RAC in favour of trial to allow left turns at red traffic lights

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We all know cyclists run red lights, which of course is illegal and dangerous, but there has been talk in recent years of allowing cyclists to turn left while a traffic light is red in the UK.

Now it seems the RAC, the UK’s premier driving organisation, has come out in favour of the move.

In its Every second counts - Choices in the operation of traffic lights report, the RAC said it would be open to trials to allow cyclists to turn left at traffic lights and recommeneded that the Department for Transport amend the current regulations to allow highway authorities to trial “innovative” measures of this kind.

Equivalent measures have been trialled in the French cities of Bordeaux and Strasbourg without any problems.

Boris Johnson support

London’s Mayor Boris Johnson has long been pushing for the capital to be allowed to amend its current local highway laws to allow cyclists to turn left at a red light. In 2009, the Mayor wrote to the Department for Transport asking for permission to allow a trial.

Current traffic regulations do not even permit a trial to allow cyclists to turn left at a red and may require a change of law first before a trial is allowed.

Department for Transport study

The RAC said the Department for Transport was however planning a study of how junctions can be made safer and more convenient for cyclists.

Apart from improving traffic flow, the move would allow cyclists to negotiate turns ahead of vehicles, particularly lorries, which are responsible for a large proportion of collisions with cyclists in big cities.

“Allowing cyclists to turn left through red traffic lights might help to prevent some of these accidents – though not in cases where the cyclist is going straight ahead,” The RAC said in its report.