Red Arrow

There has never been any confusion in my mind about the meaning of the red arrow traffic signal. How much more obvious can it be....It's a red arrow pointing in the direction you want to go, meaning you can't turn on a red arrow. The answer is simple, or is it.

My world was turned upside down the other day when a passenger (work colleague) in my car said that you can turn right on a red arrow. I should have tossed her out of the car for that type of lunacy, however, I completely dismissed her opinion. Reason one for the dismissal was that this person seems like the kind of person that thinks rules are only suggestions, and secondly, because I knew I was right. I told my colleague that we should bring this topic up at our team dinner that we were on our way to. It was agreed.

When the dicsussion was brought up, everyone had their own opinion, including you can treat it like a regular red light, you can never turn on a red arrow, and "I think your not supposed to turn, but I do anyway." You can imagine the review I'm going to right for the person with the last comment :)

Anyway, I took it upon myself to do some research for each person at the table (since we were all from different states). Here is what I found. Oh yeah...I know that this may be boring to you... but getting to the bottom of these things is important to me :) All the information below is factual(not in the Dan Brown sense), taken from each State's Department of Motor Vehicle website.

Quick Summary if you don't have the patience to read the blurbs below: All states say you cannot turn on a red arrow, except Massachusetts (go figure), who says treat it like a regular red light.

New York - RED ARROW: Do not go in the direction of the arrow until the red arrow light goes out and a green light or arrow light goes on. A right or left turn on red is not permitted at a red arrow.

New Jersey - New Jersey must not have any Red Arrows...there is no mention of them in their manual.

Pennsylvania - Although not common in Pennsylvania, a red arrow is frequently used in many other states. It means that you may not turn in the direction that the arrow points.

Massachusetts - Steady Ready Arrow - A Steady Red Arrow means the same as a steady red, circular signal, but a steady red arrow applies only to vehicles intending to proceed in the direction of the arrow. The same rules for turning on red apply.

Illinois - RED ARROW: The red arrow means do not make the movement shown by the arrow until a green arrow appears. You may make a right turn at a red arrow or a left turn at a red arrow when turning from a one-way street onto another one-way street that has traffic moving to the left. In both instances, drivers must come to a complete stop and yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic and pedestrians before proceeding.

Georgia - Georgia must not have any Red Arrows...there is no mention of them in their manual.