COLORADO SPRINGS — A plan to deploy speed cameras across Colorado Springs cleared its first hurdle during a Colorado Springs City Council meeting on Tuesday.
Councilmembers voted 7-2 to push the speed safety camera program to a second and final vote that will take place in three weeks. Leaders of the Colorado Springs Police Department, including Police Chief Adrian Vasquez, presented the plan to council.
The proposed speed cameras would use radar technology to track multiple lanes of traffic and record speeding vehicles. Police said the department would purchase two new marked vehicles equipped with the speed cameras. The plan is to hire two civilian employees to run the vehicles.
According to the presentation given by CSPD during the city council meeting, the vehicles would be deployed near residential areas, parks, school zones, and construction zones. State law only permits the use of the technology in those four areas, unless council passes an ordinance to use the cameras in a certain corridor.
The fine for speeding would be $40 while tickets for speeding in school and construction zones would be $80. CSPD said it is a civil infraction and no points are assessed for violations.
Councilmember Dave Donelson voted against the speed safety camera program during Tuesday's meeting. He said he doesn't believe it will crack down on the issue.
"What I worry about is citizens get the feeling that the city sees them as a way to raise money," he said. "If it doesn't really change the numbers, it doesn't change the number of wrecks, the number of deaths...what are we really doing?"
El Paso County has led the state in traffic fatalities for the past two years, according to data from the Colorado State Patrol. Donelson said he's not convinced the speed cameras will target the main problem areas for speeding around the city.
CSPD said the goal of the speed cameras is to target areas with the highest number of child pedestrians and crack down on traffic fatalities involving pedestrians. A spokesperson for the department said red light cameras are used to decrease crashes at 20 main intersections across the city.
Officials did not give an estimated cost of the program during the meeting and said they are still in the contracting process.
Colorado Springs City Council is expected to make a final vote at the next meeting on May 14.
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