Minnesota too.
Also legal here to go straight on a red. If you are a motorcycle and you have waited sufficient time to be sure the traffic sensors have not detected your presence. You may legally proceed if the way is clear and you do so cautiously.
In Texas it is legal to turn left on red from a one way street to another one way street, but only one way streets
Do you live in my apartment complex? We have this exact situation every morning getting out. There’s no way to make a left turn out because of the median, so you have to cross 3 lanes of traffic going into the District to get into the left turn lane for the light 100 feet away and make a U-turn. It’s a nightmare. I never go out on that side before 9:30am.
I do turn right on red when it’s allowed, although in downtown Silver Spring about 75% of the lights do not allow it, and even if they did you couldn’t turn because of all the pedestrians. It really pisses me off, though, when the person behind you doesn’t see the “No turn on red” sign and starts honking at you like you’re an asshole for not going. Go pound sand!
I will generally turn right on red when it’s available and I’ll turn left on red (here, you can if you’re turning on to a one way street) if it’s convenient. But if I’m concerned about my safety, I can’t see past the car on my left, or I don’t want to worry about potentially blocking the intersection, I won’t.
Absolutely.
What makes me want to punch people in the face is that many of them won’t take a free right if there’s a police car around, like they think it’s not allowed or something. Once on this route I had to take every day they were doing roadwork nearby for like months and there was a police car stationed there and no one would turn! I’d have to sit through several lights sometimes because of these assholes.
Once someone got all psycho road rage at me though because I didn’t turn on the red because it was a red arrow, and I assume that means don’t turn on red. Or am I wrong about that? I don’t know what else it would mean. There was no sign or anything.
I will turn right on red, if it’s legal and safe. Being honked at makes me less likely to decide that it’s clear and safe. Especially since the last couple of times I’ve been honked at for failing to turn right on red, there’s a sign on the light saying not to turn right on red.
I am not the most aggressive driver on the road, and I know it, and occasionally I feel bad for blocking traffic. But mostly I don’t. Because I drive a small car, and if it’s late and visibility is poor–or I think the road is slippery–sometimes I’d rather sit at the intersection and potentially annoy the driver behind me instead of getting scrunched.
In Michigan we can also turn left on red from a two-way onto a one-way, but not from a one-way onto a two-way. I always have to think about it when I’m in one of those situations.
I’m pretty sure the U-turners would have the right-of-way, not the right-on-red car (I’m assuming the U-turner doesn’t have their own stop sign, and that the U-turn is otherwise legal).
Because of the asinine “Michigan left” road design, Left turns on red are pretty much mandatory if you want to get anywhere in metro Detroit faster than geologic time.
The way you phrased the poll it seems to imply you always do one or the other, but doesn’t leave an option for sometimes yes, sometimes no.
I might not turn right on red for a number of reasons:
[ul]
[li]Someone in a big honkin’ SUV is on my left and I can’t see whether or not there is on-coming traffic.[/li][li]I’m unfamiliar with the location and I’m not sure right on red is OK, so instead of turning I’m looking for a “no turn on red” sign.[/li][li]I’m taking a moment at the red light to do something like adjust my seat/clothes/grab a tissue/change the radio/whatever instead of turning.[/li][li]I’m not in a hurry, so I’ll just wait for the green light (though if someone is behind me I’m not inclined to do that).[/li][/ul]
Much of the time I do, in fact, turn right on red. Just not always.
Driving on the East Coast last month, I was struck by all the “No right turn on red” signs. Out West, we were always taught that was a basic human right.
Really…? tell me what is wrong with turning right on red even when a ‘No Turn on Red’ sign is there when there is absolutely no traffic coming through the intersection. Most of the time the sign is there just because… some of the times it is there because the intersection has a blind hill or whatever, THAT is when you use reason.
Not when I’m in Israel!
I did not know this. In Illinois, like almost everywhere else, it can only be done FROM a one-way street ONTO a one-way street.
That makes two of us. Also at stop signs. The only time I was rear-ended was in rush-hour traffic on a backed-up street blocks away from the nearest stop lights or signs.
Point one: it is never required to turn right on red. Never.
Point two: A lot of people, if you start honking and otherwise trying to bullying them into doing something, will get stubborn and NOT do it even if prior to that they were on the verge of changing their minds.
In other words, you were being a jerk and once the honking and flashing started I would have refused to move, too.
It’s a traffic violation.
If I do it and get caught will you pay for my ticket? No? Then I’m not doing it because you want me to.
This. Turning right on red is optional. Too many impatient drivers treat it like it’s mandatory.
Oh, look. There’s one now.
Well, what’s the difference between ignoring a “No Turn On Red” sign and ignoring any other traffic sign? By your reasoning, disobeying traffic law is OK as long as you’ve determined you can do it safely. I’m not sure a lot of cops are going to buy that logic. Enjoy your ticket.
Well the secret is to mentally append the clause “while cop watching” to traffic signs and it becomes much clearer what is allowed, and still no tickets.
NO TURN ON RED [sub]while cop watching[/sub]
Speed Limit 55 [sub]while cop watching[/sub]
Like most here, I turn on red if it’s safe and legal, but my definitions of “safe” and “legal” seem to differ from some other (angry) drivers’.
In Chicago, we have a lot of No Turn On Reds. And, infuriatingly, they tend to put these signs back just a little too far from the intersection for me to see when I’m actually at the right turn spot. They’re rectangular signs, as are the No Truck signs and the Parking Restrictions signs and the We Love Signs signs… so sometimes if I’m not thinking about it before I get to the intersection, I can’t recall if this one is a No Turn on Red or not. And I can’t read the sign. So rather than risk it (and I did get a red light ticket for a right turn on red at California and Diversey), I stay put.
Sorry to piss you off, but adding peace and harmony to the world isn’t worth $100 on a regular basis.