Turning left is one of the most dangerous maneuvers a driver can make on the road. According to some studies, about 61% of all accidents at intersections are caused by a left turn. Why? Why? Basically, this gesture sends you into oncoming traffic. Some experts argue that removing them will improve traffic flow and save many lives.

The seriousness of it. These turns often occur at intersections where more cars from different directions meet, and sometimes at considerable speed. This Reverse article noted that 40% of all accidents occur in these areas and 50% result in serious injury and 20% in death. It’s a pretty plausible reason to rethink what’s in them.

How to use. What do we normally do when we want to turn left? Wait until there is enough space for traffic coming from that side. It’s more dependent on the driver’s skill, vision and foresight than anything else. A human error can be fatal. Let’s face it, we’re apprehensive in these situations: We all know what it’s like to be stuck in deep boredom behind a queue of cars waiting to turn left.

The other way? Stopping oncoming traffic and giving left-turning cars their arrows as discussed in this Reverse article. Safer, yes, but the entire intersection is closed for the rest, which slows down the speed.

Image of a common intersection on Spanish roads.

What does science say? Scientists at Penn State University argue that eliminating left turns is the smartest way to fix this mess. a new study published Transport Research Record Try to find the right balance between eliminating these maneuvers without making it difficult for drivers.

And something that has been tried before. In fact, package delivery service UPS changed its delivery routes to minimize drivers’ left turns in 2004 to reduce travel times, fuel consumption, and carbon emissions. Silly as it may seem, the results had very beneficial effects. The company says it saves 37 million liters of fuel per year, 20,000 tons of carbon emissions, and enables them to deliver 350,000 more packages.

How would it work? Just by planning the direction ahead and making more turns to the right. So instead of turning left once, we should turn right three times, turn around the “apple” once. This is not something that cannot be done. Some cities, like San Francisco, already have limited left turns. Is it worth going another 600 meters? Yes, several scientists here have explained that the waiting time is sometimes longer than going farther.

Here’s a sketch of what the turns will look like:

But delete them all? No, not all, because some don’t even cause problems. There are also so many that it would be impossible to finish them all at once. How to proceed? As this article in The Conversation suggests, the answer depends on the city and its casualty: from how the streets are arranged to how much traffic can pick up during rush hour.

But there is one clear conclusion, according to the research: The intersections that need to be removed first are those in town or city centers where there is more traffic and where more vehicles will benefit from a more fluid circulation.