Turn right free for cyclists

Traffic light with additional light sign "Right turn for cyclists free" in Bordeaux

Turning right free for cyclists is a traffic sign or light sign and denotes the permission for cyclists to turn right even when the traffic light is red.

background

Due to the right- hand driving law , wheel lanes are usually created on the right-hand side of the road . Cyclists wishing to turn right are usually to the right of the vehicle lane. When turning, they only cross pedestrian streams. The cyclist has to give way to pedestrians passing parallel to the direction of travel . However, motor vehicle flows are not affected if there is sufficient distance between the wheel lane and the motor vehicle lane. When the cyclist passes the traffic light in the red phase, he crosses pedestrian traffic that is passing at right angles instead of parallel traffic. Under certain circumstances, there are no more conflicts than in the normal case (turning green).

In Germany, cyclists are generally allowed to turn right at red if they are moving entirely on cycle paths, lead them past the vehicle traffic lights on the right and any cycle traffic lights or their stop line are only beyond the turning curve; Pedestrian and bicycle traffic crossing each other are conditionally compatible .

In the Netherlands, where almost all large and medium-sized roads have cycle lanes, this turning is also prohibited on a cycle lane. Until recently, there were very few cycle paths in France. The legislators in the Netherlands and France have therefore decided that the municipalities may allow cyclists to turn right even when the traffic light is red. In 2012, this option was also introduced on a trial basis in Brussels.

Situation by country

Belgium

After a short and successful pilot phase in Brussels , the French regulation was officially adopted in Belgium on September 25, 2012, with the same signs as Panneaux B22 and B23 in Belgium.

Germany

German green arrow sign for cycling

In 2020, the sign 721 with the meaning "Green arrow sign with restriction to bicycle traffic" was introduced in Germany. Similar to the green arrow , the sign does not release you from the obligation to stop when it is red. Any obstruction or danger to pedestrian and vehicle traffic must be excluded. The general administrative regulation for road traffic regulations states conditions and numerous exclusions, in which places the green arrow can be placed.

history

In May 2014 in Göttingen, the mayoral candidate of the Pirate Party, Katharina Simon, displayed red traffic lights with modified green arrows for cyclists and pedestrians on election campaign posters. It was suggested to test new traffic signs in Göttingen and to introduce them nationwide. In addition to signposted clearances for core hours at night, Simon also suggested clearing for cyclists to turn right.

In April 2015, the SPD parliamentary group applied to the Munich city council that the city should lobby the German Association of Cities and the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure for the green arrow (StVO sign 720) to be introduced specifically for cyclists in accordance with the pilot project in Basel.

In June 2015, stickers appeared on traffic lights in Osnabrück that showed a green arrow for bicycles, had been attached by strangers and were removed again by the police for reasons of road safety.

In July 2015, the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf submitted an application, which was then referred to the district committee for economy, order and traffic. The district office should lobby the Senate of Berlin for the creation of a corresponding opportunity for cyclists, "analogous to the green arrow".

On September 25, 2015, a proposal that was closely related to the SPD proposal in Munich and submitted by the pirate faction was rejected by a majority in the Göttingen city council . Four days later, following a positive response from the administration, the SPD application was approved in Munich and the city was commissioned to initiate the appropriate measures in the city council. The applications from Munich and Göttingen were used at the end of September as the basis for a request from the Pirate Group to the administration in Cologne . On October 27, 2015, a motion submitted by seven parliamentary groups was unanimously decided in the Cologne Transport Committee to initiate a pilot project .

Council politicians from different parties in different cities made further attempts between September 2015 and July 2017:

SPD and Greens in Dortmund in September 2015,
Left in Hamburg in November 2015 and in Hameln in February 2016,
CDU in Wiesbaden in November 2016,
SPD and Greens in Düsseldorf in April 2017,
SPD in Nuremberg in June 2017, as well
the green alternative list in Bamberg in July 2017.

On December 8, 2016, the new state government made up of the SPD, the Left and the Greens in Berlin decided on a coalition agreement that describes a pilot project for turning right at red as follows:

“In the second half of the legislative period, the coalition will carry out a pilot project 'Green Arrow for Cyclists' for a period of two years. In a clearly delimited, not highly dense urban area, traffic lights are specially signposted to enable cyclists to turn right or drive straight ahead at T-junctions. The traffic situation must allow this despite the red light. "

- SPD, Die Linke, Bündnis90 / Die Grünen in the House of Representatives : coalition agreement of December 8, 2016

Green arrow only for cyclists in Cologne, 2019

In 2019, the Federal Ministry of Transport examined whether a right turn at red traffic lights should be allowed by a new traffic sign to be introduced. A one-year pilot test was carried out at a total of 40 signalized intersections in the cities of Bamberg , Darmstadt , Düsseldorf , Cologne , Leipzig , Munich , Münster , Reutlingen and Stuttgart . In addition, Berlin , which failed to apply for participation in the pilot test, officially declared on April 5, 2019 that it would take part in the test with five crossings at its own expense. For this purpose, the existing traffic sign 270 "Green Arrow" was combined with the addition "Bicycle traffic only".

The Federal Ministry of Transport included the green arrow for cycling in the amendment to the StVO in 2020 . The Federal Council approved the change on February 14, 2020, so that the regulation came into force on April 28. The lobby association Fuss eV criticized that the innovation would unnecessarily endanger foot traffic.

France

In France the regulation is known as "Tourne à droite cycliste" . After a two-year pilot phase in the cities of Bordeaux , Nantes and Strasbourg , the new regulation became official on January 12, 2012. Since then, French municipalities have been able to put flashing traffic lights (see picture) or a traffic sign showing a yellow bicycle on a give-way sign. The French legal situation also allows driving straight ahead in red, if a corresponding traffic sign is arranged. This regulation will mainly be used at T-junctions on the cross-free side, where cyclists only cross pedestrian crossings. The Paris “Plan Vélo” (cycling strategy) provides that in the Parisian quarters, i. H. in the secondary road network, the aforementioned regulations should become the standard.

Traffic sign M12a »turn right at red« free in Bordeaux
Traffic sign M12b »Straight ahead at red« free in Bordeaux

Netherlands

In the Netherlands the regulation is called "rechtsaf voor fietsers vrij" (turn right free for cyclists) and was established in 1990 with the amendment of the Dutch traffic law in § 3 Art. 68 sentence 5 Wegenverkeerswet. Since then, the municipalities have been able to put up signs or light signals with white text on a blue background.

Switzerland

Signs "turn right for cyclists free" in Basel as part of the pilot test "bicycle-friendly traffic lights"

In mid-June 2013, the pilot test "Bicycle-friendly traffic light systems" started in Basel, in which, among other things, the right turn at red should be examined. At the corresponding traffic lights, a small square sign with a yellow bicycle sign on a black background and a right arrow underneath shows cyclists that they are allowed to turn red. Cyclists do not need to stop before turning (no stop sign regulation), but must give way to pedestrians. To convey this, the traffic sign described uses yellow instead of green as the signal color (in contrast to the German green arrow rule).

Traffic signs from Basel

At the beginning of 2015, the Basel Office for Mobility, due to the success of the pilot phase, applied to the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) to extend the pilot test. After FEDRO gave the green light for this, the pilot test was expanded by eight to 12 intersections and continued until December 2016. At the same time, the building and traffic department of the canton of Basel-Stadt applied to the federal government for an amendment to the Swiss Road Traffic Act, which should enable the cantons to introduce red-right turns for cyclists.

The results of the traffic test are to be published in April. No accidents between cyclists and pedestrians were known during the entire study period. The interim results indicate that traffic morale with regard to driving straight ahead has improved.