ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Speeding along the Lead and Coal corridor is nothing new.
“Oh, man. It was crazy, I lost a pickup truck, speeds get 45- 60, I mean faster than that.”
David Medina lives on Lead near Walter knows that well.
“I went inside for about 20 minutes, came back outside, locked my front door, turned around just in time to see my truck get launched from there to where I normally park,” Medina said, “And the Jeep almost went through the house, right there, so that guy would have had to be doing 60 plus.”
His neighbors agree that speeding has been a problem there for years.
“We were averaging a couple of accidents a month, easy. We have had people come through our fence,” Kym Salas said.
However, ever since the city turned on the “Rest in Red” light at the Lead and Walter intersection two weeks ago, she said things have gotten a whole lot better.
“No more cars in the fence, and so far, it seems that speeding has gone down.”
The technology that turns red on speeders is activated at eight intersections on Lead and Coal between Nob Hill and East Downtown. You can see them at Carlisle, Girard, Yale, and Walter. The speed limit is 30 along the corridor, and anyone going even a mile an hour over 30 within 350 feet of those signals will trigger the red light, stopping every other driver along with them.
The city said it will evaluate the impact of the technology, but as of now, no plans are in place to install any more of the $48,000 specialized lights.
The Rest in Red lights are turned off during rush hour to avoid traffic jams caused by nonstop red lights. Rush hour lasts three hours in the morning and more than four hours in the afternoon/evening.
