Give It Some Distance and Count to Three, Rio Rancho Drivers

CATCHING UP TO RIO RANCHO’S TAILGATING RADAR: Pat in Rio Rancho emails “whatever happened to Rio Rancho’s touted ‘following too close’ radar? Please tell me it’s getting a lot of use somewhere, because I see no evidence of it.”

That could be because Pat keeps her eyes on the road and doesn’t follow too closely when she drives.

Sgt. Nicholas Onken, Rio Rancho Police Department’s public information officer and community relations sergeant, has a little background on the program and an update as well.

“We recently purchased several traffic LiDar — read a laser-based radar speed system — units,” Onken says. “These units have been in service for several months now and are used regularly for speed enforcement.”

Last July I wrote that “The city has spent $700 each on seven LIDAR (light detection and ranging) radar guns that feature the new ‘Distance Between Cars (DBC) function that measures the distance between vehicles in seconds, and RRPD is using it to issue tickets under what it calls the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s three-second rule. Basically, it works like this: You see the vehicle in front of you pass something, like a tree, and you should be able to count ‘one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand’ before you pass it. Don’t get to three? You’re tailgating, which is considered by the National Road Safety Foundation as an aggressive driving behavior along with speeding, running red lights and stop signs, frequent lane changes, and angry or threatening behavior toward other motorists.”

In answer to Pat’s question, Onken says RRPD has “had one tailgating enforcement operation with them several months back. We will be conducting a zero-tolerance enforcement operation in February and March on N.M. 528. During that operation, officers will be specifically targeting speeding, failure to yield, red-light violations, following too close and careless driving. They will also be on the lookout for drivers without insurance, registration or driver’s licenses, and will enforce any other violations of law they observe.”

AND THE FLASHING LEFT-TURN SIGNALS: Tino Turri emails “road work has recently been completed at Broadmoor and Northern in Rio Rancho. During construction a new stop light was installed at that location. They have also programmed the light to stay on flashing yellow on left-turn lanes, meaning you can turn left when there is no opposing traffic. What a wonderful idea! Why not do the same at other intersections within the city? There are so many intersections where you have to s(i)t and wait with a red arrow when there is no opposing traffic. This could also be a tremendous gas saver.”

The Federal Highway Administration agrees.

Peter Wells, Rio Rancho’s communications officer, says the FHA “has adopted the flashing-yellow arrow left-turn traffic signal as a new national standard where there is a separate left-turn arrow signal. The city of Rio Rancho is implementing the standard when new traffic signals are installed and when existing signals are reconstructed.”

And Broadmoor and Northern is by no means the city’s first flashing yellow arrow.

“The first flashing yellow for left turns was installed in February 2011 at the intersection of Paseo del Volcan and Iris Road,” Wells says.

According to the city’s Website, www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us:

“The flashing yellow arrow for left turns is part of a four-arrow signal display, which includes:

♦ Steady red arrow: Stop, no left turns allowed

♦ Steady yellow arrow: Prepare to stop, or prepare to complete your left turn if you are within the intersection

♦ Flashing yellow arrow: left turns allowed, but you must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians

♦ Steady green arrow: Left turns allowed and protected.”

The Website says “the addition of the flashing yellow arrow for left turns to federal standards governing traffic signals is the result of the successful operation of the signal over the past several years in locations across the United States and a nationwide study that demonstrated the signal prevented crashes, moved more traffic through an intersection and provided additional traffic management flexibility.”

Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.