‘No Turn on Red’ could (and should) come to all of downtown San Francisco

If you’ve walked in a busy part of the city, you know this scenario well. You have the “walk” sign, and yet, you can’t actually cross safely because drivers are impatiently making turns into your path – even though they have a red light.

This creates a dangerous situation for us as pedestrians, which lots of research supports. A USDOT report explains that part of why is because the driver is looking left for a gap in traffic, so they don’t see someone walking or biking on the right.

Here in San Francisco, drivers turning at lights account for 20% of pedestrian- or bicycle-related injury crashes (source: SFMTA).

‘No-turn-on-red’ is a pedestrian-first solution that gives both drivers and people walking their dedicated time, preventing dangerous conflict in the crosswalk. And all it takes is a simple sign, like the one you see above.

For years, Walk SF has strongly advocated for a no-turn-on-red policy focused on the high-injury network – the 12% of streets where 68% of traffic crashes occur.

And downtown is where the highest concentration of high-injury streets are, which is why we are thrilled to hear that the SFMTA is proposing to bring no-turn-on-red to 200 intersections downtown. Read more in the SF Standard.

We need all the protection we can get when we’re walking, and no-turn-on-red is a crucial layer to bring to the most dangerous intersections.

Walk SF is strongly supporting this proposal, and watchdogging SFMTA’s progress on these crucial actions. We will let you know if we need your voice to help make it a reality!

Do you want Walk SF pushing for every possible solution to keep you safe in the crosswalk? Make a donation now.