Almost every major city in the United States generally allows drivers to turn right at red lights, but that could be changing…
Full story: Right turn on red? With pedestrian deaths rising, US cities are considering bans | AP News
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Appalachian State University
Reading this article, I do not think the ban to turn right on red is realistic. Turning right on red is something every driver learns, and it has been the rules of the road for decades. To just suddenly put a ban on it, knowing that some people do not have time to read new rules, and get punished or pulled over for turning right on red seems incredibly stupid to me. My question is, “What is the punishment to turning right at a red light?”I can completely understand that some people aren’t paying attention. But, the same rule should be given to the pedestrians walking, if you’re walking in the middle of the road with cars, I don’t think you should be staring at your phone screen, just my opinion.
Hi Anastasia, I definitely agree with you that pedestrians should be responsible for being aware of their surroundings and actively paying attention when crossing the street. I also agree that it is very difficult to force people to “unlearn” a habit or practice that they have been doing all their lives. Therefore I think if right turns on Red were to be banned, it would most likely take a significant amount of time before it became normalized or accepted.
Hi Anastasia! I agree with your statement about the ban on turning right on red. I think that this idea might also be a way for cops to potentially target individuals with reading handicaps, individuals with lower economic status and are therefore unable to access the internet where this new law may be posted, and overall people of color. Cops have used particular driving laws like this in order to pull over people of color in the past and so I think that introducing this law and putting it into effect will just allow them to abuse the system to continue to pull over people of color for any possible reason. This puts these people back in the cycle of being mistreated by the criminal justice system and could potentially set them up for a lifetime surrounded by this system.
Hi Anastasia, I completely agree that this ban would not be realistic. People have been taught it was okay to turn right on red for so long that they most likely wouldn’t be able to immediately relearn this new rule. It is also up to the pedestrian to be paying close attention while crossing the street. I agree that if you are crossing a busy road you should not be on your phone. This would be an unnecessary rule that causes many people to get tickets. There would need to be a significant amount of time as far as lenency goes before they begin ticketing people if that is the punishment for right turns on red.