Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Will restricting right turns on red at dangerous intersections make Indianapolis safer for pedestrians, drivers and bicyclists?
All Hoosiers should be able to live in a safe and flourishing community. At a time when we are experiencing unacceptable levels of violent crime, should implementing policies that are going to congest the streets of Indianapolis really be a priority?
Indianapolis leaders must think so, since the City-County Council adopted an ordinance that will prohibit all drivers from turning on red in the downtown area.
Targeting drivers who turn on red is not a guarantee to keep pedestrians safe. In fact, it is likely to create confusion and congestion on the roads and might even generate unsafe road conditions. It is hard to distinguish causes for turn-on-red incidents, especially since the proposed policy won’t stop distracted, reckless or aggressive driving. Those driving behaviors happen regardless of whether someone is turning right at a red or green light.
Further, not all drivers who use the freedom to turn right on red are causing accidents. In fact, data presented to the City-County Council suggested that 1.4% of the total car accidents in Indianapolis within the past nine years were a result of turns on red.
Advocates of the policy highlighted the pedestrian crashes that occurred from 2010-2019 when proposing this policy. However, the data presented in the City-County Council meeting on June 5 refers to 37 right-turn-caused crashes out of a total of 2,652 incidents. One councilor even pointed out that, of the 37 crashes reported, no data reveals whether the accident happened when the driver was at a red or green light. The data does not exist, nullifying the city’s reasoning behind the policy.
None of us want Indianapolis pedestrians to be concerned about their safety in a crosswalk, but safer communities go beyond stoplights. The crime in this city should be what concerns our city-county councilors. They should focus their efforts on cracking down on crime and encouraging our prosecutor to prosecute criminals.
Some people suggest our police can’t be trusted, and those same advocates are urging the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to be sidelined. Ironically, these same people want IMPD to enforce this new ordinance, but aren’t focused on letting the police stop criminals, hostile panhandlers, etc., that present an actual danger to residents.
I don’t want our residents to live in a city where they are afraid of getting hit by a car when they have the right of way to cross the street, but is a sweeping policy that bans all turns on red really the answer? I think we should use more common sense, allow the police to do their jobs and ticket reckless drivers.•
__________
Freeman is a former Indianapolis City-County councilor and now represents parts of Indianapolis in the state Senate. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
Click here for more Forefront columns.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
When you’re wrong, you can’t debate the facts – so why not change the topic and attack the police instead?
You are an idiot and an embarrassment to yourself.