9NEWS is floating a story about a Colorado bill that would let cities put speed cameras on interstates. Specifically, it mentions Wheat Ridge tried last summer to install photo radar on a portion of I-70 and didn’t get it done, and now a bill would change the rules.
That matters to normal people because interstates are how Colorado works. They are how Weld families get to jobs, how small businesses move loads, how folks get to a kid’s game, a doctor appointment, or just get home before dark. Turning the interstate into a locally run ticketing zone is not safety. It’s a policy choice with a big footprint and a very predictable set of winners and losers. Spoiler: the winners are never the people just trying to live their lives.
Here’s the part they skip: interstates aren’t city streets. They’re statewide and interstate corridors. When you let every city along the route enforce by camera, you create a patchwork of automated enforcement that drivers can’t reasonably track. You can drive through multiple jurisdictions in one commute. That’s not accountability. That’s a scavenger hunt where the prize is a fine.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Interstates are statewide corridors, not local ticketing zones.
- A city-by-city camera patchwork is confusing and hard for drivers to track.
- Automated enforcement prioritizes volume, not officer judgment.
- The bill needs receipts: crash data, due process, guardrails, and transparency on revenue.
- Safer roads require clear standards, tight limits, and measurable targets.
My Bottom Line
Let’s not pretend this won’t become revenue. If it were purely about the absolute worst behavior, you’d focus on high-effort enforcement where a human officer uses judgment. Automated systems don’t do judgment. They do volume.
And no, I’m not arguing that speeding is smart. If someone can show me the numbers that this approach reduces serious crashes on interstates without turning into a cash machine, fine. But the article doesn’’t include those numbers, the bill language, guardrails, due process protections, or where the money flows.
So ask the bill-paying questions. Who pays? Who profits? Who gets blamed? If a camera misreads a plate, if a notice goes to the wrong address, if a family member was driving, if the signage is confusing, if the system is outsourced, who carries the burden to fight it? Regular people. The system never inconveniences the bureaucracy. It inconveniences you.
Also, local control cuts both ways. Cities should manage their streets. Interstates are a different animal with statewide consequences. In the Denver/Boulder Bubble, gravity is optional, but out here we still believe in jurisdictional boundaries for a reason.
If lawmakers want safer interstates, they should start by setting transparent goals and realistic constraints: clear statewide standards, documented crash hotspots, strong notice requirements, easy dispute resolution, strict limits on where cameras can be placed, and a hard cap that prevents this from becoming a budget plug. And if they truly want safer roads, invest in their expansion and maintenance! (Novel idea, I know…)
Next steps: get the actual bill text, read the fine print, and demand the guardrails in public. Call your local city council and county commissioners and ask where they stand on automated enforcement on interstates. (I am strongly against this – I think it’s unconstitutional!) Then ask state lawmakers these questions: What are the measurable safety targets? Where can cameras be placed and why? Who operates them? Where does the money go? What due process protections exist? And what stops safety from turning into a permanent toll booth?
