Right turn on red? Not so fast.

Turning right on a red light is part of the driving landscape in all 50 states, but school buses generally wait for green.

Many states prohibit a right turn on red for a school bus, but Florida’s Manatee County just started a pilot program that lets drivers of the district’s 150 buses go right on red, potentially saving 10 to 20 minutes per route.

While this one change might cut valuable minutes off a bus route, in some places it’s not as simple as it sounds.

Link to main story: Schools pursue better directions

“In Boston, there are too many one-way streets to make right turn on red work for school buses” says Will Eger, strategic project manager in the Boston Public Schools’ finance department.

In other words, the seconds you save by going right might be eaten up by complicating the navigation.

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Brian Nadel is a freelance writer in Pelham, New York.

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