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Will restricting right turns on red at dangerous intersections make Indianapolis safer for pedestrians, drivers and bicyclists?
Hopefully, we can all agree that someone should be able to walk or bicycle and make it home safely in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, we have a pedestrian and bicycle safety crisis with no end in sight. One recent week, July 24-30, there were 20 pedestrian/bicycle crashes, nearly three per day. July 2023 had 74 crashes (four fatalities), a 30% increase over July 2022 (this doesn’t include motor-vehicle-only crashes).
Data supports no turn on red. After turning right on red became legal nationwide, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found permitting right turns on red increased pedestrian crashes 60% and bike crashes 100%. The 2016 Indianapolis/Marion County Pedestrian Plan recommended no turn on red in the downtown area to address pedestrian crashes. A May 2023 study shows drivers’ attention to non-motorized road users is compromised in urban areas.
In addition to saving lives, there is an economic benefit to making Indianapolis more walkable, especially downtown. Walkable urban areas (just 1.2% of land mass of the 35 largest U.S. metropolitan areas) generate 20% of U.S. gross domestic product.
No turn on red is a small step in the right direction, but there are many effective solutions to help address traffic violence. Leading pedestrian intervals, daylighting intersections and raising crosswalks all are effective, more so in conjunction with no turn on red.
The Mayor and City-County Council are allocating significant funding for more greenways, which is great for quality of life for those who can access them, but this will not address the high injury network and high crash intersections identified in the 2022 Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Action Plan.
Design determines driver behavior: 60% of crashes occur on 15% of roads. We know where crashes are occurring (IndyMPO Crash Data Dashboard and Indypedcrisis.info). We know how to fix traffic violence (Federal Highway Administration safety countermeasures). We just need to do it. This requires political will to address traffic violence by allocating funds to fix the roads where 60% of crashes occur, an efficient use of resources.
Cities that have solved traffic violence include Hoboken, New Jersey, which has had zero traffic fatalities since 2018 due to infrastructure changes, and Cincinnati, where pedestrian crashes decreased after the city funded a pedestrian safety team and dedicated $8 million (up from $1 million) to the initiative.
What safety measures are the best? NYC studied this and found substantial reductions in serious injuries and fatalities for all roadway users after installing projects like road diets, pedestrian islands, curb extensions and leading pedestrian intervals—all on the order of 30% or more.
No turn on red is a small victory, but in the big picture, we should do everything possible to make it safer for people to walk and bicycle in Indianapolis. It is a solvable crisis. The question is, will we do it?•
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Schmucker is advocacy director for Bicycle Garage Indy. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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