A city in the American state of New Mexico has introduced a new way of reducing the amount of speeding vehicles and subsequent crashes at traffic lights by introducing what’s called a “rest in red” solution.
Cars travelling along Coal Avenue and Lead Avenue in Albuquerque leave the lights on red until a car starts travelling towards them. If it is going at a safe speed the lights change, but if not it is forced to stop at the lights.
The roads have significant issues with crashes, which have been worked out to be two per million vehicles using the junction, amounting to hundreds of crashes over a five year period along the two routes.
The Rest-in-Red operations are recommended to be implemented with a phased and tested approach, starting with off-peak hours and ultimately testing peak hours. Consultants Lee Engineering, which carried out the study, suggest the deployment should be monitored through each phase “to ensure the corridor is still operating at an optimal accepted level”.
(Picture – Lee Engineering)
