Frustrated resident fed up with speeding ATVs in SW Albuquerque neighborhood

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Albuquerque Police Department said it was cracking down on it’s ATV operations earlier this year. But now, one southwest Albuquerque man says APD isn’t cracking down hard enough in his neighborhood.

He says it’s not the way he wants to spend his retirement, calling the city almost every day about ATV’s speeding through his neighborhood. 

He says he’s fed up, and he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to anyone. 

It’s been going on for several months, going all the way back to this summer. And now with winter break starting, he’s worried the speeding and ATVs are only going to get more out of control.

“Dirt bikes, ATVs, side by sides, speeding in general was a problem here,” said Doug Eier a frustrated resident. 

Eier moved to Albuquerque last year from Georgia. He’s retired now, but for months, he says he’s tried to get his concerns about safety with the speeding ATVs addressed near the Sunset Sierra Park in southwest Albuquerque. 

“The final straw was ATVs down here in the grass area of the park. This happens regularly, but yesterday I watched one of them almost hit a child who was probably five years old,” said Eier. 

His retirement in the Land of Enchantment is anything but peaceful.

“It’s really frustrating. We’ve tried to deal with the parks department in the city for the past four and a half, five months with problems that have happened out here,” Eier said. 

We reached out to the Albuquerque Police Department about Eier’s concerns. 

APD says it has not received reports of ATV’s along Amole Mesa Avenue in two months, and that with the colder weather less ATVs will be out.

But while we were talking with Eier on a Wednesday chilly afternoon we caught a side by side seemingly speeding down Amole Mesa Avenue. 

“The problem is that when I call the police department, here we go right there, right there. You see how fast he’s going down through here. It’s like a racetrack,” Eier said. 

Eier shared photos he caught this week of ATVs on the road. 

The neighborhood hopes to see more done.

“Two things I’d like to see: some kind of traffic control, stop signs, traffic lights, speed humps, whatever that requires or whatever it will be allowed. The second thing I would like to see, and the biggest thing right now, would be some kind of traffic enforcement,” said Eier. 

He says they don’t want another tragedy like the one last year at the River of Lights to happen again.  

“We don’t need to have that happen out here,” said Eier. 

While APD has not received reports of ATVs, they have received concerns about speeding in general that area. So, they’ve placed a speed trailer and camera in the area.