Three new devices have been added to the City of Albuquerque’s Automated Speed Enforcement program in the hope that they will help curb excessive speeding in critical areas of the city. The enforcement program, which began on May 25th, is aimed at making roadways in Albuquerque safer by monitoring and citing drivers who are speeding.
This is accomplished by using automated speed enforcement units, which are mobile and fixed radar devices equipped with cameras to monitor excessive speeds in a particular area. Those found to be speeding by these devices are issued a $100 ticket citation.
Since the program began, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the volume of those found to be speeding has been unbelievably high.
“It’s a good thing we’re doing this, it shows that this is unfortunately what our city has to use right now, because of the volume of speeders and how habitual it's become,” Keller said.
One of the locations in which the new devices are now present is in the Lead/Coal corridor. According to APD Motors Unit Lieutenant Nick Wheeler, since June 10th, when the devices were first live, there have been 557 vehicles that have traveled through Lead going 11 miles over the speed limit, and 73 on Coal. The third and final new device placed on Unser has cited 25,000 vehicles so far, with 5100 of those going over 11 miles over the speed limit.
Wheeler also mentioned that since May 25th when the original cameras became operational, there have been 110,502 vehicles captured going 11 miles over the posted speed limit, with 24 of those going over 100 miles per hour. This data was collected from three cameras located on Eastbound and Westbound Gibson, which is a 40 mile per hour zone and on Westbound Montgomery, which is also a 40 mile per hour zone.
Wheeler said the number of speeders captured thus far by the automated system has spurred the department to introduce a uniformed officer in these speeding corridors to run radar.
“Using the data that we’ve collected and that continues to come in as far as the citations, we’re incorporating the live enforcement aspect, having an unformed patrol officer out there running laser or radar, stopping these vehicles that are committing these egregious acts.”
APD is also launching an “aggressive driving” task force this week to help tackle the speeding epidemic in the city. There will also be a link set to go live Monday where residents can email pictures, videos, or documents they’ve collected during an aggressive driving incident. This link will be available on APD’s evidence webpage.
Mayor Keller emphasized that the new cameras, along with the old, will help enforce speed limits in Albuquerque and hold those breaking the law accountable.
“I want everyone to remember that six months from now, when hopefully there’s less speeding and everyone has gotten these citations, that we understand how we got here,” Keller said. “We are doing this to ourselves Albuquerque and this is the only answer and the only way out of it. Is to hold people accountable and that’s what this program is doing.”