Road Warrior: Greener pastures? Or just more green lights.

TO TURN OR NOT TO TURN?: Sherri Kimes and her husband, both avid bicyclists on the West Mesa, often bike across the pedestrian crosswalk at Unser and Tierra Pintada NW.

That’s where the couple has almost been hit twice by cars turning left onto Unser while they cross on the “walk” signal.

Kimes said she thinks the permissive left turn signal, which allows cars to turn left even when the green arrow has darkened, is the problem.

“As the left turn sign turns off, cars can still turn left, but they don’t seem to care if pedestrians are in the way,” Kimes wrote.

Kimes said she thinks changing the signal to a restricted green light, which prohibits cars from turning left if there’s no green arrow, would be an “easy fix” to the safety problem.

“These sorts of signals are all over the place and given the growth in population off of Tierra Pintada, the current setup is just an accident waiting to happen,” Kimes wrote.

So how does the city decide when cars can turn?

Dan Mayfield, a spokesman for the Department of Municipal Development, said engineers at the city follow a flowchart and a series of recommendations when deciding if a left turn should be restricted or permissive.

“For example, if an intersection has crashes because of cars turning on a permissive light, a restricted light can be installed,” Mayfield said in an email to the Journal. “If there is no visibility because of a hill or a turn, a red arrow can be installed.”

Mayfield said a good example was the restricted red added to the intersection of the frontage road and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Roads over 45 mph are also likely restricted-red recipients, he continued.

But if bicyclists and pedestrians are having trouble, like Kimes and her husband, “it likely requires a second look to see if a resting red should be put in,” Mayfield said.

RESTLESS ON RED: If you live near Lead and Coal and frequently traverse the nearby one-ways, you might notice longer green lights on Lead and Girard and Coal and Girard. Those lights were equipped with “rest on red” technology, which adjusts the light schedule to the speed of the driver in an effort to reduce speeding.

But some drivers in the area say they’ve experienced quick-draw signal changes.

Mark Conradi, who lives in the area, asks: “What conditions drive these light changes? Why do they go red with so little time to react? This all seems dangerous to me.”

Here’s how the signals work: positive reinforcement.

There are two zones of detection several hundred feet away from the signal. If the light is green, and you approach at or under the 30 mph speed limit, the detector will recognize your vehicle and “extend the green” light for drivers.

If a driver hits the gas and exceeds 30 mph, they won’t be detected by the system. The lights will turn to yellow and red as usual. Traffic Engineering Manager Tim Brown says for speedsters, the green-yellow-red timing is the same as the rest of the city.

“So long as drivers keep their speed at or below 30 mph, they will get more greens on average than if they speed,” Brown said.

Brown said the program disincentivizes a common driver habit of speeding up to catch the green light.

What about the success of the program?

Department of Municipal Development spokesman Dan Mayfield said in an email to the Journal, speeds have decreased “dramatically” through the corridor. In the past, Mayfield said, less than 1 in 10 drivers were at or below the speed limit.

But once rest-in-red tech and two Automated Speed Enforcement cameras were installed in the area, almost half of the cars in the area are driving 30 mph or slower. And, excessive speeding — 20 mph or more over the limit — has been “nearly eliminated.”

There are some other hidden successes. Commutes are shorter, Mayfield said, in the area and fewer cars are waiting at lights, burning gas.