D.C.’s no-right-turn-on-red law will have only partial enforcement due to funding shortfall

In 2022, the District of Columbia’s City Council passed a law that bans turning right on red citywide. Transit officials say a lack of money means the rule will be enforced at only some intersections.

The Safer Streets Amendment Act is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1 at the roughly 1,600 intersections across the city. 

The District Department of Transportation says not enough money was allotted to put up signage making the new rule explicit; the $385,000 sign budget wasn’t fulfilled.

“They did not put any resources into it. Now we at DDOT are always going to be focused on making intersections safer, so we have on our own prioritized sections that need it the most and have installed signs there,” DDOT Director Sharon Kershbaum told Fox affiliate WTTG, explaining that the ban will be enforced at only half of the city’s intersections.

The department’s focus on certain intersections echoes how it stood ahead of the bill’s passage. A 2022 report by the Committee on Transportation and the Environment found that DDOT officials opposed the blanket ban on right turns at red lights.

Right turns on red had been banned in 2019 at 100 especially dangerous intersections, according to DCist.