A new study by the University of Minnesota’s Human Factors Safety Lab indicates that while dedicated right-turn lanes are safer when traffic volume is lower, they still pose a significant risk to pedestrians.

Curtis Craig, a research associate, and Nichole Morris, director of the Human Factors Safety Lab studied dedicated right-turn lanes and right-turn through lanes in Saint Paul, Minnesota, using both in-person observation and video recordings.

In addition, the researchers conducted an urban driving simulation study with participants driving and turning through both simulated lane types.

Their findings indicate that the number of lanes and traffic volume increased the risk to pedestrians from right-turning vehicles.

Higher-volume intersections with dedicated right-turn lanes were riskier to pedestrians in terms of yielding rates, while the dedicated right-turn lanes at lower-volume sites were safer than their right-turn through-lane counterparts in terms of yielding likelihood.

The researchers also found that dedicated right-turn lanes were associated with fewer high-speed turns, and that right-turn through lanes were associated with wider turns in both the field data and simulation data.

Their findings suggest that intersections with dedicated right-turn lanes pose some risk to pedestrians at higher-volume intersections for stopping rates, while dedicated right-turn lanes were likely safer for pedestrians than right-turn through-lane counterparts at lower-volume intersections.

The project was sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB).