Brisbane City Council outraged at Qld government’s decision to scrap left-turn-on-red road rule

A popular road rule designed to cut congestion and reduce travel times will be scrapped in a move a local council has slammed.

The Queensland government’s decision to scrap an eight-year trial that allowed motorists to turn left on a red light has been slammed by the Brisbane City Council.

All 17 left-turn-on-red signs scattered around Brisbane will be removed by June 30, the state transport department has decreed.

The announcement has been met with outrage by the Lord Mayor and his councillors who say the decision has been made “without evidence or explanation to motorists”.

Brisbane City Council infrastructure chair David McLachlan said the department needed to explain to Brisbane drivers why it was outlawing the “popular initiative” that continued to be used in other Australian states.

“Motorists really appreciate the left-turn-on-red rule at appropriate intersections,” Mr McLachlan said.

“It cuts congestion and reduces travel times.

“It makes no sense for the department to now decree that this trial, which has been operating successfully since November 2013, must suddenly end.”

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey said there was too significant a risk to pedestrians and cyclists. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the trial was ending because “the safety risks to pedestrians aren’t worth the tiny travel time savings they deliver”.

“A QUT study found motorists using them might save up to nine seconds but that the left-turn-on-red rule increased the safety risk to road users, including pedestrians, at the 17 intersections that have the trial in place,” Mr Bailey said.

“A review by my department also found the left-turn-on-red rule directly caused two crashes that resulted in people requiring medical treatment.”

Mr Bailey said research into similar operations elsewhere in Australia, as well as overseas, had found similar safety problems, particularly “the increased risk of serious crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists”.

“Apart from South Australia, each jurisdiction in Australia has removed, or is in the process of removing, the majority of their left-turn-on-red sites and are not introducing any new ones,” Mr Bailey said.

“Quite simply, the left-turn-on-red rule makes intersections less safe, and we make no apology for a decision that puts the safety of road users, including pedestrians and bike riders, first.”

Former Brisbane mayor Graham Quirk in 2013 when the left-turn-on-red trial began in Brisbane. Picture: Russell Brown.

Mr McLachlan said traffic figures indicates motorists had used the left-turn-on-red rule about 15 million times, and the removal of the signage without adequate community awareness could be dangerous.

“Many motorists would have been using left turn on red intersections for years,” he said.

“Suddenly, removing them without warning could result in motorists being fined for behaviour that was legal days before or worse.

“I call on the department to rethink this decision or at the very least provide Brisbane residents with the detail evidence necessary to support it.”

The trial, which started in 2013, originally had around 50 sites, but Brisbane City Council removed many of them in 2018 due to safety concerns.

Originally published as Brisbane City Council outraged at Qld government’s decision to scrap left-turn-on-red road rule