DC Council approves bill to end right turns at red lights in the District

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Council on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban drivers from making right turns at red lights in the District.

Councilmembers approved the Safer Streets Amendment Act of 2022 with a 12 to one vote during the legislative meeting. It now needs a mayoral review and a congressional review be becoming law.

At the meeting, Ward 3 D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh said the new rule would begin on January 1, 2025. She said it would 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.

Cheh says DDOT has already prohibited right turns on red at several hundred intersections.

At a legislative meeting in September, the Council moved forward with another policy change in the bill that would make a practice commonly called the "Idaho Stop" legal for bike, e-bike, scooter and other personal mobility device riders.

The "Idaho Stop" would allow riders to treat red lights as stop signs and treat stop signs as yield signs.