Do YOU understand 'socialist' US traffic law that baffles many?

Turning right on red is such a common traffic law in the US, most American drivers don't think twice about it, but many foreign visitors are left confused and honked at by the practice. 

The rule has been the law of the land in the US since the 1970s, when it was encouraged as a means to save gasoline amid the energy crisis. States were forced to adopt the rule in order to qualify for federal assistance. 

Typically, as long as there isn't a 'No Right Turn on Red' sign, motorists can make a right turn after stopping at a red light, provided there is no oncoming traffic or pedestrians crossing the street.  

The law is coming under scrutiny, however, with allegations that it's linked to accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists. Cities such as Washington DC, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Berkeley, California are seeking to ban the move. 

In Germany, the right turn on red was regarded as the 'socialist right turn' and was eradicated throughout the eastern bloc following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, according to a Washington Post feature from the time. 

A Los Angeles city employee puts up a traffic sign permitting right turns on red in 1946. The law was embraced in California and most other western states in the 1930s

In Europe, at most traffic stops, drivers must wait for the light to turn green before making any kind of turn.  

The law had been embraced in California and most other western states since the 1930s, and by 1980 it was adopted nationally. 

The thinking behind the move was that, by cutting out full stops when turning right, drivers save valuable seconds at each stop, which will also reduce emissions. 

'I don't want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light,' Woody Allen's Alvy Singer character says about moving to California from New York in the Oscar-winning Annie Hall. 

Manhattan has almost no right turn on red intersections but there are more than 300 right on red intersections across the Big Apple, most being in Staten Island, the borough with the lowest population. 

New York City is currently the only city in the country with a ban on the books. Canada's second largest city, Montreal, has a similar ban. 

Left turns on red are also legally allowed in most parts of the US.  

The most common misconception about the law is that drivers don't have to stop before making the turn. This leads to accidents, experts believe. The turn is also not required but is, rather, at the driver's discretion. 

The relevance of the law, brought in for efficiency reasons, has been called into question with the rise of electric and hybrid vehicles. 

In 2022, transportation engineer Bill Schultheiss told Slate that eradicating the rule could be a 'minor inconvenience' for drivers but will be a 'baby step in creating an urban environment that is more supportive of walking, bicycling, and transit.' 

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, US traffic deaths are up 13 percent in the last ten years, while pedestrian deaths are up 54 percent. 

Pedestrian deaths reached a 40-year high in 2021 and rose again in 2022.  

Cars lined up during the fuel crisis of the 1970s, which prompted the right on red law to be made legal nationwide 

New York City, as the most pedestrian-dense city in the country, has a ban on red light turns 

In Washington State, a law is on the books to pass a ban on right turn on red in any area that is 1,000 feet or less from a school, childcare center, public park or playground, recreation center or facility, library, public transit center, hospital, senior center or any other facility with a high level of pedestrian traffic.

Between 2017 and 2021, 1,400 of the 5,000 accidents involving pedestrians in Washington involved the driver turning right, reports KOMO News. 

However in San Francisco, turns on red lights are thought to have been responsible for only one percent of accidents. Despite this, officials believe the banning of the turn in certain sections of the city has reduced the amount of 'close calls.' 

'Permitting right turns on red has always been a dangerous idea, which is why, when the first traffic lights and traffic laws rolled out, it was not allowed. It is no coincidence that in New York City, the most pedestrian-dense city in the US, right on red has long and largely been disallowed,' safety expert Jessie Singer told the Los Angeles Times. 

In the nation's capital, where the right turn has already been banned in around 100 intersections across the city, advocates are asking for a total ban to be implemented by 2025.