Turning right on a red light will soon be a practice of the past at five intersections in the City of North Vancouver.
At a meeting Monday, Nov. 25, municipal staff presented a plan to stop right turns on red lights at five intersections out of safety concerns. Road users will see the change by spring of 2025, with speed and red-light cameras installed by the province at the intersections.
Which intersections would change?
The five intersections where right turns on red lights will no longer be allowed are:
- Southbound Westview Drive at Larson Road
- Southbound Bewicke Avenue at Marine Drrive
- Southbound Forbes Avenue at 3rd Street
- Westbound 3rd Street at Forbes Avenue
- Westbound 13th Street at Lonsdale Avenue
These intersections were selected based on data collected by municipal staff.
The report comes after council voted unanimously Nov. 6, 2023 asking the province to install speed and red-light cameras at intersections with a lot of crashes in the city. Council also proposed implementing no right turns on red lights, and asked staff to report back to council with a plan. Coun. Jessica Mcllroy brought forward the request last year.
Changes needed out of safety
Staff reviewed more than 600 ICBC crash reports to see if there was a pattern of drivers getting into accidents turning right on red. Staff found 23 different intersections in the City of North Vancouver had at least 20 casualty crashes, involving injury or death, between 2018 and 2022, but collisions for right turns on red were low, resulting in less than one crash per year at most of the intersections.
The one exception was Westview Drive and Larson Road, where half of the casualty crashes (15 of 30) involved a southbound driver turning right on red, said Brandon Green, transportation engineer for the city. This intersection is skewed with challenging sightlines, and crash reports reveal a common scenario, Green said.
“A driver begins a right turn on red, then stops for approaching pedestrians, cyclists or vehicles. The driver behind assumes the turn will be completed, [then] proceeds forward and rear-ends the stopped vehicle,” Green said.
Anna Hardy has lived on the corner of Westview Drive and Larson Road for the past five and a half years and spoke in support of the plan at the meeting.
“I have witnessed many accidents right outside our front door,” Hardy said. “Being a pedestrian or cyclist at Westview and Larson as well as Bewicke/Larson and Bewicke and Marine can be a scary experience.”
Turning right on a red light became widely accepted in the 1970s to reduce idling and conserve fuel due to the energy crisis, Green said. Before that, many jurisdictions did not allow drivers to make a right turn on a red light.
Montreal and New York City are the only major cities in Canada and the U.S. that ban right turns on red lights. In B.C., drivers can make a right turn at a red light after coming to a complete stop, unless there is a sign stating otherwise.
Council positive about plan, questions emerge
City council spoke positively about the plan and staff efforts to improve safety for all road users.
“When you see the data, it certainly speaks for itself why it’s important to take steps to identify those locations and prevent those right hand turns from happening,” said Coun. Angela Girard.
Mcllroy said she appreciated staff's research on the intersections, as not all crashes were related to turning right on red lights.
"I do like to see when we're making those physical changes to streets to really slow people down, cause them to stop and look in different ways," Mcllory said. "It's not all problems we can solve, but ideally we're continuing to advocate to those other entities and levels of government to have more universal safety across the system."
Coun. Don Bell asked why the intersection of Fell Avenue and Marine Drive wasn’t put on the list due to the high number of collisions. Green said the intersection wasn’t selected as collisions weren’t from turning at red lights.
Coun. Holly Back asked staff why a no right turn on red light rule couldn't be applied to all intersections instead of “cherry picking” specific ones.
“I find it more confusing to have ‘this one you can turn on the red, but that one you can’t,’” Back said. “I think it would be much easier just to blanket it, there’s no right turns on red in the city, and hopefully the district would follow suit.”
Green said it could make it confusing for people driving in other cities nearby, and not every street needs the signage, based on the data.
The installation will cost roughly $8,000 and be funded by the city’s neighbourhood traffic safety budget, according to a Nov. 6, 2023 information report.
Staff will periodically update council on progress and implementing recommendations. They will also collaborate with RCMP on enforcement and seek provincial installation for the speed and red light cameras.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]
