Safety of Channelized Right-Turn Lanes for Motor Vehicles and Pedestrians

The paper presents the results of research undertaken to evaluate how the safety performance of intersection approaches with channelized right-turn lanes compares with that of intersection approaches with conventional right-turn lanes or shared through and right-turn lanes. Crash data for nearly 400 intersection approaches in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, including intersection approaches with channelized right-turn lanes, conventional right-turn lanes, and shared through and right-turn lanes, were analyzed to compare the safety performance of the three right-turn treatment types. The research results indicate that intersection approaches with channelized right-turn lanes appear to have similar motor vehicle safety performance as approaches with conventional right-turn lanes or shared through and right-turn lanes. This result was found both at the downstream end of the channelized right-turn lane (where the right-turning vehicle merges with the cross street traffic) and at the upstream end of the channelized right-turn lane (where the right-turning vehicle begins the right-turn maneuver). Intersection approaches with channelized right-turn lanes also appear to have similar pedestrian safety performance as approaches with shared through and right-turn lanes. Intersection approaches with conventional right-turn lanes have substantially more pedestrian crashes (approximately 70% to 80% more) than approaches with channelized right-turn lanes or shared through and right-turn lanes.