Drivin' me crazy —
Residents do battle with unsafe drivers on local streets
Gallup drivers that are accustom to using their cellular telephones behind the wheel may soon have to change their habits, as the City Council prepares to take a look at the practice, which many people regard as unsafe. [photo by Jeff Jones / Independent]

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — A speeding problem continues to plague residents on Kit Carson Drive and one resident, Marcia Heifner, says the city is not doing anything about it.

“The city government acknowledges there is a problem, but seems hesitant to remedy the situation,” Heifner said. She is the wife of Independent Managing Editor Barry Heifner.

In April, Heifner gave a petition to Mayor Harry Mendoza, Police Chief Robert Cron, and the Executive Director of the Public Works Division Stan Henderson. She collected 22 signatures from residents on Kit Carson who wanted something done about the speeders. There are 24 homes on the affected stretch of Kit Carson Drive. In response, the city placed rumble strips across the busy road. Heifner says they’ve had no effect.

According to the city, the problem is not just on Kit Carson.
“We have a lot of inconsiderate drivers,” Cron said at the last City Hall meeting as they were discussing the possibility of a city ordinance banning cell phone use while driving.

The city also discussed the lack of an ordinance regarding the use of cell phones while driving. People who cause accidents while being distracted by cell phone use can be cited under a careless driving ordinance, but not specifically for talking on a cell phone while driving. The question was raised as to whether or not the city needed a specific ordinance to deal with the problem.

During the May 27 City Council meeting Cron said cell phone use was but one issue in a much wider traffic problem.

He recommended against a new ordinance as there was some question of just how effectively it could be enforced. The city seemed poised to enact a media campaign in hopes of persuading people to hang up and drive. But Councilor Allan Landavazo questioned if a media campaign would have any effect at all.

“Everyone knows they’re not suppose to do it,” he said.

During the meeting Landavazo cited a study from the American Medical Association, which showed a correlation between an increase in the incidence of accidents and cell phone use. The increase was found before and after accidents. This indicates that cell phone use may cause more accidents.

Referring to the problem on Kit Carson Drive, Henderson said speeding is not an isolated issue.

“Speeding is a citywide problem. People drive at the speed they feel is safe,” Henderson said in a phone interview.
He explained that responding to a speeding problem in a specific neighborhood can upset as many residents as it can please.

“When I inconvenience the driver, I inconvenience the neighborhood,” Henderson said.

Another resident on Kit Carson, Bill Sensabaugh, is taking the initiative to correct the problem. He says there’s one driver that’s particularly notorious for speeding and hopes to catch him and the license plate on video.

“He’s going so fast he runs through the stop sign everyday,” Sensabaugh said.

Sensabaugh says he thinks that the speeding problem in Gallup is largely isolated to a few drivers.

“Most of the drivers are responsible. There’s a few of them that need to slow down,” he said.

Kit Carson resident Edward Placencio is concerned about his children’s safety. He has two boys, a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old, living in his household.

“I’m hesitant to let them play out front near the road,” he said.

Placencio says the long stretch with few stops in between encourages the problem. And he says that the rumble strips the city put down don’t have much of an effect.
“I don’t think they’ve deterred people from speeding up and down the street,” he said.

Heifner says she’s not about to back down from the problem and will keep trying to get the city’s attention.

“When talking to certain members of Gallup’s city government,” she says, “I’ve heard ‘liability this and liability that.’ You’d think they’d be an even greater liability issue if there’s a fatality on the street, especially after residents have frequently complained about this problem.”

She noted that since gas is now nearly $4 a gallon, speeders would do better on gas mileage and save money by slowing down.