Motorists heading northbound on Royal Oaks Boulevard at Murfreesboro Road, as well as northbound on Mack Hatcher Parkway at Liberty Pike, will see new signs appear February 25th. The NO TURN ON RED signs will enhance the safety of these intersections, after crash and compliance investigations revealed that updates are needed.
At Royal Oaks Boulevard and Murfreesboro Road, investigations found an excessive rate of red light crashes for the northbound right turns. Many of these crashes involved side-by-side vehicles at this two-lane turn, and some involved crashes with southbound left turns and eastbound through vehicles who were proceeding on a green signal. The number of crashes significantly exceeded the minimum number considered by national standards to warrant the “No Turn on Red” regulation. Engineering Department analyses of the impact on traffic flow found that the additional delays will be tolerable for the amount of crashes that will be prevented. There will be small to medium increases in the stacking lengths for these right turns, but the overall wait times will remain below critical levels. The safety of the green movements that conflict with the red signal right turns will also be improved. Signs with the display shown below will be mounted near right side corner signals as well as the overhead mast arm signals on the far side of Murfreesboro Road.
At Mack Hatcher Parkway and Liberty Pike, the existing “No Turn on Red” regulation adds safety by minimizing conflicts with the adjacent Jordan Road intersection. Compliance rates for this turn are below what they should be, so the City of Franklin Engineering Department evaluated options for improvements. Research showed that the regulation is most effective during mostly daylight hours, and that other times the traffic volumes are so low that the occurrence of right turn conflicts with Jordan Road vehicles is very low. Therefore the regulation will be posted to be effective only from 6 AM to 6 PM. Research also showed that improved compliance occurs with the sign that displays the red ball shown below. Therefore the Streets Department will upgrade the mast arm mounted sign with the improved display and time regulation.
Franklin Police will be on hand to observe the traffic flow during the first few days to make sure drivers understand the new “No Turn On Red” regulations.
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If folks would stop continuing to run the turn signal lights after they are red, we could avoid most of these “accidents”. It’s insane that people keep going after the signal changes. Some will pull into the intersection, wait for the signal to change to red for them and the oncoming traffic and then turn. Crazy!
It would also help if drivers understood what the law “turn right on red when clear” means. It doesn’t mean if you can barely nose out in front of on coming traffic you are ok. This change seems like it could have been avoided with a little attention by FPD at this intersection from time to time to ticket offenders.
I know nothing about the Liberty intersection, but travel about 2X daily through the Hwy96/Royal Oaks and the #1 (and much cheaper & simpler) solution there would be to paint the 2 right turn lanes onto Hwy96 as all the near misses I’ve encountered are the result of the inside right-turners drifting into the outside turn lane! It happens almost everytime I go through that intersection. Having a “no right on red” will solve nothing other than tie up traffic in my opinion and the wrecks and scrapes will continue.
…and by “paint the 2 right turn lanes” I mean two distinct solid lines separating those lanes all the way through the turn from Royal Oaks into Hwy 96 (heading East).