One for the road

Driving on area roads and freeways, it seems likely that many Truckee Meadows residents haven’t reflected on the contents of the driver’s manual since having passed the test to obtain a license. So, we’d like to take a moment to remind drivers to pay attention to road signs—all of them—and, in particular, the ones at stoplights that say “No Turn on Red.”

According to the Federal Highway Administration website, “a permissible ’Right Turn on Red’ (RTOR) was introduced in the 1970s as a fuel savings measure” but has since sometimes resulted in detrimental effects on pedestrians. That’s because while the law requires motorists to come to a complete stop at the light and yield to cross street traffic and pedestrians, many do not.

Yet today, some people argue that “No Turn on Red” intersections should be done away with entirely—citing pollution reduction and time-savings as chief reasons.

In a 2016 blog post titled, “Death by Stop Sign,” on the Psychology Today website, writer John Staddon noted that the U.S. suffers a staggeringly higher number road fatalities—10.6 per 100,000 people—than other developed countries like Australia (5.9 per 100,000) and Britain (2.9 per 100,000). To Staddon, the reason is, at least in part, that “U.S. signs, signals, and road design ignore psychology,” seeking to “always control rather than inform” drivers. His solution would be replacing road signs and signals that command with signs and signals that “inform” drivers.

But one has to wonder, if drivers ignore signals and signs that are commands—the breaking of which has the potential to result in legal ramifications in the form of a ticket—how would replacing them with signs and signals that, as Staddon suggests, encourage people to use their own judgment make driving safer?

“No Turn on Red” signs are intended to improve pedestrian safety at stop lights and can often be found in areas with high volumes of foot traffic and near schools. And pedestrian safety is a legitimate problem in Nevada.

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles spends about $10 million a year to improve pedestrian safety. (Locally, in 2017, that included work on Kietzke Lane and North Virginia Street.) But in 2017, there still were 99 pedestrian deaths in the state.

Intersections can be dangerous places. They’re often the sites of accidents involving pedestrians and motor vehicles. A look at statistics from 2011 to 2015 reveals that 309 people in Nevada lost their lives in intersection-related crashes and another 2,377 were injured.

In the case of right-turning vehicles, accidents involving pedestrians are often the result of drivers being so intent on looking for traffic approaching from their left that they fail to look for pedestrians on their right before starting into an intersection. When a “No Turn on Red” sign is affixed to an intersection, it means the risk of this happening has been deemed to be particularly high.

So why do local drivers fail to heed this command? Some people are likely just failing to read posted traffic signs, but surely some others ignore the signs willfully. Either way, we’d like to take a moment to suggest that people stop—literally. When there’s a “No Turn on Red” sign at the light, the right thing to do is wait your turn.