By the end of the 1970's, all states in the U.S. had modified their laws to permit drivers to turn right on steady red at signalised intersections. Police-reported crash data from six states where permissive right turn on red laws were adopted during 1974-1977, as well as data from three states where the law in effect was unchanged throughout the period, were used to determine the effect of adopting such laws on the frequency of crashes involving right turning manoeuvres at signalised intersections. It was found that the increase in the overall frequency of such crashes in states that adopted permissive right turn on red laws exceeded by more than 20 percent the comparable change in states that retained the same laws. Larger than average increases were found for crashes in urban areas (25 percent), and for crashes involving a single vehicle and a pedestrian (57 percent) especially in urban areas (79 percent). An increase of over 30 percent was found for child pedestrians. A 100 percent increase was found for adults, and 110 percent increase in pedestrian crashes was found for the elderly after adoption of RTOR. It was concluded that the widespread and indiscriminate adoption of permissive right turn on red laws was in conflict with the Congressional intent of adopting such laws only to "the maximum extent practicable consistent with safety." (Author/publisher)
Abstract