAGO — Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bicycle safety rally in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right rolled through a red light and slammed into her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk. The car was moving slowly enough that Langerman escaped serious injury, but the bicycle required extensive repairs. To Langerman, it’s another argument for ending a practice that almost all U.S. cities have embraced for decades: the legal prerogative for a driver to turn right after stopping at a red light. A dramatic rise in accidents ------- She was walking her bike. The driver rolled through the red light.

I think it's a shame that the scofflaw abusers of the present law may cause the rest of us to lose what seems to be a reasonable privilege.

Mind you, this is in cities that don’t prosecute car jackings.

Nothing wrong with the law, it’s just the lack of driver responsibility that’s rampant these days. Too many have a complete lack of respect for the law as well as society. They run red lights they speed they have no driver courtesy and some are totally oblivious to others on the road. It’s actually, ‘right on red…after stop’. But it’s a competition for some, just like yield signs…’gotta get there first’ attitudes.

Not caused by the law, caused by stupid drivers disobeying the law. It is "right turn on red, after a full stop." But traffic law enforcement is so 20th century.....apparently most cities are "past" enforcing the traffic laws.

The bike rider was stopped at a red light. She wasn’t supposed to continue until the light turned green. The vehicle driver turned right on a red light. The bicycle rider was supposed to stop until the light turned green. The BICYCLIST is at fault in this accident! This whole article is B.S.

Re #19, one more time - from the Intro: CHICAGO — Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bicycle safety rally in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right rolled through a red light and slammed into her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk ===== What is it about "her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk" that you don't understand? ESL?

Part of the problem is that when a car is turning right on red, the driver is looking to his left for a gap in the traffic, which may take a while. Often the driver forgets that he must double check to his right to ensure that no one has entered the intersection while he was looking left.

Saw this happen the last time I got and oil change. The shop I go is located near a busy intersection in the downtown area. Its parking lot is on the corner of said intersection and was packed so I had to park right near the crosswalk. The lady was walking her bike coming towards me and the car beside me made a turn on red not making a full stop. The lady literally had to move to her left and run up into the parking lot near my car to avoid getting hit. Drivers must come to a complete stop and look both ways before proceeding with their RTOR.