LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) – Another local government in New Mexico has made it illegal to stand on narrow medians, where speeds and traffic are high. "It's really intended to address public safety," said Erin Callahan, Deputy Village Administrator for the Village of Los Lunas. For years, New Mexico has ranked as a state with one of the highest rates of pedestrian-related deaths. Now, with a newly approved ordinance earlier this month, the Village of Los Lunas joins other cities in the state looking to improve that statistic. "Shortly before we brought the ordinance to council, we had a fatal pedestrian-related accident on one of our main roads," Callahan said. The ordinance now makes it illegal to stand on medians for an extended period that are less than 4 feet in diameter and on streets that have speeds greater than 30 mph. The ordinance also allows authorities to enforce the new law. In the past, officers could only "request" a person to leave the median. "There are some medians in the village that, due to their narrow width and volume of traffic that's going past them—they're really just not safe," Callahan explained. Village leaders said authorities will now give a warning for the first infraction. That penalty changes to a $25 fine for the second violation, $50 for the third, and $50-$100 for the time after that. It would be up to the officer to decide if the person has stayed on the median for too long. However, there are exceptions. Such as someone making repairs to their vehicle, if someone stops due to an injury, or is legally crossing but stops for a short time. "This is intended to address public safety, and it is not intended as a limitation on any First Amendment," Callahan added. "We tried to make sure that we could come up with any legitimate reason that someone has to be on a median or a short amount of time."