Chapel Hill council makes ‘dooring’ a crime, sets 25 mph speed limit for some streets
Chapel Hill’s Town Council voted unanimously Wednesday on several steps that could make local streets more safe for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
The council voted 9-0 to lower the speed limit to 25 mph on town-owned streets and to make “dooring” illegal within the town limits.
The anti-dooring rule makes it a criminal misdemeanor for a driver to open their car door into the path of another vehicle or a cyclist or to leave a car door open in a way that affects the flow of traffic.
The change will not affect state-owned streets, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Weaver Dairy Road, Estes Drive, and Franklin Street outside of the downtown business district. However, lowering local speed limits will put the N.C. Department of Transportation on notice in future conversations that the town is committed to improving road safety, said Jordan Powell, the town’s Complete Streets specialist.
The council’s decision followed a similar move Tuesday by Raleigh’s City Council to reduce the speed limit on several streets. Raleigh has lowered the speed limit on 268 streets since 2015, officials reported, and could lower the limit on 79 more streets this year.
The change approved Tuesday will take effect May 10 on Shadowlawn Drive, from Raven Ridge Road to Falls River Avenue; Loft Lane, starting at Six Forks Road; and Thunderidge Drive, Seaspray Lane, Stormy Lane, Suntan Lake Drive, Antside Court and Cookwood Court in the Summer Place subdivision, Raleigh officials said.
Over 30 other streets are now being considered, some of which are still open for public comment at tinyurl.com/msua368e. Raleigh’s council will consider changes for the next group of streets May 17.
Slow zones, pedestrian, bike safety
Chapel Hill is focused on making its streets safer for everyone as part of the Vision Zero initiative that the council approved in October, Powell said. Vision Zero’s goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2031.
Powell noted that roughly 50% of pedestrians hit by a car going 35 mph or faster die. At 40 mph, roughly 90% of pedestrians hit by a car die, he said. Vision Zero not only accounts for how fast people drive, he said, but also how streets are designed.
Most speed limits on town-owned roads in Chapel Hill are 25 mph, so Wednesday’s change will only affect Piney Mountain Road and Legion Road. The town also will lower the school zone speed limit to 20 mph around all Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, including four that currently do not have a designated school zone.
In addition, the town manager will be able to designate special “neighborhood slow zones,” which could result in slower speed limits on high-priority streets. Those decisions will take into account equity, traffic data and neighborhood input, Powell said.
“As an anecdote that may not come as a surprise to most folks here, speeding on residential streets is a very common concern of neighbors living across the town,” Powell said. “This adds another tool to our toolkit as far as addressing what is a very frequent concern that we hear from neighbors.”
Council member Amy Ryan called the move “a good first step,” while voicing support for future changes to local street design that could encourage more drivers to slow down. Council member Camille Berry asked police and town staff to let council members know how to help get the word out about the new rules.
Anti-dooring, bike safety
The anti-dooring rule will create clarity in reporting accidents that result from dooring, as well as establish charges and help determine insurance liability, Powell said. Drivers charged with dooring could be subject to a fine of up to $500 or 30 days in jail.
Forty states have an anti-dooring law in place, but North Carolina is not one of them, he said. Raleigh is the only other city in North Carolina with a local anti-dooring rule.
Chapel Hill will launch a public education campaign to let people know about the changes and provide other information, such as about the “Dutch reach,” Powell said. The Dutch reach is a way that drivers can avoid dooring incidents by reaching across with their right hand to open the door, forcing them to look back at approaching vehicles.
Public support for an anti-dooring rule grew earlier this year after Chapel Hill resident Nicholas Watson was killed Jan. 25 while riding his electric bike on West Franklin Street. The driver who opened a car door into Watson’s path, throwing him to the pavement, was not charged.
Several pedestrians and cyclists have been injured or killed since Dec. 31, 2021, when two middle-school girls were hit while in the crosswalk outside Phillips Middle School. Residents have marched and raised their concerns at council meetings, asking for action to make local streets safer, and in February, submitted a petition seeking an anti-dooring rule.
The town has responded by installing high-visibility crosswalks, bike lanes and flashing signals on some streets, and conducting dozens of crossing zone and traffic enforcement operations.
A construction project also started recently on Estes Drive, which will add bike lanes, a sidewalk and a multi-use path from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Caswell Road, as well as upgrade the Estes-MLK intersection.
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 12:47 PM.
