Here is the intersection in question: Google Maps (Westchester County NY)
Does right turn on red not apply here, we have standard signs ‘No turn on Red’, so I don’t know why we need this different phrasing. Is this to do with a yellow light, meaning slam on the brakes? Or does this mean don’t run the red light (which there are laws currently in force for that)? It is a throwback for when the light was installed (or perhaps blinking) and people ignored it?
It seems very if they just mean no right on red. So what does this sign mean?
If I encountered that sign I’d interpret it the way you are, as a somewhat strange, non-standard way of saying “no right turn on red”.
Or maybe they had a problem with people treating the red light at that particular intersection like a stop sign, and proceeding in either direction whenever the intersection was clear even though it was still red. Which of course is illegal already but maybe the city thought it would help if they gave people a little reminder.
When I went to the University of Oklahoma there was one traffic light on a street adjoining the campus that had a sign under it saying “Wait for green light.” There was no way to turn right from one side, but it was on that side, too.
I assumed they assumed that college students could read, but not drive. Or maybe that they were international students whose signals meant different things in their home countries.
This intersection was a popular place for pedestrian cross-traffic. They should have, but did not, have a similar sign in place for the pedestrians.
I’ve seen these in front of elementary schools. I think that during dropoff/pickup hours that parents choose to interpret a red light as a stop sign simply because of the congestion and the notoriously short green light.
I used to live less than 2 miles away and that sign, and that light weren’t there then. I’m not positive Fawn Ridge Dr. was there either, but there were little developments on the side streets of Westbrook.
I wouldn’t turn right on red if that sign was there but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those before.
I would probably treat is as “No turn on red.” It might be, as Wildabeast said, that it was posted because people were treating the red light as a stop sign (or ignoring it altogether) so they figured some remedial education was in order. Perhaps people were constantly running the light when it was yellow, so they put up the driving for dummies sign just in case.
If I got a ticket for making an illegal right turn on red there, I would contest it.
Just throwing out another guess. The light starts flashing red at night. Maybe it is connected to other lights that do that; maybe nobody bothered to reprogram it.
For that particular intersection, they still want you to wait for green.
I’m almost sure this is not related to the OP’s sign, except that it might be interesting in this thread.
In the UK, temporary traffic signals which are set up around roadworks always used to have a sign that said “When red light shows, wait here”. Recently, some of them have switched to saying “Wait here until green light shows”.
That might seem to be the same message, but it’s subtly different - in particular, it’s got a bit of fail-safety to it (if the red lamp is broken, for example - the first sign isn’t instructing you to stop, but the second type isn’t permitting you to go)
But these specific signs are actually more about preventing people from jumping the gun when they see the flow of opposing traffic cease - because they’re only used on three or more way configurations.
Like I said, probably not the same reasoning for the OPs sign though
I have seen that sign in places where all traffic directions have red lights while pedestrians have “walk” signals. Also when the oncoming traffic has a left turn arrow (although now the sign usually says “oncoming traffic has extended green light” or some such).
Until recently there was a sign at an intersection that said “right turn on green arrow”. About half the drivers treated it as a “no right turn on red”. It was replaced by a “no right turn on red” sign - now as many as 75% of the drivers treat that as a “no right turn on red.”
I’ve seen these signs occasionally around NYC, where it is already illegal to make a right turn on red, so it’s not to indicate that (in other adjacent places, like NJ or Long Island, where it is legal to do so, the signs would read “no right turn on red”).
What the signs always indicate is that you cannot assume you can go shortly after the other (perpendicular) direction is stopped, or that you can proceed forward when the other direction facing you is allowed to go: the eastbound side is designed to get a “jump” on the westbound side, or there is simply a left turn lane coming from the other side that is not obvious.
Here’s one example I see all the time, near a Fairway supermarket that I frequent that is on the lower level of an erstwhile shopping center in Douglaston, Queens (“erstwhile” because the three major stores on the upper level, that were originally the main draw for the shopping center, are all closed: a Macy’s, a Toys R Us, and a Herman’s World of Sports/Modell’s).
The upper level entrance/exit has two very wide traffic lanes with a left turn light for traffic coming from the east (on the westbound direction of travel), so there is a sign at the traffic light that reminds the eastbound drivers WAIT FOR GREEN LIGHT, because otherwise eastbound drivers often just start moving when they see motion in the westbound direction a few seconds after traffic coming out of the shopping center halts. “They’re red, so WE must be green!”
Alternatively, there are some intersections (especially in neighborhoods with a lot of elderly pedestrians) where they intentionally leave the WALK signal enabled while both directions of vehicular traffic are halted, to allow slow walkers to cross a wide boulevard without having to huddle in fear in a tiny concrete or hash-striped center island waiting for the next traffic light change.
Here is another view of the intersection: Google Maps there is a push to cross button hidden in the bushes so from the postings it seems like it will do a all stop for pedestrians. A bus stop is also nearby as well as a nuclear plant emergency evac pickup stop.
Around here the equivalent are signs in left turn lanes at lights that say “Yield to oncoming traffic”.
Officially not really needed but it is thought by someone that a reminder could help.
My concern is that people will think that the rule doesn’t apply at places without the sign. In addition, there’s a ton of people who expect the oncoming traffic that is turning right to yield to them! :eek:
I have this one near me, and have no idea how to obey this sign legally. There’s actually not a light at this intersection; there’s a light at the next intersection, about five meters west. And which red light am I avoiding? The cross-traffic red, or the northbound traffic red?
Flashing red lights are typically to be treated just like stop signs. My guess is that they may have had people stopping and then going like it was a stop sign, so they wanted to reinforce that no, you should stop and then only go when the light is green.
if they just mean no right on red. So what does this sign mean?