Albuquerque and Portland are testing a traffic safety strategy that gives law-abiding drivers an advantage: earlier green lights.
Both cities have deployed a system called "rest in red," which defaults traffic signals to red until a vehicle approaches. They added speed sensors that detect whether drivers are traveling at or below the posted limit. Vehicles that comply get an earlier green light.
Albuquerque installed the system on Lead and Coal avenues, a pair of parallel one-way streets that had been plagued by high-speed crashes. Jennifer Turner, the city's municipal development director, said the results have been striking. Crashes and injuries on the corridor have dropped dramatically.
Isaac Romero, who lives along the stretch, documented the change himself. He had watched cars race through the neighborhood—one plowed into his neighbor's yard, another hit a tree hard enough to shake his house. After the system went live, he saw the speeding stop.
Portland deployed the same approach on Southeast Powell Boulevard, a state highway with a history of crashes, including fatal ones. Peter Koonce, who manages signals and street lighting for the city, called the new system a "virtual speed bump." At the first intersection tested, average speed dropped from 39 mph to 30 mph—matching the posted limit.
Oregon State University researchers helped Portland select its vehicle detection system. David Hurwitz, a professor of transportation engineering leading the study, cautioned that it is too early to predict long-term effects. He said the initial results on speed compliance are promising but stressed the need for further research to ensure the city is not simply pushing drivers to run more red lights.
Jay Beeber, chief government affairs and policy officer for the National Motorists Association, raised similar concerns about unintended consequences.
Despite the open questions, both cities report measurable reductions in average speeds and crashes where the system is active. The approach marks a shift toward incentivizing safe driving over purely punitive enforcement.
