GAITHERSBURG, Md. – Red-light cameras are common in Maryland, Virginia and D.C.,聽but many drivers complained to 海角精品黑料 Ticketbuster about a specific kind of ticket聽in 2013.
These tickets occur when drivers make a right turn on red, but engage in a聽specific type of turn that is considered illegal. Known as a rolling right turn聽or sometimes referred to as a 聽these drivers are not coming to a complete stop before making a right turn at a聽red light.
“The law is very clear,” says Montgomery County Police Captain Thomas Didone, who聽runs the speed and red light camera program. “In Maryland, upon approaching a red聽traffic signal, you must stop, complete cessation of movement behind the white聽stop line. Then, after looking to see if it’s clear, you may proceed on a right聽turn.”
Maryland Annotated Code 搂21-202 is the law that deals with the issue, allowing for聽drivers to make a right turn only after “stopping at the near side of the聽intersection, at a clearly marked stop line; if there is no clearly marked stop聽line, before entering any crosswalk; or if there is no crosswalk, before entering聽the intersection.”
D.C. Municipal Regulation 搂18-4013 also tells drivers that right turns at red聽lights聽are only allowed “after coming to a full stop and yielding right-of-way to聽pedestrians and other vehicles.”
Virginia Code 搂 46.2-835 tells drivers, “vehicular traffic facing a steady red聽circular signal, after coming to a full stop, may cautiously enter the聽intersection and make a right turn.”
海角精品黑料 Ticketbuster has several videos that demonstrate this kind of rolling stop.
“What happens frequently is that when you look at video, people don’t stop,”
Didone says. “They don’t come close to stopping. Maybe in their mind they perceive
they stopped, but the video doesn’t lie.”
In June, a driver in Rockville sent 海角精品黑料 an email about a red light camera ticket聽at Seven Locks Road and Fortune Terrace. As 海角精品黑料 , the City of Rockville strictly聽interprets Maryland law on the issue. 聽But according to the video, the driver never came to a complete stop.
Another driver told 海角精品黑料 Ticketbuster about a ticket he received on Washington聽Boulevard at Lee Highway in Arlington.
“As you can see from the attached ticket, [my wife] was clearly making a right聽turn,” the driver writes. “Is there anything we can do to avoid court time and聽getting the ticket dismissed?”
The video also shows she did not stop before making the right turn.
Finally, 海角精品黑料 Ticketbuster we received an email from a driver who received a red聽light camera ticket at 12th Street and Constitution Avenue NW in February 2013.
“If you look clearly at the picture, you will notice two things,” this reader聽says. “First, I stopped at the red light behind the line before making a right聽turn. Second, there is not a ‘no turn on red’ sign anywhere. They are asking me聽now to pay $300 for the red light infraction because they claim I never responded.聽Please help!” 聽But the driver stopped after the crosswalk with half his vehicle in the聽intersection, then made the right turn.
All three cases show drivers who believe they made a legal turn, but broke the
strict letter of the law.
“Even if you stop over the line and even if you stop halfway into the聽intersection, according to Maryland law, you’re eligible to a ticket,” Didone聽says. “Some jurisdictions enforce the strict letter of the law. Others use聽discretion, like we do in Montgomery County.”
“In Montgomery County, we’re looking to enforce people who disregard red lights,”聽he says. “If you don’t make a viable attempt to stop, then you’re eligible for a聽ticket. We give our approvers some extra discretion, so if it appears they聽attempted to stop, or they stopped in the middle of the turn, the approvers can聽void the citation. But if the person clearly disregarded the red light, then they聽issued the ticket.”
Is it really unsafe?
Several motorist groups and camera opponents are skeptical of these types of聽tickets, arguing that the rolling right turn on red does not pose a significant聽traffic safety impact.
“Slowing moving right turns on red are extremely unlikely to cause accidents,” Ron聽Ely of the Maryland Drivers Alliance . “One study showed that an average聽motorist could drive a billion miles, the distance from Earth to Jupiter and back,聽before being involved in a deadly accident that resulted from a motorist making a聽rolling stop on a right-hand turn.”
Out of 6.3 million crashes nationwide in 1998, less than 0.04 percent of them聽involved a driver making a right turn at a red light, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study. The report also聽found no fatalities occurred that year from an accident resulting from a right聽hand turn on red when the driver yielded to oncoming traffic.
A NHTSA study in 1995 also studied the issue and found similar聽results.
“Approximately 84 fatal crashes occurred per year during the 1982-1992 time period聽involving a right-turning vehicle at an intersection where right turn on red聽(ROTR) is permitted,” the report says. “During this same time period, there were聽485,104 fatalities. Less than 0.2 percent of all fatalities involved a聽right-turning vehicle maneuver at an intersection where ROTR is permitted.
However, [the data] does not discern whether the traffic signal was red.聽Therefore, the actual number of fatal RTOR crashes is somewhere between zero and聽84 and may be closer to zero than 84.”
A Texas A&M Transportation Institute study in 2004 聽that accidents from these turns are exceedingly rare and do not pose a serious聽traffic safety risk.
Groups like the and argue that these rolling聽right turn tickets are not about safety, but money.
Rockville City Police disagree and say their strict enforcement is the correct
approach.
“The drivers’ past behaviors were inappropriate,” Maj. Michael England of聽Rockville City Police, told 海角精品黑料 last March. “They weren’t coming to a full and聽complete stop before making a right turn, as required under the law.”
He tells 海角精品黑料 that tickets aren’t issued unless the driver was going above 13 mph聽into the turn, which he believes can be dangerous to other drivers and pedestrians聽nearby.
