Virginia's "Right Turn on Red" Law

What is Virginia's "Right Turn on Red" Law?

One of our PHOTOSafe Program’s public safety and awareness goals is to remind drivers of Virginia’s right turn on red law. It is important for drivers to understand that Chesapeake automated enforcement systems do monitor and will capture violations in the right turn lanes at our photo enforced intersections. Virginia’s right turn on red law is below.

Virginia State Code § 46.2-835. Right turn on steady red light after stopping, states…

“Notwithstanding the provisions of § 46.2-833, except where signs are placed prohibiting turns on steady red, vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal, after coming to a full stop, may cautiously enter the intersection and make a right turn.

Such turning traffic shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to other traffic using the intersection.”

One of the criteria for choosing intersections for photo enforcement cameras is high accident or crash locations. Another consideration is the number of red light running violations occurring at the intersection. Our challenge is to modify driver behavior at the location in order to reduce or eliminate crashes. Our goal is to improve public safety at all of our City intersections. The data has clearly shown that enforcement cameras positively contribute to a reduction in red light running at all of our monitored intersections.

The risks involved when failing to yield the right of way for a pedestrian or another driver and being in a right angle or rear end collision are enormous.

Virginia State Code § 15.2-968.1, Use of Photo-monitoring systems to enforce traffic light signals, provides for the capturing of red light violations under § 46.2-833, 46.2-835, and 46.2-836.

Please contact the PHOTOSafe Program Coordinator, Officer K. A. Byrd, by phone at 757-382-6942 or e-mail us at photosafechesapeake@cityofchesapeake.net if you any questions on Chesapeake’s photo enforcement of the right turn on red law.