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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indianapolis Department of Public Works started installing no-turn-on-red signs at nearly 100 downtown intersections on Thursday, a process city officials said is likely to take several weeks.
The signs are the result of a recently approved ordinance that aims to boost public safety by decreasing the number of pedestrians and cyclists hit by drivers. According to a study conducted by city engineers, 56.7% of vehicle-pedestrian collisions downtown over a five-year period were at stoplights where drivers failed to yield. Outside of downtown, that percentage is just 25%.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department reported a record 40 pedestrian fatalities in 2022 throughout the city.
At IBJ—which has its offices downtown—we are skeptical that the change will mean big improvements in public safety. We recently advocated that some of downtown’s one-way streets be converted to two-ways, especially if part of Monument Circle is closed (something we can also support). Two-way streets are more likely to slow down traffic, which in turn could improve public safety. They could also help make up for some of the inconvenience of the new no-turn-on-red rules.
However, we are not traffic engineers or safety specialists. And so we’re giving the experts the benefit of the doubt as they implement the ordinance.
But we urge the Department of Public Works to keep studying the data to see whether the no-turn-on-red rules are indeed improving public safety. If the change doesn’t do so, it might be worth returning to the convenience of turning when traffic allows. And it would certainly mean there’s little reason to expand the no-turn rules to more areas of the city.
Most important, though, we support putting decisions about things like stoplights and traffic control in the hands of local officials. Not everyone thinks that is the best way to go.
This spring, after learning the City-County Council was working on a no-turn ordinance, Republican state Sen. Aaron Freeman amended an unrelated bill with a provision to stop the council’s efforts, which he told IBJ were “astronomically dumb.”
After Freeman’s bill passed, the ordinance’s sponsors—Council President Vop Osili, Vice President Zach Adamson and councilor Kristin Jones—pulled the proposal, thinking the state law would preempt it. But the state law, which passed in April, didn’t go into effect until July 1, which gave the city time to pass the ordinance and be grandfathered in.
Whatever we think about the ordinance, it’s right that city officials made the decision. Residents who disagree with the ordinance know whom to call to express their frustration, they can attend a council meeting to participate in the process, and they can vote in the November election for candidates who support their position.
That’s much tougher to do when it’s the Indiana General Assembly making the call—just like it’s tough to hold Congress accountable for decisions federal lawmakers make about state issues.
So if you don’t like the no-turn-on-red rules, you know what to do. Contact the Mayor’s Office and your city-county councilor. If you love it, do the same.•
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