City councillor submits motion to ban right-on-red turns at more Vancouver intersections

Vancouver city council will consider a motion Wednesday that aims to protect pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike at intersections.

Coun. Lucy Maloney submitted a motion to prohibit drivers from turning right while stopped at certain red lights in the city.

The motion directs city staff to document all the intersections where a leading pedestrian interval will be or has been installed, where right turns would conflict with a bike lane or multiuse path, and routes that are heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists but don’t yet have a right-on-red restriction.

Maloney tells 1130 NewsRadio that the change makes “perfect sense” to keep everyone safe.

“We already ban right turns on red at certain intersections in the city, especially on cycling lanes. Just because it’s so dangerous when people are cutting across, and it’s hard for drivers to take into account all the information that’s coming at them to make good decisions,” said Maloney.

There’s no point to having pedestrians able to cross ahead of drivers, Maloney says, if drivers can turn right across their path.

She says the change would likely only affect 10 to 20 per cent of intersections in Vancouver.

“It’s certainly not a citywide ban, although I do know that there are organizations that are advocating for a total ban.”

Originally from Australia, Maloney has observed that the ability to turn at red lights is rare, and virtually only allowed on North American roads.

Her motion points out that prohibitions have been effective in Montreal, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

She cited a study that found the American capital saw a 97 per cent reduction in vehicle-to vehicle conflict and a 92 per cent reduction in failure to yield to pedestrians during a 2018 pilot project.

A 2015 study by the City of Vancouver found that nearly 13 per cent of cyclist-driver collisions occur at the driver’s right turn.

“I heard from the chief of police recently saying that it costs as much for the police to investigate a fatal crash in the city of Vancouver as it does to investigate a homicide. So there aren’t just cost savings at a provincial level. There are cost savings at a city level as well. If we can reduce the amount of police time spent on investigating fatal crashes,” said Maloney.

The motion will be presented at a standing committee meeting on city finance and services, which begins at 9:30 a.m.

—With files from Raynaldo Suarez