Could a proposed KC ordinance, meant to boost safety, ban right turns on red?
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has introduced an amendment to the city’s traffic safety ordinance to enhance school zone safety in the wake of a recent tragedy in south Kansas City that killed a third-grade girl biking to school.
The proposed add-on to ordinance 250927 will prohibit right turns on red signals when school zone speed limits are in effect. This comes after third-grader Hazen Workman-Duffy was struck and killed while in a crosswalk as she was biking to school last week.
The ordinance change aims to respond to growing concerns about pedestrian safety near schools, according to a city news release.
Currently, the ordinance allows a car turning right with a red light to cautiously enter the intersection.
“We have a fundamental responsibility to protect anyone who travels on our streets, especially our children,” Lucas said in the release. “Every parent should feel confident that their child can safely walk or bike to school. The ordinance will keep our children safe by eliminating one of the most dangerous conflict points between vehicles and students during the busiest times of the school day.”
Other key parts of the ordinance include required signage at all impacted intersections within 180 days and that schools can request waivers if the rule disrupts pick-up or drop-off, according to the release.
What happened at the south KC intersection
Hazen , a student at Ingels Elementary school, was biking to class on a marked crosswalk around 7:15 a.m. on Oct. 14, where police said she had a green signal. At the same time, a white Ford Transit van was traveling north on Food Lane and turning west onto Longview Road when it struck her.
Ruby Perkins — who witnessed the wreck — had her husband, Adrionn Perkins, pull over, and he ran over to check for the girl’s pulse, but couldn’t find one.
Inside her book bag, though, was a permission slip for a field trip to the zoo scheduled for later that week.
“Her mom had just signed the form, and luckily it had her phone number on there,” Ruby Perkins told The Star. “... so I called her mom and let her know she needed to come up to where we were.”
Hazen’s mother went with her daughter to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to officials. Her death marked the 53rd traffic fatality this year, according to data tracked by the Kansas City Police Department, which is investigating the crash.
The ordinance will be heard by the Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee on Tues., Oct. 28. If approved, it will go before the full City Council on Oct. 30.
