Speed vans – or something like that – are meant for the streets of Albuquerque, but a new journal poll shows voters in the cities are divided.
In a poll of likely city voters, 50% said they support the installation of express buses for ticket drivers who exceed the speed limit. That compares with 43% of those who oppose the technology and 6% who say it matters.
Albuquerque City Council passed law this month enabling automated, camera-based speed monitoring technology, and Mayor Tim Keller signed the measure.
Proponents of the bill have touted the technology as a way to curb dangerously fast driving so police officers can focus on other criminal activities.
“Excessive speeds are a significant problem in all areas of Albuquerque. Until the Albuquerque Police Department is fully occupied and able to successfully enforce all violent and nonviolent crimes, we must do everything in our power to make our city’s streets safer, ”said Councilor Brook Bassan, one of the sponsors of the Bill, in a statement month.
The bill slightly cleared the council, only Councilor Pat Davis voted against, calling it a “surveillance state” measure of questionable effectiveness.
Keller said the city plans to have the technology up and running by winter.
It’s not clear whether the initiative is about delivery trucks or some other type of mobile detection.
The program will issue civil suits that are payable in $ 100 or four hours of community service.
According to the survey, women (57%) support faster vans than men (42%). Similar differences exist based on political affiliation, with 56% of Democrats advocating the technology compared to 41% of Republicans.
The biggest differences, however, occur across the age spectrum, with the oldest voters twice as likely to be in favor of the vans as the youngest voters.
While 62% of the over 65-year-olds in the survey support speed vans, only 28% of the 18- to 34-year-olds see it the same way.
“Seniors are more conservative drivers than young people, so I’m not surprised that younger people are more against it,” said Brian Sanderoff, president of Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the Journal poll.
Albuquerque once had cameras at intersections to cite red light runners and speeders, though the city eventually changed its focus solely on red light violations. The city eventually dropped the cameras entirely after 53% of voters opposed them on a deliberative vote when they voted in 2011.
The Journal poll is based on a scientific, city-wide sample of 536 likely regular local election voters, including those who voted in the 2017 and / or 2019 local elections, and a small sample of newly registered voters expected to vote in 2021.
The survey was conducted October 15-21. The sample of voters has an error rate of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The error rate increases for partial samples.
All interviews were conducted by live professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households who did not initially answer the phone. Both mobile phone numbers (82%) and landline connections (18%) were used.
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