Support No Turn On Red Citywide

An image of people crossing a street in a painted crosswalk, including a person in a motorized wheelchair. Above the people is text that reads, "Support No Turn On Red citywide", and a 'No Turn On Red' sign is on the right.
Currently, San Francisco allows drivers to take turns on red lights unless signs are installed at the intersection explicitly prohibiting turns on red. Allowing turns on red results in collisions and injuries as well as cars blocking or driving through crosswalks, making crossing the street more stressful for people — especially children, families, seniors, and people living with disabilities. This danger and stress is unnecessary and unacceptable, but something can be done to fix it.

Implementing No Turn On Red (NTOR) increases safety for people crossing the street — especially children, families, seniors, and people living with disabilities — as well as people on bikes and scooters. NTOR also makes driving safer and more intuitive for drivers, resulting in more predictability and less stress for people driving. NTOR is proven to increase safety and make crossing the street easier, safer, and more comfortable, including at the intersections in San Francisco where NTOR has been implemented.

San Francisco should implement citywide No Turn On Red, and you can help make a reality. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has the authority to approve citywide NTOR and can install NTOR signs — required by state law — throughout the city starting immediately, but SFMTA staff, its Board of Directors, and other policymakers need to hear from you now.

Please help make it safer and easier to cross the street throughout San Francisco by supporting citywide No Turn On Red now. It only takes a few taps and makes a difference!

More information about No Turn On Red and its benefits, including for safety, is below:

  1. In the 1970s, the Federal Government passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which mandated states to allow turns on red as a claimed fuel-saving measure in a short-sighted response to the "oil crisis."
  2. While no official research or studies have ever substantiated the claimed fuel-savings benefit of allowing turns on red, numerous studies have shown the negative impacts of allowing turns on red, especially for decreasing safety for people:
    1. SFMTA found that, at intersections in the Tenderloin where it implemented No Turn On Red at all intersections in the neighborhood in 2021 following then-Supervisor Matt Haney calling for the policy, 92% of motorists compiled with NTOR, “close calls” between cars and people walking decreased by 80%, and cars blocking or encroaching crosswalks during a red light decreased more than 70%.
    2. Separately, SFMTA found that 20% of injury crashes at signalized intersections involving a person walking or biking resulted from a motorist turning on red.
    3. An analysis of intersections with No Turn On Red in Washington, DC showed a 92% decrease in motorists failing to yield to people walking at red lights (and a 59% decrease at green lights), a 76% decrease in turn-on-red violations, and a 97% decrease in conflicts between cars.
    4. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report found that allowing turns on red increased crashes involving people walking by 44% and people on bikes by 59%.
    5. A separate NHTSA report found that turn-on-red crashes frequently involved people walking or on bikes, with 22% of all crashes involving a person walking or on a bike, and 93% of those crashes resulting in an injury.
    6. Another study found that allowing turns on red resulted in a 23% increase in all turn crashes, a ~60% increase in crashes involving people walking, and a ~100% increase in crashes involving people on bikes.
    7. A United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) report showed that allowing turns on red increased injury crashes involving people walking by up to 107% and crashes involving people biking by up to 80%, in part because "drivers stopped for a red light are looking left for a gap in traffic and do not see pedestrians and bicyclists coming from their right."
    8. Another study found that allowing turns on red increased crashes by 25% in cities and increased crashes involving children walking by 30%, people walking by 100%, and elderly people by 110%%.
  3. While Federal law mandates California to have “a traffic law or regulation which permits” turns on red “to the maximum extent practicable consistent with safety” and California Motor Vehicle Code permits turns on red, cities can approve citywide NTOR policies and enforce NTOR at any intersection where a sign is installed.
  4. Multiple cities in the United States have approved and/or implemented No Turn On Red policies — some of which are citywide policies — including New York City, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washington, District of Columbia, and Ann Arbor Michigan. Thanks to a New York State law, New York City is only required to install signs at intersections where turns on red are permitted — the City isn’t required to install signs at intersections where No Turn On Red is in place and enforceable.
  5. Countless cities and countries around the world have No Turn On Red policies/laws in place; many of these cities/countries have never allowed turns on red.

These news organizations have covered this campaign and related work:

View the implementation plan created for a citywide No Turn on Red policy here.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions — or you are a member of the press — please email Luke at LukeBornheimer@gmail.com. Thank you!

Letter Campaign by
Luke Bornheimer
Luke Bornheimer
San Francisco, California
Sponsored by
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Luke Bornheimer
San Francisco, CA