New 'No Turn on Red' signs to be placed in downtown Raleigh
Change is coming to Raleigh soon. The city council voted to stop drivers from turning right on red in the downtown area.
The city will hang new "No turn on red" signs on affected intersections extending from Peace Street in the north as far as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at the south and between Glenwood Avenue and East Street.
This comes after a state employee was hit and killed in a 2019 crash at the intersection of McDowell and Lane streets.
Between March 2022 and March 2023, Raleigh Police Department data shows two pedestrians injured in crashes at the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and West Johnson Street, just south of Peace Street.
According to James Sudano, a senior engineer with the city of Raleigh, “Downtown Raleigh is one of our top areas where we have conflicts with vehicles.”
Diana Sims says she has experienced the consequences of drivers rolling downtown through intersections, and she sees things like this happen all too often.
“They need more lights and signs for people that are in wheelchairs," she said.
Sudano says, “Safety is going to be our top priority over efficiency and that’s what we’re focusing on with this effort.”
Some residents are worried the new limits on right turns on red will create traffic jams or confusion for drivers. And others just simply don’t think it will work.
Kelly Colvin, a hot dog vendor on downtown Raleigh's Fayetteville Street, said he has seen two pedestrians hit in the past year.
“We have a certain percentage of people that follow the rule and a certain percentage that don’t," Colvin says.
Sudano says, “Everyone’s on our mind when it comes to safety."
The city of Raleigh expects to start putting signs up within the next 60 days.
Lisbeth Ramirez, a journalism major at High Point University, contributed this story as part of the 2023 CBC-UNC Diversity Fellowship. Reach her at lramire1@highpoint.edu.
