Right turns on red lights will no longer be allowed at the intersection of Main Street and Madison Avenue, with vehicle sight lines, pictured in this graphic, being one of the reasons cited for the change.
Provided by the city of Greenwood
The Greenwood City Council gave final approval to outlawing right turns on red stoplights at the intersection of Main Street and Madison Avenue.
Council members unanimously voted 8-0 with one member absent Monday night to make it illegal to turn right on red at the intersection in all directions. They also unanimously voted to suspend the rules to push the ordinance through final passage, making it go into effect once the ordinance is signed.
Any driver who violates the prohibition could, if they are convicted, be fined up to $2,500. The city court judge could also order other, non-monetary and non-criminal penalties. This includes, but is not limited to, remedial driving training, according to city documents.
Banning right turns on red comes after the completion of the reconstruction of the Main and Madison intersection, which included adding brick pavers, new traffic signals and wider sidewalks to make downtown more walkable. City Engineer Mark St. John recommended the move because, with the changes to the intersection, present buildings create sight distance issues for traffic, he said.
During Monday’s council meeting, St. John presented a graphic showing how the sight distances now cause issues.
“Three of the four lights at this intersection, if you stop behind the pedestrian crosswalk at the stop bar, you cannot see down the road safely to make a right-hand turn on red. You would not be able to see if there’s oncoming traffic there and that’s because of the placement of the existing buildings,” St. John said.
Additionally, there are smaller turning radii due to wider sidewalks, delayed traffic signals and the “possibility of pedestrian conflicts at that intersection,” along with protecting and promoting public safety, city documents show.
Signs denoting the change are already up, St. John said.
The No Right Turn on Red ordinance also repeals the “No Turn on Red” designation for the intersection of Madison Avenue and Smith Valley Road. Since the stoplight there was replaced by a roundabout in 2018, the designation is no longer needed, St. John previously said.
This is the second change to how the intersection works in the last month. Earlier in November, the council voted to outlaw left turns onto southbound Madison Avenue from westbound traffic on Main Street, along with left turns from southbound Madison Avenue to eastbound Main Street.
Reasoning similar to the No Right Turn on Red ordinance was given for this as well.
