SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The City of Berkeley last week took an initial step towards preventing vehicles – potentially citywide – from turning right on red lights.
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The Berkeley City Council on Thursday approved a budget request which seeks to allocate $135,000 to pay for signs which will ban turning right on red lights at all of the city's 135 intersections with stoplights.
The council will decide on the matter later this month.
The proposal is an effort to protect pedestrians and bikers in the city. It was introduced just weeks after 72-year old William Evans, a Vietnam War veteran, was killed by a truck driver while crossing an intersection in downtown Berkeley.
Several cities across the country have already implemented either a ban on the turn or sharply increased intersections where it's prohibited. San Francisco last year disallowed the practice at over 50 intersections in the Tenderloin.
According to a study by the Municipal Transportation Agency, the first six months of the ban helped keep crosswalks clear and reduce "close calls" on major intersections.
Meanwhile, New York City has completely outlawed the move while Washington D.C. recently passed a bill prohibiting it by 2025.
"Policies like eliminating right on red are smart and easy ways to begin the process of deprioritizing car use in Berkeley and placing lives (above) driver convenience," Councilmember Terry Taplin, who introduced the proposal, wrote in the prosposal, according to Berkeleyside.
She told the paper that the change is "a low-cost way to keep crossings clear and to improve safety."
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