There is a subtle traffic skill some of us have learned - Just because a right turn is authorized (after stopping) at a red light, we might not want to go YET…
When the light turns green, the cross street has a red light and so we can make a safe turn onto a road that may not have any shoulder or bike lane, or where we may have a quick left and need to merge across the road.
The red light gives us cover for delaying the traffic coming up behind us soon.
Example 1: University SB onto Campus WB
If we stop and then turn right with a red light ( or worse - run the red & roll it ! ) onto Campus we have to understand that the 2 lanes of west bound traffic are merging into one here, and there is no bike lane on Campus at that point to ride into - just the RTOL to Riparian Way. Nearly every driver crossing University in the near #2 lane is checking to their left to merge over into the #1 lane through lane - not expecting or looking to the right to see anyone turn in front of them into their lane. This gives multiple conflicts for us to get hit at :
The Savvy Cyclists wait at the red light until it turns green - then we can turn right and quickly merge over to the #1 through lane safely and without as many motorists to deal with becaus ethey are stopped at their red light:
Example 2: Prospect NB onto 17th Street EB
In order to continue north on Prospect from Tustin toward Orange, Prospect jogs east at 17th Street. 17th Street here is 3 lanes, fast, and has no bike lane, and to pull off the move we want to turn right, swing out / merge deep to the immediate left turn pocket, and then make a left from that left turn pocket.
Turning right on a red means we have 3 lanes of eastbound traffic (merging down to 2 lanes) with the green, and they are always driving fast, coming up behind us. There are several conflicts created with the chances of being rear ended - even if riding in the rightmost gutter to do a box-turn at the next signal:
Delaying the urge to go on a red, and waiting for the green, makes a much safer and calmer experience. We now can safely move well out to the #1 lane immediately, which gets us out of the way on any right turning motorists we may have held up while waiting at the red light:
Example 3: Rockfield SB onto Bake WB
Bake is intense, with two freeway entrances letting the #3 & #4 lanes speed up on approach to the freeway. Turning right in the free right at a red means having to merge with 4 lanes of high speed traffic to get out to and control the #3 lane.
Taking the option of pushing the crosswalk button on the island - and going when the light turns green and the walk light is on gives you a lot of time to ride in an empty 4 lane road - getting well down range in the #3 lane before any of the Westbound traffic gets a green to catch up with you on Bake. The only motorists to worry about are the few rolling from the free-right and merging into the #4 lane from your right…
Left on a Red?
Last week we experienced another situation in Santa Ana on the Medium Route 35+ ; Fairhaven EB turning left onto Cambridge NB toward Orange. There is NO left turn arrow. We successfully merged from the #2 lane to the #1 lane and then to the Left Turn pocket, and waited for the green light. If traffic allowed, we could have made our turn with the green light, but traffic was fast and heavy, so we could not safely turn across the oncoming traffic without having several opportunities to be hit:
Instead, we pulled forward into the intersection on the green, and waited for the light to turn red: Any braver (and faster) motorists had room to make their left turn from behind us, so we did not hold up traffic:
Once the light turned red, we made sure no oncoming motorists were running the red light and then made our left turn onto Cambridge NB. We made eye contact with the motorists turning east onto Fairhaven from Cambridge SB, and they had a good view of us all unusually clustered up in the middle of the intersection, and it was only brief wait for us to clear their way.
Once the red light comes on it is too late for more cyclists to enter the intersection against the red to join the group…
We of course also had the option of making a box turn in the crosswalks, but there is no crosswalk from the SE corner, so it would take 2 signals to cross Fairhaven and then cross Cambridge before resuming the ride on Cambridge NB. With a group of us it would be challenging to get everyone on the sidewalk and turned around for the crosswalks.
This move worked at a “T” intersection - what about at a 4-way ? The same process could work; cross traffic would see we were schooled up like fish in the intersection and would only have a brief delay starting up behind us as we turned. If the traffic was light and the cross traffic was not stopped, one fast motorist taking their green light at speed in a clear lane would be a problem…
The point is - sometimes waiting for a green light to turn right, or a red light to complete a left turn can make a safer ride.
Feel free to comment, challenge or discuss!
Bill Sellin, Ride Coordinator -
and now League of American Bicyclist “Certified Advocate”
