Lakewood Looks to Curb No-Turn-On-Red Signs

In Lakewood, green means go and red means stop.

Period.

At 120 red lights around the city, don’t even think about turning right on red.

But, on Monday, proceeded with caution on a measure that would ditch an ordinance on the books that lists specific intersections prohibiting right turns at red lights.

Kevin Butler, the city’s law director, told council that the ordinance would allow the director of public safety — the mayor — to fix the restrictions “as needed.” He added that the measure wouldn’t take away council’s ability to set right-turn restrictions. 

Joe Beno, the city’s director of public works, said his department took an inventory of the city’s signs about six months ago. Out of the city’s 7,800 signs, there are 120 no-turn-on-red signs in Lakewood.

The ordinance on the books specifies where those signs should be.

Beno said the majority of the no-turn-on-red signs are near schools, but some aren’t. 

Those are the ones the city may consider eliminating.

“You’ve got to take it light by light,” said council president Brian Powers. “Certainly, there are legitimate no-turn-on-red (signs) around schools at certain times. I don’t think anyone debates that — for the rest of the streets, for purposes of energy savings, convenience and safety — we could probably eliminate some of those issues.”

With a city looking to improve traffic flow, Ward 2 councilman Tom Bullock said he’d be amenable to examining the ordinance.

“It again raises the discussion of traffic management,” he said. “I flag this as an entry point to a larger issue."

The measure was referred to the public safety committee for further review.