Las Cruces To Add Mobile Speed Vans

First came the red light cameras. Then came the cell phone ordinance. And if those were not already enough to worry about behind the wheel, drivers will soon have to watch out for mobile speed vans.

The City of Las Crucesplans to make speed cameras mobile ? putting speedsters at risk for getting caught anywhere on the road without an officer present.

“Sounds like these new mobile Redflex cameras are pretty nasty, they’re pretty sneaky,” Steve Helmreich, resident of Las Cruces, said. ?I hope they don’t bring them here.”

Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico and are already using the speed traps on wheels, but they?ll be the first of their kind here in the Borderland.

Councillors say the units will help reduce the number of heavy metal drivers on the road.

Unlike the red light cameras at intersections, the vans can be moved around to different hot spots ? school zones, rush hour congestion areas, or crash prone intersections.

“The van program is going to be more efficient because we can target areas we know are problems,? Dan Soriano, traffic engineer administrator, said. ?I’m sure the one that are at intersections now do have their dead times where they’re not actually catching many violations so this program will give us more flexibility and I think it’ll make it a more efficient program.?

But motorists say it is an undercover move.

“You don’t know where they’re gonna be so you can’t be prepared for them,? Helmreich said. ?I’ve tried to avoid all the intersections where they have them now just to stay away from them. I think they’re an invasion of privacy and I don’t like them.”

City officials say under their five-year contract with Redflex they are allowed to utilize two mobile speed vans. Portable signs will warn drivers when they are near a van.