Slow Down, Colorado Springs — It’s The Law: Looking Ahead To Year 2

From the City of Colorado Springs:

November 12, 2019

Slow Down, Colorado Springs — It’s The Law: Looking Ahead To Year 2

Looking over piles of traffic data, Colorado Springs Police officers pinpoint the most dangerous intersections in the city when it comes to speeding.

“People are just going too fast. It’s dangerous, especially when every single person on the road wants to get home safe at the end of the day,” Lieutenant Dan Thompson says.

Lieutenant Thompson oversees the CSPD’s grant-funded project, “Slow Down, Colorado Springs — It’s the Law,” which aims at supplementing the police department’s existing speed enforcement efforts. Using funds from the Colorado Department of Transportation, officers conduct saturated enforcement activity at well-traveled locations that experience a high number of injury traffic crashes.

2018 was the first year the CSPD participated in the project, and its results were telling. Over the course of 12 months, officers dedicated 1,008 hours of additional speed enforcement, issued 2,399 traffic citations, and cited 2,758 traffic violations. While we are proud of our officers for their commitment to traffic safety, seeing those high of numbers means we still have a speed problem here in Colorado Springs. For the CSPD, the goal of this program is not — and never has been — about seeing how many tickets we can write; rather, it’s about impacting driving behavior.

“If we could see any ideal result, we would see zero crashes, zero injuries, and zero tickets issued. That would mean drivers aren’t speeding, and we have voluntary compliance,” Lieutenant Thompson says.

Looking forward to the second year of the grant, which starts this month, Lt. Thompson explains that telling drivers where we will be conducting speed enforcement in the future isn’t an issue. “All the intersections were chosen for a reason. They are dangerous and frequented by speeding drivers. If people know we are there, see us, slow down, and go through the historically dangerous intersection safely…then that’s a win. Again, it’s all about just changing that behavior,” says Thompson.As for the intersections themselves, below is a list of each area officers will be deployed for “Slow Down, Colorado Springs — It’s the Law.” Note, these intersections were only chosen for the first quarter of the project, which will take place from October 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019.Falcon Division (Northwest Colorado Springs)

• Razorback Road & Voyager Parkway
• N. 30th Street & W. Garden of the Gods Road
• E. Fillmore Street & Templeton Gap Road
• N. Cascade Avenue & E. Fillmore Street
• N. Union Boulevard & Austin Bluffs Parkway
• N. Academy Boulevard & Briargate Boulevard
• Voyager Parkway & Middle Creek Parkway
• N. Powers Boulevard & Old Ranch Road
• W. Garden of the Gods Road & Hilton Parkway
• Research Parkway & Lexington Drive

Gold Hill Division (Southwest Colorado Springs)

• Lake Avenue & Highway 115
• Lake Avenue & Southgate Road
• S. Tejon Street & E. Las Vegas Street
• N. Nevada Avenue & E. Platte Avenue
• 1500 block of Cheyenne Boulevard
• E. Willamette Avenue & N. Nevada Avenue
• 1500 block of North Cascade Avenue
• N. Hancock Avenue & E. Pikes Peak Avenue
• 1800 block of South Union Boulevard
• Ridge Road & W. Pikes Peak Avenue

Sand Creek Division (Southeast Colorado Springs)

• S. Academy Boulevard & Pace Drive
• N. Murray Boulevard & Galley Road
• E. Bijou Street & N. Circle Drive
• S. Academy Boulevard & Astrozon Boulevard
• E. Platte Avenue & N. Circle Drive
• S. Marksheffel Road & Bradley Road
• S. Powers Boulevard & Aeroplaza Drive
• East Hills Road & E. Cache La Poudre Street
• N. Academy Boulevard & E. Platte Avenue
• 1900 block of Carmel Drive

Stetson Hills Division (Northeast Colorado Springs)Austin Bluffs Parkway & Beverly Street

• E. Woodmen Road & Duryea Drive
• E. Fillmore Street & N. Union Boulevard
• Briargate Boulevard & N. Union Boulevard
• Barnes Road & Purcell Drive
• N. Academy Boulevard & Austin Bluffs Parkway
• N. Union Boulevard & N. Circle Drive
• N. Carefree Circle & Picturesque Circle
• Maizeland Road & Wold Avenue
• N. Academy Boulevard & Palmer Park Boulevard

“I am excited for year two of this project. We will keep the public engaged and informed of our efforts and continue to focus on making our roads safer for the citizens of Colorado Springs,” Thompson says.

This press release was produced by the City of Colorado Springs. The views expressed here are the author’s own.