Right on Red or NOT

Check out these new signs at the intersection of Water St. and Laurel St. in Fitchburg.

These new signs appeared about a month ago. Strange though because this is what's in the city code for Right on Red.

§ 169-75. Right turn during red signal prohibited. [Added 6-3-1980]

No driver of a vehicle facing a steady red indication in a traffic control signal shall make a right turn against such red or stop indication at the following intersections when a sign is erected at such intersections prohibiting such right turn:

Name of Street	Direction of Travel	Prohibited Right Turn on Red Signal Onto
Bemis Road	West	Water Street
Boyle Court	East	Water Street
Fifth Street	West	Water Street
Kimball Street	East	Laurel Street
Main Street	North	Day Street
Old South Street	West	South Street
Water Street	North	Bemis Road
Water Street	South	Wanoosnoc Road

Does anyone know what's actually going on here?

Could it be that:

• these were added to the city code without going through the normal, safety committee, council approval, mayoral approval, publish ordinance in paper of record process?
• they're bogus?
• that the DPW is intentionally spending down their budget to avoid future cuts?
• that this is part of some new revenue raising scheme? (possibly tied to plans to increase the police traffic division from 2 to 5 officers)
• the cameras at the intersections are being used to evaluate traffic and come up with changes to improve traffic flow?

That last bullet might sound like a good use for those cameras, but if this is what came up with then they aren't doing a very good job of coming up with fixes. Note that the car below the sign in the last photo is stopped. That means they turned left from Laurel Street onto Water Street despite not having any place to go on the other side of the intersection, which is a traffic violation. The traffic northbound on Water Street is now unable to turn right over the bridge since the intersection is blocked.

Bottom line is that none of the suggested possibilities are appropriate. Comments anyone?

UPDATE 3/12/2007
After the Public Safety Committee meeting on 3/5 one of the councilors asked the traffic division officers about the no right on red signs. Turns out Fitchburg did not put the signs up. A contractor for MassHwy put them up while performing other work at the intersection. Fitchburg police have asked MassHwy about the signs but they had not responded yet. Fitchburg officers have been instructed NOT to write tickets for right on red at this intersection.