AAA<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light.\u201d To Woody Allen<\/a>\u2019s New Yorker audience and sensibilities, it was a withering critique. But to every native son of Southern California, it remains a chest-thumping source of pride: the right turn on red<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve just returned to Sydney after my first visit to the city of my birth \u2013 Long Beach, California \u2013 since I became an Australian citizen last year. I pledged my loyalty, under God, to Australia and its people, and I meant it. Australia is \u201chome\u201d now, and while away there was much that I was eager to return to (not least the way we treat one another). But to be loyal is to be constructive, and I have some good, constructive American critique for my new homeland: we need to embrace the \u201cright\u201d turn on red (which in our case is a left).<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sensational bit of public freedom that every Aussie should be able to enjoy.<\/p>\n Imagine this: you are driving about the city, fighting the traffic and the stress is mounting. Just as you approach an upcoming intersection, ready to hang a left \u2013 botheration! \u2013 amber and then red, and this even though the cross street is not busy. You come to a complete stop. But instead of staring blankly into the middle distance as your finite mortal seconds tick by, you carefully peer right, and note that no cross traffic is coming. Then, you responsibly check the pedestrian crossings in front of you and to your left, and observe that all pedestrians are safely clear of the road.<\/p>\n Related Article Then, magnificence incarnate, you are entrusted by your society to make this safe left-hand turn all under the power of your own good judgment, without the light ever having changed back to green. Bliss!<\/p>\n Fellow citizens of Australia, we need this freedom \u2013 and not merely, as it stands, at a handful of scattered intersections with a \u201cleft turn on red permitted after stopping\u201d sign. No, on all of them! I put it to Chris Minns, Jacinta Allan and their fellow premiers. Minns raised the speed in tunnels<\/a>; let\u2019s roll on to another great driving reform!<\/p>\n The advantages go on and on. First, though the turn on red is often thought to be the preserve of wide roads and mid-century grids (such as Long Beach), it has perhaps even more usefulness on our narrow and congested roads. How often are our pre-modern streets one lane short of being able to handle all three of left-turning, right-turning and straight-on traffic? Sydney\u2019s Cleveland Street and the Eastern Distributor \u2013 need I say more? Letting a left-turning car make a responsible escape clears the way for through-traffic behind, and as an added environmental advantage, shaves petrol-burning idling off a journey every time it happens.<\/p>\n Widespread turn on red would also say something important about our values as a culture \u2013 a case of personal responsibility over burgeoning safetyism. Even in the automotive Shangri-La that is Southern California (home to the world\u2019s longest car park, the 405 freeway), some seek to abolish the turn on red in highly urban areas in the name of increasing pedestrian safety. But that\u2019s an argument for the perfectly effective \u201cno turn on red\u201d sign where conditions require it, not for taking away the opportunity for responsible judgment from all the other intersections.<\/p>\n Related Article There is a lot of talk lately about cohesion and the restoration of social trust. This, I think, is the best argument for the left turn on red. We should want to live in a society where we can trust one another to make decisions that have serious weight to them. It is a tiny example of the fact that we don\u2019t need, and shouldn\u2019t want, government guardrails to mediate every interpersonal interaction. Far better to make the decision to trust one another and then act consistently in a manner that deserves it.<\/p>\n As an immigrant to this great nation, I proffer the fruits of my culture: the left turn on red. It\u2019s freedom. It\u2019s responsibility. It\u2019s a victory for the dignity and judgment of every driver each time they do it safely.<\/p>\n Antone Martinho-Truswell is an author, evolutionary biologist and cultural commentator at the University of Sydney. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Should](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/85654bf05d0bed167f9c733e3feb8e316e3e9bd41b9716a71d3f0c0a96e75142.jpeg\")
Should this be the rule rather than the exception? A an example of a left turn at a red light being allowed in Brisbane. The driver must ensure pedestrians who have a green walk signal are clear, and other traffic has passed, before turning. Brisbane City Council, YouTube<\/p>\n![\"Don't](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fdb95f896198e8833519eaba1eaa3641cde48675.jpeg\")
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