Video: Drivers Ignoring New No-Turn Sign At Banner Ave


by on Jul 6th, 2012

At the end of May, the Department of Transportation surprised local drivers by installing a No Left / No U-Turn sign on southbound Coney Island Avenue at Banner Avenue.

And, just about every day since then, hundreds of cars have been ignoring it.

The installation comes more than two years after local leaders fought a similar measure to bar left turns onto Guider Avenue for drivers heading south on Coney Island Avenue, a proposal that resulted from a seven-year study of accidents in the area. Even former Congressman Anthony Weiner got in on that fight, firing off a letter to DOT Commission Janette Sadik-Khan.

Opponents of that plan said diverting southbound Coney Island Avenue traffic to Neptune Avenue is a danger for all. Traffic is already congested on Neptune Avenue, they argued, and bus stops on the corner will make matters worse. Drivers looking for the Belt Parkway will be forced to go down East 12th Street – which has no light or signal – or next to Bay Academy on East 14th Street, putting students at higher risk.

While that proposal – which also recommended the creation of a left-turn lane onto Guider Avenue for northbound drivers – appears to have quietly hit the back-burner, DOT just as quietly installed the No Left / No U-Turn sign at the end of May. Community Board 15 told Sheepshead Bites at the time that they were not notified about the changes.

Apparently, drivers aren’t paying much mind to it, holding up traffic to make the turn up Banner Avenue, or a U-turn up the service road to Shore Parkway and the highway.

Photo and video by Robert Fernandez.

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  • JR

    and there’s a stop sign everyone blatantly ignores on the corner of Brighton 15th st and Brighton Beach ave

  • a good neighbor

    the simple solution is to put another no turn sign right in the middle of the divider. 

  • guest

    How about I had NO idea there was anew sign at that intersection until i read about it here!!!  its not a new light that hangs overhead and according to ur video the tiny sign is at the end of the left lane.  That intersection is notorious for bad driving – no one follows any traffic rules no matter which direction they are coming from and the entire is guilty of illegal manuevering here.  They created Left Turn Signals from Banner/Cass onto CIA – why not do so along CIA – a left turn signal would allow nrth bound traffic easy access to Belt West and south bound traffic easy access to Cass (or back under the bridge to the Belt East).  Just seems like the simplest solution IMHO.

    • Beginablarp

      I live on Banner and E. 11th and my family has been making that turn for 30 years, at our own peril. I don’t drive often, but admittedly, completely missed that sign since it’s been up. That intersection is definitely a vector for crazy driving. I have been wishing we had a left turn signal my whole life, and think that would be a better solution. I am a bit confused, is a left on Guider illegal? That would be just as dangerous, but left on Neptune, left at the triangle at East 12th, right on Guider and right to Banner would be an awfully convoluted way for me to just pull up to my own house. I am not against inconveniencing the few folks who live on my block if it leads to overall safety, but I think a left turn signal on CI would have been safer overall. Between the car wash and the entry onto the Belt, this block sees a lot more traffic than it used to, I think it deserves a better solution.

      • Guest

        left on Guider is perfectly legal, the sign says no left turn at Banner Ave. So if you are going for belt pkwy east you make a left on Guider then another left at east 11th street and right on shore parkway

    • nat1986

      Me either just got a ticket there by an unmarked po po car

  • guest

    Sorry – meant to say new sign was at the end of the right lane where those turning left have likely never even looked!

  • Same ol S

    It’s just another sign for everyone to ignore.  Nearly got hit by someone yesterday as I was crossing a street.  They had a stop sign and didn’t even think of stopping or slowing down.  And when I yell at him for nearly killing me he stops, gets out and proceeds to tell me he’s going to kill me.  A little much, ya think?  We can put signs and lights everyone but unfortunately there’s a lot of people who are legends in their own minds.  They for some reason think they’re celebrities and they can do anything they want no matter what.

    • http://www.brucebrodinsky.com Bruce B

      Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the same exact experience. Even tho completely wrong, they step out of the car , or yell thru the open window, to threaten me. Nice!

  • Boris Vestfrid

    the solution is to divide the lanes left for turns only with a green light arrow and right to go strait.  and the same thing going the other way.

    • Guest

      this is going to create alot of traffic, a better solution would be a left turn signal while the green light is still on for straihgt moving vehicles. This way if somebody in the left lane is going straight they won’t have to stop and block the street for left turning vehicles. 

  • ShadowLock

    Yea that sign, is none existent… maybe if they add one a bit more eye level…. people will see it…. Or…. Hire some cops to give people tickets. 

  • nolastname

    Problem solved. The city can reroute the whole area then.

  • http://www.chickenunderwear.com Chicken Underwear

    I thought bikes caused all the problems???

  • BrooklynBus

    That sign changes nothing and just highlights DOT’s incompetence by placing it in the wrong place. There was a no U-Turn sign in the divider which everyone ignored since it is the best way to get on the Belt Parkway east. It probably got knocked down so DOT replaced it on the right side of the roadway where it is not visible to drivers, making it easier to give tickets because now you have the drivers who don’t see the sign as well as the ones who would have ignored it anyway. the no left to Banner is new, but no one makes that turn anyway. They wanted to ban the left on Guider but so far haven’t don that. The solution is to add an additional lane and allowing u-turns. But that involves acquiring land from Parks which is too much work for DOT.

  • Guest

    Please forget this story and the illegal and dangerous behavior of drivers the next time someone proposes painting a bike lane somewhere.

    • Another Guest

      Bikes do this stuff at least as much as cars do.

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  • Mike

    Another example that the awful bureaucrats at the DOT are a bunch of clueless morons, hellbent on exercising their power over the citizens of NYC and the boroughs. Just take a concrete median or a bike lane out of petty cash. There is an old expression that the fish stinks from the head, so start with the leather clad lady with the whip, Janette Sadik-Wrath of Khan.

  • The Guy Behind The Guy

    The new sign seems to cause even more traffic by causing a jam between cars going north trying to turn left to the Belt Parkway and cars heading south trying to now turn left on Guider. People can’t drive no matter what. It’d be nice to just get where you’re going without extra signs that no one plans out. Cars turning onto the service road can see oncoming traffic for a mile. The new sign makes it more dangerous and causes more traffic.

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