# right turn on red light question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088 "2002-06-03T04:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wooba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wooba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wooba)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/21 "2002-06-03T17:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dqa \* > Parts of [Canada](http://www.region.waterloo.on.ca/web/region.nsf/8f9c046037662cd985256af000711418/E4CDF3E58277D55C85256B4400692884/%24file/E-01-105.pdf) use a flashing green at left turn lights to indicate the turn is protected from oncoming traffic. Is there any advantage to this over a standard green arrow that disappears when the turn is no longer protected? \*\* I can only assume it’s for cost. Doing this means you can use standard style lights, which have to be cheaper than the larger ones. There are plenty of lights that have arrows underneath, particularly at larger intersections, but the flashing green is far more common. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/22 "2002-06-04T05:31:36Z")
This [site](http://www.geocities.com/jusjih/transport/turn-red.html) indicates that it’s legal just about everywhere in the U.S. to make a right turn on a red light (after stopping, of course). Right turns on red arrows, however, are more restricted or are not in the laws of some states. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/23 "2002-06-04T15:39:38Z")
Suffering from severe sleep deprivation here… Is it legal to turn right on a red light in Canada? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/24 "2002-06-04T15:50:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*Suffering from severe sleep deprivation here… > > Is it legal to turn right on a red light in Canada? \*\* Looks like it is according to the site I cited above. In [Quebec](http://www.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/reseau/signalisation/virage_en.htm), however, it is legal in only 26 municipalities. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/25 "2002-06-04T15:55:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*Suffering from severe sleep deprivation here… > > Is it legal to turn right on a red light in Canada? \*\* Looks like it is according to the site I cited above. In [Quebec](http://www.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/reseau/signalisation/virage_en.htm), however, it is legal in only 26 municipalities. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/26 "2002-06-04T16:22:18Z")
Aha. So I guess I’ll be okay in B.C. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/27 "2002-06-04T20:04:43Z")
Yeah, you’re allowed to turn right on red lights here. However, in BC a flashing green light means absolutely nothing-- it’s an indicator that a pedestrian at the side of the road can push a button madly hoping that the light will change. It does NOT mean you can turn left safely, as I nearly died finding out soon after moving to BC from Quebec. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/28 "2002-06-05T01:40:01Z")
IIRC, Quebec has accepted the right turn on red, and its becoming province-wide this summer. ---
**Author:** ![Heretic\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Heretic\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heretic_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/29 "2002-06-05T03:00:15Z")
I just wanted to toss 2¢ in… If you have an oppurtunity to turn right, and were to have a green arrow, usually the green arrow corresponds to the people that are turning from the intersecting street onto yours, headed in the opposite direction. If this was taking place, pedestrians couldn’t really cross anyway. If this was not taking place, it could be that the left turn lanes on your street, both ways, are turning, and it is saying "Don’t turn now, because there are people coming onto the same street. (You’re turning right, they’re facing you and turning left, so you might crunch if you go now.) Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/30 "2002-06-05T12:46:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwc1970 \* > **This [site](http://www.geocities.com/jusjih/transport/turn-red.html) indicates that it’s legal just about everywhere in the U.S. to make a right turn on a red light (after stopping, of course)…Looks like it is [legal in Canada] according to the site I cited above. In Quebec, however, it is legal in only 26 municipalities.** All of which I basically noted above. However, your site, while lacking the imprimateur of the federal government, is excellent, and I think a paragraph deserves to be quoted which seems to answer the OP definitively. > [@](#): > > **Red arrows** are used in some states and Puerto Rico. 12 states (Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) **permit turns on red arrows after stop** (New Hampshire prohibits LTOR, circular or arrows). 8 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, and New York) and Puerto Rico **prohibit turns on red arrows**. Other state laws do not mention red arrows, presumably because of non-usage. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/31 "2002-06-05T15:30:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\*IIRC, Quebec has accepted the right turn on red, and its becoming province-wide this summer. \*\* I thought Montreal (your new, expanded, island-wide version) was still banning it? ---
**Author:** ![bobk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bobk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobk2)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088/32 "2002-06-05T16:29:16Z")
Here’s a late data point that may not add much; I know one complicated intersection in nearby Arlington MA that has a right turn Red/Green arrow, and they did also post a “No Right Turn On Red” sign which should help clarify things. Of course, in another part of this very same intersection they have a green “forwards/straight” arrow hanging over a lane that is painted on the ground with a sign/arrow “Right Turn Only”. And mini-hijack ; We also have a state law that says motorists must yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. However, its unclear what happens when the crosswalk has a “Don’t Walk” sign flashing and pedestrians cross anyhow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-turn-on-red-light-question/112088.md?page=1)