Right or wrong on red? Working to keep Orlando from leading nation in pedestrian deaths

ORLANDO, Fla. - Turning right at a red light, it’s something we’ve done for decades. Arrive at a red light, stop and if the intersection is clear you can go even if the light isn’t green.

Some major cities across the U.S. are starting to ban this, in hopes to get the number of injuries and death down.

For the past several years, the Orlando metro area has ranked the most deadliest place in America for pedestrians.

Each year, on average about 980 people are seriously injured, and 90 are killed doing something as simple as crossing the street.

"So the whole region as a whole just does not advance pedestrian safety like they should," Emily Hanna, the Executive Director of Bike/Walk Central Florida, said. 

The idea of banning right turns at red lights is something several major cities have done, or are planning to do. New York City bans it, Washington D.C. will end most turns by 2025. 

University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is banning these turns around downtown. Honolulu has banned them for parts of the city.

"So it’s not necessarily ideal everywhere but in certain locations, it certainly is one of the tools that we use in our toolbox to improve pedestrian safety," Hanna said.

So is this working? Not a lot of safety studies have been done because data is limited but one study done in Washington D.C. found when the city banned rights on red at 100 intersections in 2018, there were fewer injuries and death. Some critics say this will just add to congestion and could be costly.

"I always remind everyone that does this work, the sign and the cost to make that improvement to that intersection is very little considering what the cost of a life is in our community," Hanna said.

Right now Florida doesn’t have plans to change their current law from allowing right on reds.