Crash mapping app to help law enforcement agencies prevent DWI crashes

Law enforcement agencies in Dona Ana County may start using the power of technology to help curb DWI crashes.

The Mesilla Valley Resource Center unveiled the new app Friday, called the “NM Crash” app.

Designed for law enforcement, it uses data from the Department of Transportation on past DWI crashes and applies it to maps officers can view while out patrolling. It applies a formula and as a result, shows intersections or stretches of highways that are “hot spots”.

Officers can see these “hot spots” where DWI crashes have occurred and even track where they could happen.

“People get used to getting from point A to point B okay, even when they’re under the influence,” said Linda Atkinson with the DWI Resource Center.

“A lot of people think that. Then we have crashes, so being able to use this data, can take that away thinking they won’t get caught.”

The Center hopes the app will ease the shortage of manpower in Dona Ana County, by using the app for more strategic placement of traffic enforcement efforts like checkpoints and saturation patrols.

“When you have limited resources, that’s very hard to, this is a very large geographical area”, said Justin Dunivan, Deputy Commander for the Las Cruces Police Department.

The DWI Resource Center in Albuquerque developed a similar crash map app several years ago under a grant. The price for the app: $80,000.

For the first couple of months, the app will be free of charge. The MVDWIRC will underwrite the funds necessary to update the app for Dona Ana County law enforcement agencies for the first 3-4 months. The Center then plans to work with the New Mexico Department of Transportation to secure annual funding.

If it works, officials hope the app will be implemented permanently.