The Watchdog | Driver thinks Missouri 150 ramp could be safer

The problem

There’s nothing like an accident to make a driver wonder whether an intersection is as safe as it can be.

So it was with Robbi Hewson of Belton, who was rear-ended at Missouri 150 and Holmes Road in south Jackson County.

Robbi sees a lot fender-benders, mostly of the rear-end variety, at the bottom of the ramp from eastbound Missouri 150, where drivers are asked to yield as they turn south onto Holmes. The police aren’t called in many cases.

This driver wonders if a “No Right Turn on Red” sign might be better than “Yield.”

“That way no one will start then possibly stop again if they change their mind about merging due to southbound traffic. It is a very busy stretch of road between 4:30 and 6 p.m. A right-turn arrow would be better, but I am sure that would cost a considerable amount of money.”

The answer

The Missouri Department of Transportation says the “Yield” sign is better. The agency knows of only two rear-end crashes there in six years, and says that even walk-in reports are entered into its system.

Mark Green, senior traffic studies specialist at MoDOT, said a “No Right Turn on Red” would impede traffic flow and would have to be enforced.

Hewson says her accident wasn’t reported to police at all, so it wouldn’t have shown up in MoDOT’s database. All the more reason, the Watchdog says, to walk in a report even after a minor accident. Engineers need data before making safety decisions.