Injured blind pedestrian raises red flags about turning right on red | Street Scene

Sila, a dear and longtime friend, forwarded a scathing report covering vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at intersections. Shortly after Street Scene first appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat in 2014, Sila invited me to speak about transportation safety at a public meeting which is where I first met this remarkable woman.

Sila’s story is as remarkable as it is devastating as Sila suffered tremendous shock, many months of physical therapy, and painful injury. Sila was struck down by a car while crossing a street within the crosswalk.

Not long after, Sila’s husband was seriously injured at the same intersection while crossing within the crosswalk. The intersection is Village Square Boulevard at Killearn Center Boulevard in Tallahassee. Sila and her husband walk by trained-ear listening for traffic while using a white cane. Sila and Sila’s husband are blind.

Street Scene suggests a vehicle-pedestrian conflict study at this intersection to determine if the No Right on Red signal, south to west is in order.

The report Sila sent to me outlines a focus group study wherein multiple reports of pedestrians struck while crossing the street is a direct result of drivers turning “right on red.” I say uneducated drivers who are ignorant of law, uncaring of consequences, and in general irresponsible.

Who would deliberately turn a vehicle into a pedestrian already in the intersection? In the crosswalk! Only the incompetent. As a result of this study and others, the push is to end right turns on red lights throughout America. For one, Washington, D.C., has already done so.

Holding memberships in multiple public safety associations such as the American Society of Safety Engineers and the Institute of Transportation Engineers afforded me the opportunity to participate in important conversations to learn where and how public safety was found to be lacking and to design a remedy.

My vote was to allow states to continue permissive right turns on red as long as it be made mandatory that ‘how-to’ entries were first published in their driver handbooks. In the 1980s all 50 states permitted right on red.

Joining forces with MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) I am sorely disheartened at the rate we are putting drivers on the streets of this country without knowing how to drive.

During my career in the field of transportation safety I was assigned the Florida Traffic Operations Projects Engineer responsible for one of the largest nation-wide transportation safety projects in US history; TOPICS (Traffic Operations Projects to Increase Capacity and Safety). To increase operational capacity it was found permitting right turns on red lights keeps vehicle engines at idle for less time which saves fuel and reduces carbon emissions.

At the same time I wrote in my review high school driver education classes must include the perils such permissive right turns could bring if not clearly understood. Also as part of a country wide project study I wrote it must be made mandatory to require all states clearly depict in driver handbooks the responsibility right on red places on each driver prior to passing the right on red in that state.

A driver license in Florida, as I believe is the law in all states, a privilege. The problem is - some states are handing-out a driver license to those without the benefit of driver education we once held as essential.

If we can’t turn right on a red traffic signal without running over pedestrians crossing the street then we forfeit the right to do so. Some states are already reversing the right on red permissive movement. Washington is but one example.

A crash data analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finds right on red crashes in the four states reporting, to be 0.05 percent of all intersection crashes. Considered by the authors of the study to be a “small percentage.” A small percentage? Maybe, unless you are the one struck down crossing the street.

It’s up to us to keep the right on red privilege to save fuel and the environment.  However, we must first learn how to drive.

Pedestrians: Midtown crash becomes 4th pedestrian death in Tallahassee in about a one month span

Traffic flow problem at Weems Road

Q. Mercy asks for our immediate attention and fix of a design flaw on the Weems Road approach to Mahan Drive that is causing driver frustration and setting up a high probability for traffic crashes. The southbound Weems Road to eastbound Mahan Drive traffic is so heavy there is no opportunity for southbound Weems thru traffic to enter the combination thru and right turn lane.

The result is Weems Road traffic is backed up to the bridge behind Academy Sports. Then add vehicles streaming onto Weems Road off Capital Circle NE and the backup becomes worse resulting in rear-end collisions. Mercy pleads: please extend the combination thru and right turn storage lane sufficiently to allow traffic to flow into that lane instead of backing everyone into the traffic coming of CC NE.

A. Thank you Mercy, our city and county traffic engineers are reading this. Street Scene asks they move the sidewalk on the north west side of the Weems and Mahan intersection to accommodate extending the thru and right storage lane as far back as possible. When they do we will see a dam burst of vehicles clearing the full length of Weems Road. I believe this improvement could be funded under the FHWA STP set-aside for safety improvements, or hazard elimination.

Traffic signal timing on Bannerman

Q. Mark believes timing of the traffic signal at Bannerman Road and Bull Headley could use a little update due to the increase in south to east left turning traffic on Bull Headley in conflict with Bull Headley northbound thru traffic. Mark says making this south to east left turn is a trick to do.

A. What Mark is asking for is to program a full phase signal operation with protected left turns where opposing left turn arrows come up together while thru traffic is held in position by red light indications. I’m confident our traffic signal timing engineers are aware this area is no longer a sleepy minimal daytime-only traffic location. It is now a full fledged 24/7 intersection and requires a signal system to match. Mark I believe all of us will see the needed improvements you suggest.

Philip Stuart is a retired Florida State Trooper, Traffic Operations Projects Engineer and Forensics Expert Witness. Write to crashsites@embarqmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Injured blind pedestrian questions safety of Tallahassee intersection