City councilors pass new ordinance targeting drivers with unpaid speeding tickets

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – On Monday night, the Albuquerque city council passed a new ordinance, 7-2, aimed at making sure folks who get caught speeding by any of the city’s speed cameras pay the tickets sent to them in the mail. 

The new ordinance allows the city to boot your car if you park on any city street, or city park, and have three or more unpaid speed camera tickets. Some Albuquerque drivers say that’s not fair. 

“I personally don’t think it’s the right way to go about getting people to pay their tickets, I think people already struggle paying one ticket that they have accidentally gotten,” Crystal Cevering said. 

At Monday’s meeting, some city councilors argued putting the boots on cars would be a waste of time. 

“We are directing our resources in the wrong place, I think we should direct our resources to the amount of crime we are dealing with,” District 1 City Councilor, Louie Sanchez, said Monday night. 

But other councilors said this ordinance will be helpful to our understaffed police department. 

“We have the cameras that are actually helping APD officers because we are low on the numbers of speeding citations throughout the city, which is a chronic problem. This is actually making it more strict if you are speeding, and get a citation from one of those cameras,” District 4 City Councilor, Brook Bassan said. 

Other Albuquerque drivers agree with the new ordinance. 

“I think it is a good thing that they are doing this it’s only fair if everybody pays their tickets if they disobey the law, so I think having the cameras are good, and helpful. But if no one is paying the tickets it goes against the purpose, so I’m glad they are reinforcing it in this way, I’m all for it,” Fargol Dyrud said. 

To clear a ticket, you then have 30 days to appeal, pay the fine, or complete community service. Otherwise, you risk getting the boot if those speed camera tickets pile up.