121 Pedestrian Crashes Put Old Town Turn-on-Red Rules Under Review
Alexandria says 121 pedestrian-involved crashes occurred in Greater Old Town and Carlyle from 2020 through 2025. The City is now proposing no-turn-on-red restrictions across the area.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – A new Alexandria traffic-safety proposal could change how drivers move through scores of signalized intersections in Greater Old Town and Carlyle.
The City said Thursday that the area recorded 121 of Alexandria’s 318 pedestrian-involved crashes from 2020 through 2025-about 38 percent of the citywide total. Sixty percent of those 121 crashes happened at signalized intersections.
In response, the Traffic and Parking Board will consider no-turn-on-red restrictions at signalized intersections throughout Greater Old Town during its Monday, Oct. 26 meeting. The City has also proposed restrictions at Mount Vernon Avenue and Glebe Road, and at the Quaker Lane–Janneys Lane–Seminary Road intersection, with schoolchildren’s walking routes cited as a concern. The proposal is meant to reduce conflicts among drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. A driver preparing to turn right on red may be looking left for a gap in traffic while someone enters the crosswalk from the right.
Alexandria also plans to add Leading Pedestrian Intervals, which give people on foot a three-to-seven-second head start before parallel vehicle traffic receives a green light. The Federal Highway Administration says the treatment can reduce pedestrian crashes by 13 percent.
The Traffic and Parking Board meeting begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at 2900-B Business Center Drive, with a Zoom option. The detailed docket was still listed as pending early Friday. Residents can follow the board page for the docket and public-comment materials.
The City’s Oct. 15 announcement is part of its Vision Zero program, which seeks to eliminate fatal and severe traffic crashes.
This is not Alexandria’s first turn-on-red safety push. The Zebra reported in 2018 on a citywide round of new restrictions after crash analysis found turning movements among the most common crash types involving people walking. More recently, Alexandria’s West End safety study has proposed no-turn-on-red signs at several high-crash intersections, showing the treatment is becoming a broader part of the City’s street-safety strategy.
