Days after 19-year-old Kayla Vanlandingham was struck and killed while cycling across Carlisle Boulevard in July, her mother, Melinda Montoya, met with District 7 City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn to ask, “How do we make things better for others?”
That question sparked a four-month push that ended Wednesday, Nov. 5, when the Albuquerque City Council unanimously approved the first major overhaul of city traffic laws since 1974.
“If this code existed in its current form, I truly believe Kayla would still be with me today,” Montoya said at the meeting. “I also believe that we would have a better driving culture and we wouldn’t be leading the nation as having the worst drivers and the most pedestrian and vulnerable road user deaths.”
New Mexico has ranked first nationally for pedestrian fatality rates for eight consecutive years…