Photo Radar Law Could Slow Down Cone Zone Speeders

COLORADO SPRINGS – 65 miles per hour isn’t fast enough for some of you on I-25. Colorado Springs Police recently ticketed 43 drivers for speeding on I-25. The fastest driver was clocked at 80 miles per hour. Through the construction zone at I-25 and Rockrimmon, the fastest car ticketed was going 69 miles per hour.

The Charles Mather Highway Safety Act, which became law last year, allows the Colorado Department of Transportation to use photo radar in cone zones. So far, CDOT hasn’t bought any photo radar vans, meaning officers still have to patrol the highway.

“Every once in a while you get somebody that’s, like I say, ‘more important than the rest of us,'” says Colorado Springs Police Officer Brian Uebelhoer. “At 45, they’re still traveling at 65 like they don’t see the signs.”

Uebelhoer patrols I-25, including the 45 miles per hour construction zone near Rockrimmon.

“If we put a police car out here, they slow down because they see a police car. If they put a photo radar in a white van, people don’t necessarily associate a white van with the police,” says Uebelhoer. “If photo radar was out here, we could be answering the calls for service, people’s identities being stolen, the general calls that we get that sometime take a while to get to.”

Drivers don’t seem to mind the idea of photo radar, at least in cone zones.

“In the construction zone, there’s men out there working, just the same as a school zone,” says driver Judy Markos. “I definitely feel like if there is a construction zone going on, people need to be aware enough to slow down whether there’s a cop there or a radar.”

“Yeah, I’m for anything that will slow the traffic down,” says driver Dale Banister. “Having an officer sit there all the time, that takes up there time away from they should be doing, probably for time and burglary or whatever.”

Since CDOT would own the photo radar van, any tickets snapped would be revenue for the state highway fund. When Colorado Springs Police write the ticket, the fine goes to the city budget.