I've had my french driver's license since January and I've been living in Canada (Montréal) since may.
Let me tell you one thing: these intersections are fucking mental compared to french ones. At least turning right on red is forbidden here, which is another insane thing about Canadian roads.
Yes. It’s counterintuitive and pretty dangerous, especially in cities. There’s a reason it’s banned in Montréal, in most big cities, and basically everywhere in Europe.
When people turn right on red, they’re usually watching for cars, not for someone crossing on foot or on a bike. At a stop sign, drivers at least expect to stop — or at least slow way down like everybody does here, I still don't know if you're expected to fully stop or not like you are in France — and check in all directions. A red light is different: it tells people walking or biking that they’re safe to cross. Letting cars move at the same time breaks that trust.
Why should anyone be moving if the light is red? Red means stop. Keep it simple, the road is already dangerous as is.
It may work in a rural environment I guess, I'm not experienced to tell.
Nowhere that I know of where "right on red" is allowed means "yield on red." If you read the above link, you'll see stopping is required in Quebec. In the US, the full phrase is "right on red after stop."
When people turn right on red, they’re usually watching for cars, not for someone crossing on foot or on a bike.
I'm not generalising bad driving to North America am I? So don't make me say things I didn't say.
It was a figure of speech. I know you're supposed to stop, it's literally written stop or arrêt on the sign. What I meant is, nobody does it – and I'm not exaggerating, I never saw a single car fully stop on a stop sign yet. Cars just slow down. I've actually been honked at while crossing the street in front of a car that had a stop sign (it happened once, I'm not saying it happens every time).
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u/NotKrankor 4d ago
I've had my french driver's license since January and I've been living in Canada (Montréal) since may.
Let me tell you one thing: these intersections are fucking mental compared to french ones. At least turning right on red is forbidden here, which is another insane thing about Canadian roads.