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Carolina Curious: Why is right turn on red allowed in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic?

Pedestrian crosses the intersection of Liberty and 5th Streets in downtown Winston-Salem. DAVID FORD/WFDD

Pedestrian crosses the intersection of Liberty and 5th Streets in downtown Winston-Salem. DAVID FORD/WFDD

This week on Carolina Curious, longtime Winston-Salem resident Martha Apple has a question that’s fairly pedestrian. She and her husband recently moved downtown. They enjoy exploring the city by foot, but sometimes things get a bit dicey.   

“I would like to know the origin of the turning right on red rule, and why we allow it where there is a high level of pedestrian traffic,” asks Apple.

For Deputy Director of Transportation for the city, Jeff Fansler, the answer is straightforward.

“Right turn on red is a metric really of efficiency,” he says. “What we’re trying to do is allow movement that is based on limiting vehicular delay.”

And he says limiting vehicular delay is a big deal in this city with lots of small, closed blocks downtown, that could otherwise be a recipe for gridlock. But Fansler is sympathetic to the

Before his arrival in the Triad, David had already established himself as a fixture in the Austin, Texas arts scene as a radio host for Classical 89.5 KMFA. During his tenure there, he produced and hosted hundreds of programs including Mind Your Music, The Basics and T.G.I.F. Thank Goodness, It's Familiar, which each won international awards in the Fine Arts Radio Competition. As a radio journalist with 88.5 WFDD, his features have been recognized by the Associated Press, Public Radio News Directors Inc., Catholic Academy of Communication Professionals, and Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. David has written and produced national stories for NPR, KUSC and CPRN in Los Angeles and conducted interviews for Minnesota Public Radio's Weekend America.

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