Update 10/5: The Council passed the Safer Intersections bill 12-1 on Tuesday.

The bill bans right turns at all red lights in the District by 2025. It also allows cyclists to run stop signs–but not red lights– if the intersection is clear of pedestrians and vehicles.

If the bill is signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and approved by Congress, the cycling law change would likely go into effect next spring.

Councilmember Trayon White was the lone “no” vote against the bill. He previously said he was concerned about how banning right on red could increase congestion.

“This bill is a significant expansion of our toolbox to end traffic injuries and fatalities in the District,” Councilmember Brianne Nadeau said during the council meeting.

Original story: The D.C. Council is closer to making two big changes to traffic laws in the city.

Lawmakers voted 13-0 Tuesday in support of the Safer Intersections Act, a bill that bans right turns at all red lights by 2025 and allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs if the intersection is clear of pedestrians and vehicles.

The measure still needs a second and final vote, along with approval from Mayor Muriel Bowser and Congress before it becomes law. The cost to make the changes would also need to be funded in D.C.’s upcoming budgets.

Banning right turns on red

If the bill becomes law, D.C. would be the second city in the U.S. to ban right turns on red; the practice is also illegal in New York City. Most European and Asian countries do not allow drivers to turn right at intersections when the light is red.

Turning right on red first became widespread in the United States during a fuel shortage in the 1970s, but the bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), says it’s safer for pedestrians if drivers don’t have that option.

“The engineers, the advocates, and other community members looking at this all agree that prohibiting right turns on red at intersections is appropriate,” she said.

A USDOT study found that “while the share of total crashes, injuries, and fatalities resulting from right turns on red is relatively low, crashes involving vehicles turning right on red disproportionately harm pedestrians and people riding bikes. And when these crashes do occur, they usually result in injury.”

The bill gives the D.C. Department of Transportation two years to plan for the change, launch a public education campaign, adjust signal timing, and make other infrastructure changes as needed. DDOT can choose to allow right turns on red lights at specific intersections if a study determines it is safer. A sign would have to be posted to signal that right turns on red are allowed.

DDOT didn’t support a universal ban on right turns on red at all 1,700 signalized intersections. Instead, the agency wanted to continue to implement no-turn-on-red at selected intersections following case-by-case analysis, according to the council’s committee report on the bill. The District banned the practice at 100 dangerous intersections in 2019. A study found that it made intersections safer and resulted in generally reduced conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.

Many councilmembers applauded the proposed law, but noted true change comes with the enforcement of the law.

“We can say all day long, ‘You can’t turn right on red’ [but nothing changes without enforcement],” Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At Large) said. “There is an intersection that I go through daily on 13th Street and Kansas, where it very clearly says ‘No right on red’ —  there’s even a turn arrow that’s red — that people blow through all the time.

“And unfortunately, there are too many near misses in terms of individuals who are crossing… families, workers, seniors,” she said.

Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) said he was concerned about how the change may affect the flow of traffic and cause backups in some areas. The AAA auto group says banning right on red would create more congestion and frustration and make the roads less safe. Council Chair Phil Mendelson similarly wanted to know the impact. 

The ‘Idaho stop’

The bill’s other notable provision, known colloquially as the Idaho stop, allows cyclists, scooter riders, and other mobility devices to treat stop signs as yield signs if they slow down, yield the right of way to pedestrians and others in the intersection, and “determine there is no immediate hazard.”

Idaho first passed this law in the 1980s, hence why it’s called the Idaho stop. Idaho saw a 13% decrease in bike crashes after the law was passed. Delaware passed a similar law five years ago and saw a 23% decrease in bike crashes. Nine states total allow the practice.

The maneuver allows cyclists to better conserve energy and carry their momentum without stopping and re-starting as often. It also protects riders from getting rear-ended by a driver who may not be paying attention or accelerates too quickly after a stop.

Many cyclists already use the Idaho stop, and it appears the current law requiring them to stop is rarely enforced. Vehicles also rarely come to a full stop at stop signs as the law requires.

About a quarter of people who testified during the public hearing were against the Idaho stop. Cheh said some people “don’t like cyclists and don’t like how they behave no matter what.” Advocates like the Washington Area Bicyclist Association have noted that a vehicle cannot stop as fast as a bike and does much more damage than a bike.

That’s not to say cyclists are perfect — they do and have hit pedestrians in intersections, others pointed at the public hearing this summer.

Cheh said many were concerned about the bill’s more controversial provision that allowed cyclists to treat red lights as stop signs. That was removed because it “gave DDOT anxiety,” Cheh said.

Councilmember Janeese Lewis-George (D-Ward 4) said she wasn’t sure the Idaho stop would make the city safer. “[My residents] have concerns about poor visibility at many of our Ward 4 intersections that have odd angles,” she said. “It can make it hard for bikers to fully assess the danger.”

Will the changes reduce traffic fatalities?

The District has been wrestling with increasing traffic fatalities in recent years, with 40 people getting killed on the streets last year. So far, 24 have been killed this year. The council, Bowser, and DDOT have tried a number of remedies to fix the issue, but nothing has reduced the statistics.

Mendelson ultimately voted for the bill but wanted to see an analysis on whether banning right turns at red lights would actually address the problems. “We’ve been doing thing after thing after thing and we’re getting more accidents, more fatalities in this city,” he said. “We’re going the wrong way… and that’s what concerns me.”

A racial equity analysis by the Council Office on Racial Equity determined that the broader bill would have measurable impacts on Black and Latino residents, who are “disproportionately represented in traffic fatalities in the District.”

“Implementing street infrastructure and traffic rules proven to improve safety for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians will likely improve traffic safety outcomes, especially for those who are most burdened by unsafe roads, sidewalks, and driving patterns,” read the office’s analysis of the bill.