Green for Good: US Cities Reward Law-Abiding Drivers with Faster Lights

After years of failed crackdowns on speeding along a residential corridor, Albuquerque, New Mexico, has found an unlikely ally: the traffic light itself. The city has deployed a system that rewards drivers who obey the speed limit with earlier green lights, a strategy officials credit with a dramatic drop in crashes and injuries.

The approach is a variation of a longstanding concept known as "rest in red," where signals default to red until a vehicle approaches. Albuquerque and Portland, Oregon, have enhanced this by adding speed sensors that grant a much earlier green light to vehicles traveling at or below the posted limit. The result is a "virtual speed bump" that penalizes speeders with a red light while rewarding compliant drivers with a clear path.

Jennifer Turner, Albuquerque's director of municipal development, says the technology is its own best advertisement. "If you come to Albuquerque right now and you're driving that corridor, you will learn pretty quickly that if you are speeding, you stop," she said.

Residents along the corridor have noticed the change. Isaac Romero, who lives nearby, recalls nights disrupted by racers and crashes, including one that shook his house. "It's a lot of change because now you don't get as many people flying through there," he said.

Portland recently introduced the concept on Southeast Powell Boulevard, a state highway with a history of fatal crashes. At the first intersection tested, the system lowered average speeds from 39 mph to the 30 mph limit, according to Peter Koonce, who manages signals for the city. Researchers at Oregon State University are now assessing the system's performance, with early results showing promise.

However, not everyone is convinced. Jay Beeber of the National Motorists Association questions whether drivers will understand the system without a broad education campaign, suggesting it could lead to frustration. Rebecca Sanders, a transportation safety expert, notes the concept works best on roads that are busy by day but empty and tempting at night.

A 2023 study in North Carolina found a 43% reduction in total crashes after a similar system was implemented around the clock. Despite these results, adoption has been slow. Romero believes the approach could work widely, but only if all drivers cooperate. "If everybody cruises to 30 calmly, I can promise you, you can get every single green light all the way down," he said. "But the moment that one person is there, it changes that whole route for everybody."