By NIKOLAI NELSON
Sophomore
Los Alamos High School
One day, when I was riding my bike to White Rock to meet with a friend, I got yelled at by a car driver to “get off the road!” I couldn’t get off the road because I had literally 4 inches between me and the edge of the road.
The lack of room is like standing in front of a speeding truck, significantly impacting my safety and theirs. This has not only happened to me, but to others as well. For example, an article in the LA Daily Post states that Andy Nunn, a Los Alamos cyclist, and some of his friends were biking on NM 4 when a white truck hit Nunn and sped away, leaving Nunn hospitalized.
The best way to help prevent these situations is to widen the road with bike lanes because the separation between the bikers and cars increases safety. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) states that having a separate lane for bikers would remind drivers that bikers have a right to the road and increase the predictability of how both parties interact with each other. NM 4 has no predictability between bikes and cars with the lack of room on the side of the road. With increased predictability of the interactions between bikers and cars, both parties would know how the other would react to their presence. Situations like mine and Nunn’s could have been avoided.
Even so, some situations can’t be predicted, such as obstacles in the road. The Los Alamos Reporter states that a rock slide closed a part of NM 4 Dec. 1 2021. Adding a dual purpose bike lane would be beneficial to cars, drivers and bikers. Any obstacle in the road could be moved to the side and not cause a traffic jam. Dual purpose bike lanes would help decrease the severity of blockages in the road and decrease the frequency of situations like mine and Andy Nunn’s.
Having bike lanes on a busy road like NM 4 would have benefits to both bikers and cars. According to NACTO, having bike lanes would “increase bicyclist comfort and confidence.” This increase in comfort and confidence would make a safer environment and may decrease the number of cars and increase the number of cyclists. It could even reduce the pollution caused by cars according to Environmental Conscience.
Implementing a bike lane will be difficult in the short term but the benefits to the safety of cars and bikers using NM 4 will increase significantly. The process of implementing bike lanes could cause traffic jams because the construction would partially block the road. The safety of New Mexico’s bike riders is more important, making this temporary wait worthwhile.
NM 4 is a very dangerous road and nothing is being done about it. To make NM 4 a safer road, the stakeholders with an interest in the road, NMDOT, LANL, Los Alamos County and the San Juan Pueblo, need to be made aware that NM 4 has major safety flaws and that it’s their problem. Next, a meeting with the stakeholders to discuss the problems and possible solutions has to be held because they have to be in agreement to allow renovations. We need to put bike lanes on NM 4 for the safety of our bicyclists. If we don’t, many more situations like mine and Andy Nunn’s will occur in the future.
