Left On Red In Some Circumstances Could Become Legal In Missouri

Missouri is one of the few states in America that currently prohibit all left turns on red. That could change later this year if the Missouri legislature passes a proposed bill.

According to the Springfield News-Leader, many states allow a left turn at a red light when you're on a one-way street turning onto another one-way street. Some states even allow the left on red when turning onto a one-way street from a two-way street. That's not the case currently in Missouri, where all left turns on red are prohibited.

"This bill allows drivers, when following certain criteria, to turn left after stopping at a red light on a one-way street," according to a summary from the Missouri House of Representatives website.

The advantage, according to  St. Joseph Police Sgt. James Tonn in an article on the News-Press Now website says the result of the new law if enacted would be that motorists might save a little bit of travel time. He also told the paper it's a law that doesn't have a downside and just makes perfect sense.

Passage of the law, however, isn't ensured. A quick google search told me it has been brought up before, like in 2018 and 2021. Yet making a left in Missouri is just plain illegal.

I get why the bill hasn't passed. It's just not a big deal. Sure if you happen to drive down a one-way street and make a left on another one-way street, it might save you a minute or two, at most. Yet how many of us, actually come across this with any regularity? Only once, in the Quad Cities, did my route take me regularly where I made a left from a one-way street to another one-way street.

Yet, as Sgt. Tonn said, if it's a law without a downside, then you'd think they'd just pass it and move on. At least to me, that seems the easiest thing to do.