WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — The Wheat Ridge Police Department aims to enhance street safety by expanding its speed enforcement program by the end of this month.
This initiative addresses dangerous intersections where speeding and running red lights often cause serious crashes.
“My biggest concern is late at night. A lot of kids do street racing in this area,” said Chuck Schmedeke, Wheat Ridge resident.
Speeding and running red lights are the top complaints residents take to the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
“There are certainly several traffic crash investigations where we've seen people, or even two people, sometimes running a red light that's dangerous. We want to nip that behavior,” said Alex Rose, Wheat Ridge Police Department public information officer.
Solutions have been in the works. Last year, Wheat Ridge PD introduced two speed cameras in town as part of their speed enforcement program.
“One right outside Wheat Ridge High School. The other was outside Anderson Park,” said Rose.
In the first three months, between May and July, more than 11,000 citations were issued.
“Compared to August, September, and October, we did see a 30% reduction in the notices of civil violation that we mailed out,” said Rose.
Although reduced, the program is expanding as more cameras are installed around town.
“We're going to put another camera outside of Prospect Park, which is on the northwest side of Wheat Ridge, also on 44th Avenue. And then we are going to install another speed camera at the bottom of the hill on Kipling Street, right near the West 38th Avenue intersection," he said.
Police say Kipling Street and W. 38th Avenue is no stranger to crashes, especially those involving speed.
“I’ve noticed one or two crashes at this area of 38th and Kipling,” said Schmedeke.
“As recently as just before the holidays, we had a pretty bad crash with serious bodily injury. Our investigation indicates that speed was certainly a factor in that crash as well,” said Rose.
The city's first red-light camera will be placed at the intersection of Kipling Street and W. 44th Avenue.
“That's another high-impact intersection where we see some reckless driving behavior, but also speeding,” said Rose.
Some residents are thrilled about this, hoping to make Wheat Ridge streets safer.
“I think it’s a good idea. Especially for the late-night racing that goes on around here. It would be nice to identify those guys that are doing that and get them to stop,” said Schmedeke.
As far as how much these citations will cost you, Speed camera citations are $40, and that will double if you are in a school zone. The red-light camera citations are $75.
Wheat Ridge PD says one of the citation payment options is to pay the City of Wheat Ridge at a PO Box in Pasadena, California.
“People call our department and wonder if it's a scam. I applaud their vigilance. It's not a scam. That is where the company that we contract with processes these payments, and so that's one of the things that people usually point to and are hesitant about,” said Rose.
For more information on this program, what citations look like, and the locations where the new cameras will be installed, click here.
