WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — It's been more than a year since Wheat Ridge expanded its use of automated traffic enforcement, and police say speed cameras have already started changing driver behavior.
Lakewood resident Scott Huwes told Denver7 that his wife recently caught speeding on Kipling Street, one of the four locations where the cameras are installed.
“She was doing 51 in a 40, and they sent her a little thing in the mail,” said Huwes. “It’ll deter me, that’s for sure, and my wife also.”
Wheat Ridge police said that’s exactly the point of these cameras. Not to write more tickets but to change behavior, and their data shows that’s already working.
“There's a dramatic reduction in excessive speed over time,” said Alex Rose, Wheat Ridge Police Department public information officer.
The camera outside Wheat Ridge High School has led to a 75% reduction in citations since it was installed.
“When you look at June of 2025, we had roughly 4,100 mailed citations. Fast forward to May of this year, 12 months later, we only had 1,100 mailed citations,” said Rose.
Two of the four cameras Wheat Ridge has are permanent, and two are mobile trailers police can move to areas with speeding concerns.
“I think it’ll help, but just got to be careful driving through there. Go the speed limit. You will get to where you are going safely,” said Huwes.
The city is expanding enforcement with red light cameras planned for W. 32nd Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard and W. 44th Avenue and Kipling Street, which are no stranger to serious crashes.
► Watch Sophia Villalba's report in the video below:
“What we would really love to avoid with this program is those high-impact T-bone crashes, where, say somebody's trying to turn left, and somebody's trying to go through the intersection, and two people are trying to catch a red light,” said Rose.
Red light cameras could begin enforcement as early as September following a 30-day notice period.
Speed camera citations are $40, while red-light violations are $75, with no points on your license.
The department said it will also continue moving its mobile cameras based on community complaints.
