This is the “no turn on red” sign my town uses. Every time I see it, I wonder why they put that red dot on it. Do the town elders believe there are some people who don’t know what the word ‘red’ means? My friend said it was for people who don’t read English. But that doesn’t make any sense. If they can’t read the words the sign may as well say “watch out for women with their periods.”
What do you think it’s for?
You’re supposed to stop and wait for the circle to turn green. You are doing that, right?
Just a guess, but maybe it’s a more subconscious reminder. People often zone out when driving, so any reminder of “hey wake up, don’t turn on red” is helpful to get into people’s zoned out minds.
It helps reinforce the text message.
Then again, most signs, including most nonstandard street signs, are designed by monkeys not quite bright enough to make 1st Class Poo-Flinger at the zoo.
That, or it’s embedded advertising by Kotex.
I’m not familiar w/ the details of your specific intersection but I think it could interpreted as “don’t turn on red ball”.
I’ve seen similar signage, instructing drivers about movement during green light phases, and they have a green dot on them. In the USA, highway signage varies by state. Maybe it’s just a convention to identity a sign as having relevance only during certain signal phases.
We have the left turn yield on green with a green dot - never really thought about it. I would think it’s one of those for drivers that see it quickly/don’t read well except then I’d expect a symbol for the “no turn” instead of text.
Maybe it’s to draw the eye - they see the redlight symbol (red dot) and see that the differen-tthan-typical rules apply. Might make it more noticeable than just black text on a white background. Doesn’t so much explain the yield-on-green, though, because a left turner should always yield to someone on green if it’s not a turn signal. Maybe those are only used when there are two green (one regular and one arrow)? Just to remind the driver that the regular signal isn’t the turn light?
It’s there in case you forgot what “red” is.
The technical term seems to be symbolic red ball, or symbolic green ball.
I’m going to guess that they’ve done studies that show better compliance or recognition of the sign’s meaning when the dot is included.
Presumably that one is to make it clear to left-turning drivers that the green dot doesn’t give them priority over oncoming traffic, as opposed to a green arrow, which does.
Ive seen dangerous intersections marked with a specific symbol , the black dot intersection: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Road-safety/Black-spots.aspx
I just thought that the red dot ones was just a more colorful version.
On Edit that link does not show the black dot sign, but I have seen them with the explanation posted on the sign.
I think the circle is there to differentiate a solid signal from an arrow signal. Basically what the sign is saying is that you can’t turn right on red, but there’s some intersections where there’d be a red arrow that indicates the same thing. If it only said “no turns on red” you might think that meant no turns when there’s a red arrow showing (which of course there never would be), but having the picture of the solid red signal removes that particular bit of ambiguity.
That was my guess. The red dot is there to call attention to the sign.
FWIW, there are two additional versions of this sign in the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices) that do not have the red ball, just the text.
See here: Figure 2B-27 Long Description - MUTCD 2009 Edition - FHWA
It does not offer any guidance on when to use the text only versions vs. the one with the red ball.
Most states follow the MUTCD as far as I know. Texas does have its own MUTCD but by and large it’s mostly the same as the federal one. I don’t know about any other states with their own versions, but I’d be surprised to see anything wildly different than what’s in the federal MUTCD.
Not exactly sure what you mean by a red arrow never being shown, but the above link shows a sign that reads:
“RIGHT ON RED ARROW AFTER STOP”
and a google image search of “traffic signal red arrow” will show pics of traffic signals that have right red arrows.
The right on red arrow after stop intersections are ones where it displays a green arrow allowing you to make a (protected) right turn without stopping. When it’s not protected, there’s a red arrow and you may or may not be allowed to make a right turn after you come to a stop.
However there are also sometimes intersections where there’s a separate red arrow that simply lets you know whether or not you’re allowed to make a right turn. My point is that the “no right on red” sign with a picture of a circular red light is just emphasizing that it isn’t one of those intersections and you can’t ever make a right on red there. I imagine that’s the way most people would interpret “no right on red” but the picture just makes it a bit more clear.
As a young driver, from a much smaller city, driving in Dallas for the first time, I did once realize, distracted by other things, that I was waiting for that dot to turn green.
