A new speed camera is in place along Coors Blvd. near Fortuna Rd, creating a controversy over whether it should legally be there. The camera is the 11th in the city and is placed in a location along a state road which could be in violation of a state transportation department policy.
“There are a lot of speeders, especially as we get closer to the rush hour traffic, there is usually about a car accident per month,” Hector Hernandez, who works at Mariscos Altamar on Coors, told KRQE.
The city told KRQE News 13 it made the decision to place the camera on Coors after “a combination of traffic information, the high fatality and injury network, crash data.”
The camera was placed on a median owned by the city to avoid a state department policy enacted in 2010 that banned speed vans and red-light cameras on state roads. The city and state told KRQE they reached an agreement to place the camera on the median.
While speed cameras may have been viewed as an intrusion of privacy more than a decade ago, the surge in speed crashes has prompted the need for more enforcement.
“I think it would be good for the community,” Hernandez said of the cameras. “I don’t know how effective it might be. But hopefully, it works out for the community.”
The camera on Coors will begin issuing tickets to speeders in the next few days. Signage will warn drivers cameras are in the area. Additional cameras will be added throughout the city.
