How this Southwest city is using smart technology to incentivize drivers to slow down

MARK BRODIE: A New Mexico city is taking a unique approach to trying to get drivers to slow down.

Albuquerque has instituted what are called rest-on-red traffic lights at three intersections on a pair of east-west one-way streets. The speed limit on these roadways is 30 mph. The roads have houses on them, as well as a lot of pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

My next guest says the city tried a few other things to try to get drivers to obey the speed limit, but they didn't really work. So now officials are incentivizing drivers with time.

Jennifer Turner is director of the Department of Municipal Development in Albuquerque. She joins me now.

And Jennifer, it sounds like this is a speed limit that a lot of drivers just weren't observing, is that right?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yeah, these corridors have a long history of speeding and street racing, and given that there's homeowners and a lot of pedestrian traffic, we were seeing a lot of crashes, crashes with injuries, a lot of neighborhood concerns. Our speed studies that we did about a decade ago were showing really a lot of speeding and dangerous driver behavior. And so we knew we had to do something about that, and so that led us to where we are today.

MARK BRODIE: All right. So let's talk about where you are today. You have something called rest-on-red traffic lights. What does that mean?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yeah. So they are smart traffic lights and technology that we've implemented at key intersections on this corridor that reward drivers who are driving safely at or below the speed limit with a green light. And for those drivers who are speeding, they actually are stuck and stopped at a red light.

MARK BRODIE: So assuming that if I'm driving on that road and I'm going 30 mph or slower, I'm going to hit all the green lights?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yes, you will, assuming there's not some speeding driver or something else going on on one of the side streets that hits the road. And so I mention that because folks are like, “Where else can we implement this technology?” And it doesn't work for every type of road and every intersection. We've found that it here, because it is one-way roads with the 30 mph speed limit, it is working well in — it's working very well — in fact, in these situations.

MARK BRODIE: So is that to say then that maybe on a two-way road where traffic is going opposite each other or where the speed limits are higher, maybe this kind of technology wouldn't be as effective?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yeah, it would depend. We actually have it at another location about a five-minute drive away, which is two-way, and it's working there as well. So it kind of depends. Traffic engineers, they follow their data, and they take each intersection and they look at what's going on. And so it really depends. But in this case, as I mentioned, it's working, and we're seeing that drivers are learning and following the speed limit.

MARK BRODIE: And do drivers know that if they follow the speed limit, they won't get stuck at a red light?

JENNIFER TURNER: So we do have signage showing that the signals are set for 30 mph, and we actually have found like instant results from drivers learning and going the speed limits. We've seen a drastic reductions in speeding, as well as in crashes and injury crashes. And the neighbors tell us they see drivers behaving much more safely.

And so I think drivers know because it works. They either go or get the red light, and we have had we've also done communications about it. We've had surveys and neighborhood meetings. So they're kind of learning by doing and also from the city's conversations about it.

MARK BRODIE: What do you think this says about what actually incentivizes drivers to follow traffic laws?

JENNIFER TURNER: I think we all like rewards, right? I got two kids. Certainly rewards definitely work. They have their place at times. And so, I like to say like this is another tool in our toolbox, and if you can find a way to use technology to reward safe driving, then go all in. Obviously, law enforcement has a big role to play, too, but but here, this is focusing on the reward.

MARK BRODIE: Well, it's interesting because it seems as though this would sort of be a gold mark for the carrot as opposed to the stick in terms of of traffic enforcement, because, you know, you could very easily make that a speed enforcement zone and have more officers or, you know, other ways to catch people who are speeding. But instead, you're choosing to reward people who are not.

JENNIFER TURNER: Yes, we are focusing on the reward and seeing how that impacts driver, driving behavior. I know other cities are looking at our carrots and asking us questions about that. And so, yes, I do want to underscore, though, that enforcement has its place, too. And so again, going back to the kind of tool in the toolkit approach, we like having a lot of options to make our street safer.

MARK BRODIE: So can you describe like how exactly the technology works? Like how does it see if somebody is driving a particular speed and then it's able to sort of manipulate the light to either have it be red or green?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yeah. So we have on our signalized intersections where we have this, we have a detector for emergency vehicles, so I want to emphasize that, that emergency vehicles do override this. And then we have radar on the intersections that goes about 350 feet upstream to see what car what speed the cars are going. And then we have a controller that's obviously kind of the computer that's overseeing all of that.

And so if the that radar, it basically only sees cars that are going at or below the speed limit and rewards them with a green light. If you're speeding, it doesn't trigger that sort of computer, if you will, that will turn it to a green light. So it's really again, like I like to say, smart technology with that detection of just the speed that vehicles are going. It doesn't look at the driver, it doesn't look like, “Oh, you've got a nice new car.” It literally is just monitoring your speed.

MARK BRODIE: Are you looking to incorporate this on other roads in Albuquerque or maybe anywhere else in New Mexico?

JENNIFER TURNER: Yes. So based on the success of the program, we're actually expanding it in within the next few months to additional intersections along this corridor. And as we look to upgrade intersections around the city, this is again one of our tools in our toolbox.

MARK BRODIE: I mean, do you think this is the kind of thing that would work in like in a larger city? Like would this would this technology work, do you think, in a place like Phoenix or or some of the suburban cities around here?

JENNIFER TURNER: I think it could if you got the right corridor. One of the things if you throw in like left like green arrows, for example, then it gets much more complicated the more turning movements and potential conflicts that you have. And I realize I'm getting into like traffic engineer speak. But the more complicated the intersection is and all the different movements you're seeing, I think the less likely it is to work. So yeah, I think you got to get the right corridor and the right amount of traffic.

MARK BRODIE: All right. That is Jennifer Turner, director of the Department of Municipal Development in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jennifer, thanks so much.

JENNIFER TURNER: Thank you.