'People live here': Despite efforts by lab, county, many drivers in Los Alamos still feel roads are unsafe

LOS ALAMOS — Monday through Friday, thousands of cars stream up the Hill to Los Alamos — many of them commuters to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Between two high-profile fatal crashes last year — one of which killed former LANL director Charles McMillan — traffic safety with the growing workforce at the lab has become a growing and concern among commuters and residents alike. Just this year, the county approved a distracted driving ordinance, is looking at spending $300,000 on speed cameras and declared August “Distracted Driving Awareness Month.”

Los Alamos County itself had a lower per capita crash rate than either Santa Fe or Bernalillo counties in 2023. But state Department of Transportation data shows that while concentration of crashes in Santa Fe County is centered around its bi