Motorists driving in the Castleberry Hill, Downtown and Midtown communities will soon be banned from turning right at red lights. The new law will protect pedestrians as they move around the busiest areas of Atlanta, say city leaders.
The Atlanta City Council voted 10-3 to approve legislation banning right on red at its Feb. 19 meeting. Voting no were Councilmembers Alex Wan, Antonio Lewis and Howard Shook.
The Atlanta Department of Transportation will be responsible for putting up “no turn on red” signage at roughly 250 intersections by Dec. 31, 2025, when the ordinance will go into effect. After the signs are up, motorists caught by law enforcement violating no turn on red could face a $70 fine.
Many of the intersections impacted are near notable sites such as Piedmont Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the nexus of Downtown hotels. Atlanta United matches, SEC football championships, DragonCon and Atlanta Pride are high-profile events that bring large crowds of pedestrians to the center of the city.
“The intent behind this legislation is to ensure that our city is doing everything in its power to make pedestrians as safe as possible,” said Councilmember Jason Dozier, who introduced the legislation last month. Dozier represents District 2, which includes Castleberry Hill.
Dozier noted there were 38 pedestrian deaths in Atlanta in 2022, an increase of 23% over 2021, according to a recent report by Propel ATL. Since 2020, pedestrian deaths have increased 52%, the report said.
He acknowledged that most studies on pedestrian fatalities and injuries don’t look at red light conditions, so there is not much data on the effectiveness of no turn on red policies.
But ATLDOT recently conducted a study of 65 crash reports involving serious injuries or fatalities between 2013 and 2022, Dozier said. Of that sample, more than 40% (or 27) of the crashes were found to be the result of motorists turning right at red lights, he said.
When applying that 40% citywide, the result is more than 3,400 crashes due to right turns on red over 10 years, Dozier said.
Castleberry Hill, Downtown and Midtown are the city’s “most walkable communities,” Dozier said, and pedestrian safety is a priority for the city as part of its Vision Zero plan.
“At the end of the day, where we have the most people coming into the city, whether it’s Georgia State students, whether it’s tourists and conventioneers, or folks coming for a Chick-fil-A college football or DragonCon, we want to make sure that, at the very least, we put conditions in place that favor pedestrians,” Dozier said.
Wan said he was voting against the ordinance because, while he supported the legislation, he believed it should be implemented throughout the city and “not piecemeal.”
Wan also said he was uneasy with the estimated $500,000 cost for ATLDOT to get and install the signs. He said the money could be better invested in pedestrian islands or HAWK signals.
Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet said she didn’t think the cost was too high to protect pedestrians. She said she also supported the legislation being implemented citywide, but it was not uncommon for the city council to approve a “pilot program” in specific areas of the city.
Councilmember Amir Farokhi said most of the intersections at issue in the legislation are in District 2, the district he represents that includes Downtown and Midtown.
Piedmont Heights is included in Midtown, according to the legislation which defines Midtown as “the area bounded by I-85 on the north, North Avenue on the south, I-75/I-85 on the west, and Piedmont Avenue on the east.”
Downtown is defined in the legislation as the “area bounded by North Avenue on the north, I-20 on the south, Northside Drive on the west, and I-75/I-85 (also known as the ‘Downtown Connector’) on the east and is inclusive of the Castleberry Hill neighborhood.”
No turn on red is supported by both neighborhoods, he said.
“It’s one of the rare moments where you see alignment between residents and businesses in both Midtown and Downtown supporting a piece of legislation,” Farokhi said. “It’s going to be a marked improvement to pedestrian and vehicle safety, even bicycle safety, in the inner city.”
Lewis said at last week’s transportation committee meeting he was opposing the legislation because he feared more interaction between police and the public, especially lower-income motorists, could lead to another incident like the one that resulted in the death of Deacon Johnny Hollman. Hollman died after being tased by a police officer for not signing a traffic ticket.
Dozier told Rough Draft he thought a great deal about Lewis’s concerns, but he had to side with what he believed is good policy.
“One of the things that I really wrestled with is the fact that as the city’s policymakers, we can’t not do things to improve the quality of life for our constituents because of our fear that another part of our city’s government apparatus isn’t going to operate to the best of their abilities,” he said.
Dozier said he supported Mayor Andre Dickens call to expedite the launch of the Atlanta Police Departments civilian response unit in the wake of Hollman’s death. The trained, unarmed civilians would be used to respond to “low risk calls” such as minor traffic violations.
“I think something like that would be extremely beneficial in this context,” Dozier said.
Clarification: The story has been updated to say that Piedmont Heights is included in Midtown as defined by the legislation. The Downtown area outlined in the legislation, including Castleberry Hills, is also added.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct that the legislation would impact about 250 intersections, not the roughly 300 as previously reported. Dozier explained to Rough Draft that ATL DOT already had about 40 intersections identified for no turn on red signage as part of existing projects that are separate from the new ordinance.