Councillor Shawn Cleary will put forward a motion to propose staff study the idea

A Halifax councillor wants to explore the idea of banning right-hand turns at red lights.

When Halifax Regional Municipality's transportation standing committee meets Thursday afternoon, Shawn Cleary will put forward a motion to propose staff study the idea.

"My motion is very broad. It gives staff the opportunity to look at doing it blanket, for example Montreal where pretty much at every intersection you're not allowed to turn right on red, but it also gives them the opportunity to look at should we restrict them where there's concentrations of pedestrians, so around schools, libraries and other public spaces," he said.

He added another option would be to prohibit certain types of vehicles from turning.

According to the agenda item, the latest monthly statistics on pedestrian-vehicle collisions in Halifax shows that around 20 per cent of pedestrians get hit by right turning vehicles.

Although the data doesn't break down whether or not those collisions happened at red lights, Cleary said every idea on reducing pedestrian collisions is worth exploring.

"If we don't do anything, we know we just keep hitting pedestrians while making right-hand turn movements," he said. "If we do something, there's going to be an impact. What's the cost, what's the benefit and which one outweighs which?"

In 2017, HRM passed the Integrated Mobility Plan which prioritized active transportation, including pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.

Cleary believes making the municipality more pedestrian-friendly benefits everyone.

"If you're a driver ... you're not always a driver. Even if you're just driving down to the store, you get out of your car, and the time you're walking down the street to the store, you're a pedestrian, so why wouldn't you want to make yourself safe?"