DC bans right turns at red lights in 2025 – but only half will be enforced: official

WASHINGTON - The a law passed in 2022 is supposed to ban cars from turning right at red lights in D.C. starting on January 1. But the District may be pumping the brakes. 

When the Safer Streets Amendment of 2022 was passed, it was meant to prohibit drivers in the District from turning right on red unless the District Department of Transportation determines allowing right turns on red would be safe at a particular intersection and the proper signage was displayed.

But a D.C. transportation official tells FOX 5 that since the D.C. Council never set money aside to publicize the law to drivers, the law is not going to be widely enforced across the District. 

The Safer Streets Amendment Act of 2022 required D.C. Council to budget $385,000 for signs at D.C.'s borders before enforcement was set to start in 2025 – but the money was never identified, according to Sharon Kershbaum, director of D.C.'s Department of Transportation. 

Kershbaum says the ban will only be enforced at about half of the District's 1,600 intersections. 

"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," said Kershbaum.