Mayor Tim Keller last fall signed an ordinance to bring back mobile speed enforcement to reduce the speeding culture in Albuquerque.
With the lack of proper police staffing, Albuquerque has seen an increase in speeding and careless driving causes more injuries on the road and is a danger to the public KOB4 reports.
"It's absolutely alarming, people are getting more reckless, and I think that it's because most people are learning that they're untouchable right now, and that's what I mean when I say we have to change the culture," City Counselor Brook Bassan said, according to KOB4.
Bassan tells KOB4 that culture change and not policing for profit will be their main focus.
One Albuquerque resident, Rosa Rivera, is hopeful that the crackdown will create a positive change for the community. Rivera lost her niece to a driver that sped through a red light, ending Erika Chavez's life on Sept. 12, 2020.
"Every single day it's been heart-stopping agonizing pain that we have felt from the day that this happened, and it'll be a part of our everyday life," Riversa said, according to KOB4. "People need to understand that speeding endangers not only the speeder but every single family member or person of ours that shares the road along with them."
The mobile units will begin issuing warnings next week and citations in May, according to KOB4. City councilors hope this will help stop the increase in reckless driving.
"This is not going to be kind of a gotcha situation-- this is about 'well they're out there, we're telling people that they need to slow down.' And if they don't, and they're excessively speeding, they could get a ticket of $100," Bassan said, according to KOB4. "There's going to be an option of community service if somebody can't afford to pay the fine. But it will end up going to collections. And that can take a ding on your insurance, and it can take a ding on your driver's license and history."
An item on the city council agenda also addressed a potential automated speed enforcement fund. The city council didn't get to that agenda item and moved it to next week's meeting, per KOB4.
According to KOB4, Bassan hopes to budget for a system to better manage money from tickets and schedule regular maintenance on mobile units.
