Indy installed no-turn-on-red signs at downtown intersections. Are drivers obeying them?

INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Indianapolis police issued 41 tickets over six months for no-turn-on-red violations, according to data obtained by Mirror Indy through a public records request. 

The pace of violations, recorded since the city restricted turns at 97 downtown intersections, amounts to an average of about seven tickets per month. 

Two pedestrian advocates told Mirror Indy they would like to see more enforcement, but city officials said the number of tickets issued is only one metric — and not the most indicative of success when it comes to pedestrian safety measures.

“Their desired effect was not to increase (the) number of tickets issued by IMPD. It was to ensure the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists in the Mile Square,” Vop Osili, the Democratic president of Indianapolis City-County Council, said in an emailed statement to Mirror Indy.

He added, though, that “the number of tickets that IMPD issues shows that they are enforcing this.”

More than half of the infractions were given out within one block of Monument Circle, part of which was closed to traffic last year and turned into a pedestrian green space as part of Spark on the Circle. The effort to implement turn restrictions comes after a record number of pedestrians and cyclists — 47 — were killed by drivers on Indianapolis streets in 2023, according to Indy Pedestrian Safety Crisis, a citizen-led advocacy group.

Under pressure from pedestrian safety advocates, city officials announced a plan in April 2023 to restrict turns at red lights in the downtown area.

The policy change followed a study from the Indianapolis Department of Public Works that looked at a five-year history of pedestrian-related crashes in the downtown area. It found that 57% of were the result of vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians at intersections with traffic signals.

Data also showed that downtown pedestrians were more than twice as likely to be involved in a crash compared to pedestrians in the rest of Marion County.

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‘It feels low’

Forty-one tickets over a six-month period “doesn’t seem like a lot,” said Connie Szabo Schmucker, advocacy director for Bicycle Garage Indy, though she agrees with city officials that no-turn-on-red signs are “a very small part of what can and should be done to improve pedestrian safety.”

Schmucker says she’s concerned less about enforcement and more on pressuring city officials to make structural changes to dangerous roadways.

“No turn on red is one of the lowest bars of bicyclist and pedestrian safety,” Schmucker said. “There’s a lot of infrastructure things that can be done to calm traffic with great success.”

Jeffrey Tompkins, an urban planner and pedestrian safety advocate, said that right-turn restrictions “are just one tool in the toolkit,” though he would like to see more tickets issued.

“I think the signs have had some effect, but you probably would like to see some more enforcement,” Tompkins said. “I saw seven turns on red this morning riding my bike into the office.”

How did we get here?

Discussions about right turns on red are part of a wider push by advocates to make Indy’s streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists concerned about the rising rate of fatal crashes.

Tompkins is pushing for the city to adopt a “Vision Zero” policy, which strives to eliminate pedestrian and cyclist deaths altogether.

“I think that we’re getting to a tipping point where the city needs to commit to vision zero before more people get killed,” Tompkins said. “I would recommend to my colleagues and my councilors (that) to help prevent more people dying, we need to have actionable and implementable steps we can take right now that will save lives.”

Eastside groups concerned about fast-moving cars and shuttered businesses led the city to use federal funds to convert portions of Michigan and New York streets to two-way traffic, an effort meant to improve safety and encourage economic development. Earlier this year, the city converted five blocks of College Avenue between St. Clair and Market streets to two-way traffic.

A community-led effort in Community Heights to slow down traffic along a mile-long stretch of East 10th Street using temporary barriers resulted in a 73% decrease in crashes.

City officials remain adamant that the right turn restrictions will have a similar impact.

“Additional signage is just one tool in the toolbox for Indy DPW’s traffic engineers, who all have a very clear directive: get all of our residents more safely from Point A to Point B,” said Kyle Bloyd, spokesperson for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. “However, with unprecedented downtown development and the data to support the policy we are confident that No Turn on Red will lead to a safer downtown for both current residents, visitors and all of the incoming residents.”

The city’s plans were nearly thwarted by Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, after he added language to a bill in 2023 to prevent the city from installing no-turn-on-red signs. 

Freeman, who was a city-county councilor from 2010 to 2016, argued that the policy would “create confusion and congestion” and “won’t stop distracted, reckless or aggressive driving.”

The bill became law, but it didn’t go into effect until July of 2023, and the city was able to pass an ordinance in June — weeks before the state law went into effect.

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In the 2024 legislative session, Freeman returned to the issue. He offered an amendment to his Senate Bill 52, which would have banned dedicated lanes for the Blue Line for one year, that would postpone installation of any more no-turn-on-red signs until July 1, 2025. The bill died after House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, agreed to shelve the legislation after city and state officials reportedly reached a compromise.

As part of that deal, city officials agreed not to put up any more no-turn-on-red signs until July 2025.

Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.