A single-vehicle accident on Sandia Crest Road, outside Albuquerque, that claimed the life of a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy earlier this month has people questioning the lack of a safety apparatus.
David Hunter, a sergeant at the Metropolitan Detention Center, died on Feb. 2 at the age of 31 when a truck carrying him and another man rolled off the snowy road and plunged 100 feet down the mountain, Albuquerque CBS affiliate KRQE reported.
According to the station, the area around the crash site has no guardrails.
“There’s areas that we determine that are hazardous that have cliffs and areas that are heavily traveled where people would need that guardrail, but then there’s other areas where there is slow speed limit and guardrails are not needed,” New Mexico Department of Transportation spokesperson, Kimberly Gallegos, said to KRQE.
Gallegos added that roads that curve have guardrails, but the segment Hunter traveled on at the time of his death doesn’t require guardrails because it’s straight.
She urges motorists to take into account signage in the area.
“There’s speed limit signs, posted signs where there’s designated areas to pull off for trails, there’s slow signs around the edges where you’re going around the huge mountain where it tells you to drive slower and be careful,” Gallegos told KRQE.
The DOT said road closures are left up to local law enforcement agencies.