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APD Releases End of Year Traffic Unit Data

82% Increase in Traffic Citations, 29% Decrease in Fatal Crashes

Thurs. Dec. 15, 2022

ALBUQUERQUE – The Albuquerque Police Department released the Traffic Units 2022 statistics resulting in an 82% increase in overall traffic citations and a 29% decrease in traffic fatalities.

In February of 2022, Chief Harold Medina and APD’s Traffic Unit announced they would be ramping up traffic operations and speed enforcement across the city. Year to date, the Motors Unit issued 34,108 traffic citations, up from 18,661 in 2021. The Traffic Unit also investigated 61 fatal crashes year to date, down from 80 in 2021.  

The unit issued 675 freeway citations, 1,010 citations during Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) operations, and 7,529 citations along the Central corridor.

“I’m incredibly proud of the hard work by our Traffic Unit this year, from nearly doubling citations issued, to tackling our street racing issues, the unit has certainly helped make our roadways safer for the community,” said Chief Harold Medina.

Additionally, the Traffic Unit launched a Road Rage Portal where individuals can upload video or photographic evidence of a road rage or aggressive driving incident to assist with investigations. 75 videos were uploaded to the portal and 75 contacts were made.

The DWI Unit has made 697 DWI arrests, up 14% from 607 arrests in 2021. The unit made 12 drug recognition arrests and conducted 18 checkpoints which resulted in 83 of the DWI arrests this year.

The Traffic Unit also conducted 29 street racing operations. In total during these operations, 751 citations were issued to drivers, 249 of those were for spectating violations.

“APD’s Traffic Unit has done an incredible job tackling the many issues on our city’s roadways and we are seeing how their hard work delivers on our commitment to less crashes and slower speeds across our community,” said Mayor Tim Keller.

Under Mayor Keller’s Administration came the implementation of Vision Zero in Albuquerque, which is a data-driven approach to create safer streets for the entire community. The launch of the Automated Speed Enforcement program was a recommendation of Vision Zero, which consists of 10 speed cameras throughout Albuquerque. Since its launch, more than 25,000 citations have been issued to drivers speeding, and officers have seen improvement in driver behavior.

“Ensuring our streets are safe for all drivers, cyclists and pedestrians is the chief mission of Vision Zero,” said Public Works Strategic Program Manager over Vision Zero Valerie Hermanson. “We’re excited by the progress we’ve made in 2022, but look forward to taking another big step towards our goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2040 in the coming year.”

A full presentation of the unit's overall numbers can be found here