You are stopped at a red light at an intersection where no sign prohibits turning right. Under what conditions may you turn right on red?

Why A is correct

A right turn on red is a conditional permission built on a complete stop: full stop behind the line or crosswalk, then yield to every pedestrian crossing with the walk signal and to all cross traffic holding the green, and only then turn if the way is genuinely clear. The stop is the legal foundation — without it the turn is a red-light violation on its own, regardless of how empty the intersection looked. Permissive-by-default at most junctions, the manoeuvre remains banned wherever a sign says so, and the ban exists where right-on-red geometry is known to be dangerous.

Why the other options are wrong

B. Only when a police officer signals you forward

An officer's signal creates its own authority for any movement, and it is irrelevant to the standing rule. Right-on-red is exercised daily by millions of drivers without anyone waving them forward.

C. Immediately, because right turns are always permitted on red unless a barrier blocks them

Turning without stopping is the conduct the rule was written to prevent: the rolling right-on-red is one of the commonest red-light violations and a pedestrian's most common near miss, because the driver's attention is on the gap in traffic rather than on the crosswalk.

D. After slowing to a rolling pace and checking the mirrors

A rolling pace is not a stop. The legal and practical point of the full halt is that it forces a moment of evaluation at walking speed, exactly where pedestrians are most at risk from a driver scanning traffic instead of the crossing.

On the road

A downtown junction at 8 a.m.: red light, pedestrians stacked on both corners. The driver stops fully — a genuine, weight-back stop — watches the walk signal hold its crowd, and waits out an entire cycle before the crossing empties and the turn happens. Ten seconds of patience, and the pedestrian who arrived late at the corner crossed through the space the car would otherwise have been occupying at speed.

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