The Breakdown:
- Colorado has expanded its use of cameras that will issue tickets if your average speed exceeds the limit by 10 miles per hour or more.
- The state passed a law in 2023 to allow law enforcement agencies to use automated vehicle identification systems to issue speeding tickets.
- The system issues a ticket to the vehicle owner, regardless of who is actually driving.
Speed cameras are not new. They have been in use in the United States for nearly 40 years, and your favorite navigation app will warn you when you’re approaching one, but those will no longer work as intended on certain stretches of Colorado roads and highways.
The state’s new automated vehicle identification systems (AVIS) use several cameras to calculate your average speed between them, and if it is 10 miles per hour or more over the limit, you get a ticket. No longer will you be able to slow down as you approach a camera and speed back up after passing it, not that you should be speeding on public roads in the first place.
Colorado began deploying this new camera system after legislators changed the law in 2023, allowing AVIS for law enforcement use. The systems, installed on various roads and highways throughout the state, first began issuing warnings, but police began issuing tickets late last year.
The most recent section of road to fall under surveillance is a stretch of I-25 north of Denver, which brought the state’s growing panopticon to our attention. It began issuing tickets on April 2.
The Colorado Department of Transportation installed the cameras along a construction zone. The fine is $75 and zero points for exceeding the speed limit, and the police issue it to the vehicle’s owner, regardless of who is driving.
Motor1’s Take: Colorado’s automated vehicle identification system should be a reminder that driving is a privilege and not a right, and that the growing surveillance state will make it easier for governments to enforce the law. It’s not impossible to imagine a future where these cameras, likely packed with artificial intelligence, line every road in America and identify more than just speeding cars.
