By SHERRIL COUTS
Los Alamos

In regard to Robert Bourque’s letter (link), he is correct, but there’s more.

Crossing San Ildefonso on foot, east bound, at the crosswalk on the south side of the roundabout is suicide if one is not careful. Motorists drive too fast to stop. Trees block their view from any distance. It’s still the motorists’ faults, but the engineering mitigation would be to remove some trees, pretty as they are.

It’s already bad enough with motorists who don’t know the rules of the roundabout. Very recently I was driving through the roundabout and nearly got destroyed by an 18-wheel tractor semi-trailer whose driver thought he had the right of way, but did not. Fortunately I escaped with only being blasted by the semi driver’s horn after emergency braking on both our parts.

While on the subject of beauty vs. safety, we could reiterate on the idiocy of the popouts on Central Avenue, in winter inhibiting the efforts of the snow plows, and year around placing pedestrians seeking to cross much too close to passing traffic.

That’s on top of making parking difficult, and generally inhibiting the smooth flow of traffic.

Beauty + recurring costs vs. safety and efficiency, maybe these are jobs for County Council to  demonstrate responsibility over personal legacies of the past.