Can you cut through a parking lot to avoid a red light in KS or MO? What the laws say
Many drivers have experienced this at some point: Approaching a line of cars backed up at a red light, you wish there was a way to avoid the delay.
Then you look to the right and a gas station parking lot seems to offer a way to cut through to the next street and avoid the traffic signal completely.
But is it legal?
In some places, this move is called “rat-running,” and laws governing it vary from state to state. Texas, Illinois, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Virginia have laws against it, according to Nolo Law, an online legal encyclopedia.
But what about Kansas and Missouri?
Neither state has laws prohibiting using a parking lot to go around a red light. But some municipalities have ordinances against it, including a few in the Kansas City area.
Missouri city ordinances on bypassing traffic signals
In Kansas City, there is no specific ordinance prohibiting drivers from using a parking lot to get around a red light, according to Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Officer Alayna Gonzalez.
However, Gonzalez said the “careless driving” ordinance could apply. It says:
“No person shall drive any vehicle within this city carelessly and heedlessly in disregard of the rights or safety of others, or without due caution and circumspection, or at a speed and in a manner so as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property.”
Parkville, about 20 minutes north of downtown Kansas City, does have an ordinance against the practice.
The city’s ordinance says:
“It shall be unlawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle across private property for the purpose of avoiding an official traffic control device.”
Elsewhere in Missouri, Springfield has this city ordinance:
“The driving of a motor vehicle onto, across and out of any commercial property on the corner of any street intersection without stopping on the property for the purpose of transacting business solely to avoid a stop sign or traffic signal is prohibited.”
Can I cut through parking lots to avoid red lights in Kansas?
Kansas City, Kansas, Overland Park, Olathe and Leavenworth have city ordinances against it.
The Kansas City, Kansas, ordinance says: “No person shall drive through or on any private property adjacent to any street intersection to avoid traffic-control devices.”
The ordinance in Overland Park says: “No person shall drive through the property of a gasoline service station or the service entrance of any public or private property adjacent to any street intersection to avoid any official traffic control device or short cut from one street to another.”
Olathe uses the same language, also found in the League of Kansas Municipalities’ “Standard Traffic Ordinance for Kansas Cities,” which serves as a menu from which cities can take legal language.
The laws in that publication do not apply unless a city’s governing body passes an ordinance.
Are we missing a city that has this rule in place? Tell us and let us know about other Kansas City laws you have questions about at kcq@kcstar.com
This story was originally published August 11, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included comments from a Kansas City Police Department spokesperson who said a city ordinance prohibited passing through a parking lot to avoid a traffic light. Kansas City police said Friday that further research showed there is no specific ordinance against it.
