Will banning free right turns make our roads safer?

Is it time to get rid of the free right turn on red? The Legislature is looking at ways to make streets safer, and it has targeted this common practice this session.

Free right turns on red lights could go away in most places next year, if this bill becomes law. A free right turn is where you stop your car at a red light and then proceed to the right once it is safe to do so.

You are allowed to do this at any intersection unless it’s posted that you can’t. 

“This simple change would make intersections safer for children, senior citizens and other pedestrians at a time when traffic violence is at a three decade high,” State Senator John Lovick said before the Senate Transportation Committee this week.

The free right turn would be prohibited within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school, a child care center, a public park or playground, a recreation center or facility, a library, a public transit center, a hospital, a senior center, and any other facility with high levels of pedestrian traffic determined by the appropriate local jurisdiction or WSDOT.

Why did I list all of these locations that are in the bill? Because that just about covers every intersection I can think of.

“Prohibiting this traffic action in locations with high occurrences of people walking and biking with a specific focus on children, senior citizens and transit users is a common sense approach to increasing street safety for those who are most vulnerable to bad traffic outcomes,” Senator Lovick continued.

Stephanie Randolph was on her bike when she was hit by a driver taking a free right turn. 

“The person that hit me was just rushing home from work,” she testified. “It was a simple mistake.  Please make it so people can follow the rules and not hurt people accidentally.”

Senator Lovick, who spent three decades in the State Patrol, says many drivers fail to look back to the right before making their turn. It’s something he noticed while watching intersections.

This legislation does not address people in the crosswalk who entered late or illegally once the ‘don’t walk’ signal started flashing or counting down, though another bill in Olympia would make jaywalking legal.

There is no funding in this legislation either. It would be up to the Washington Department of Transportation to find the money to install signs for cities with less than 27,500 people. Cities with a larger population would have to pay for these signs themselves.

Check out more of Chris’ Chokepoints.

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