Effectiveness of speed radar trailer questioned in one Colorado Springs neighborhood
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Police said that one of several devices used to compare drivers’ speeds to posted speed limits and reduce speeding is working in an eastside neighborhood.
But a viewer who contacted KRDO13’s The Road Warrior and lives in the area isn’t so sure.
Approximately a month ago, police placed a speed radar trailer on the shoulder of westbound Constitution Avenue, just east of the Sierra Drive intersection.
“We placed it here because we’d received numerous complaints about speeding,” Ira Cronin, a police spokesman, explained. “And since it’s been here, we haven’t had one complaint. Our goal isn’t to write tickets, but to try to convince people to slow down.”
The speed limit on that stretch of Constitution is 35 mph.
Still, The Road Warrior noticed drivers regularly exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph, prompting a “Slow Down” warning on the radar’s message board.
The placement of the trailer came after a crash at the intersection in late July, in which a motorcycle rider collided with an SUV, was ejected, and killed.
Cronin said that the crash remains under investigation and fault hasn’t been determined.
Lynne Mahan is the viewer who contacted The Road Warrior; she said that she worries about speeders following too closely and causing rear-end collisions when drivers slow to enter the shoulder and turn right on Sierra.
“I’ve asked them if they could move it forward to where there’s not a turn lane, or to the east side, where there’s not a turn lane either,” she said. “It still would accomplish what (police) say they are trying to accomplish, which I fully support.”
Cronin outlined the procedure for the placement of speed radars.
“When an officer comes out here to place a trailer like this, they’re going to look at the lay of the land,” he said. “They’re going to look at, in this particular case, it’s a curve. Where can we get drivers’ attention, and where can we safely park this trailer? And here on the shoulder of a road is legally safe for anyone to park in this section because it is a shoulder of the road and not a turn lane.”
It’s unfortunate, Cronin added, that drivers who obey traffic laws are often the victims of drivers who violate those laws.
“Because this one seems to be working, we may move it to another location soon,” he revealed. “We have a limited number of these devices and many areas where speeding is an issue.”
Mahan is also concerned about the risk of broadside crashes at the intersection, as drivers try to enter or exit Sierra.
“Sierra, north of Constitution, is the only way in and out of the neighborhood,” she said.
In July’s fatal crash, police said that an SUV was turning left at Sierra onto eastbound Constitution; the motorcycle was in the westbound right lane on Constitution, and the collision happened as the rider veered left to avoid the SUV.
Late on Monday morning, police were conducting speed enforcement on Constitution.