Albuquerque to add more speed cameras across city as nearly half of citations remain unpaid

The city of Albuquerque is bolstering its speed camera program by adding several more devices in an attempt to curb speeding and fatal crashes.

The city’s new vendor for the Automated Speed Enforcement program, Elovate, recently swapped the city’s 20 speed cameras and will be adding eight more before the end of the year, Department of Municipal Development spokesperson Dan Mayfield said in a news release Wednesday.

Elovate, which is based out of Canada, won a bid for a two-year contract after the previous contract with vendor NuvoaGlobal expired.

Mayfield said the city will pay Elovate $9,000 a month per camera. If no more cameras are added, the final bill would amount to over $6 million.

One of the new speed cameras will be placed on Carlisle NE, near Delamar, where cyclist Kayla VanLandingham was fatally struck by a driver on July 22.

VanLandingham’s mother, Melinda Montoya, said adding the cameras is a “good step” toward improving safety, but “more can be done in areas that can potentially be considered vulnerable,” like school zones and pedestrian path crossings.

Aside from lowering speed limits “to create better driving habits,” she said, there could be more driver education and awareness on how to behave at intersections and crossings.

Along with the camera on Carlisle, others will be placed on Lead SE, near Bryn Mawr; Coors NW, north of St. Josephs; southbound Eubank NE, south of Montgomery; and Tramway NE, south of Lomas, Mayfield said.

A speed camera will also be placed in both directions on Central, between Louisiana and San Pedro, in the epicenter of one of the city’s deadliest stretches for pedestrians. Forty people were fatally struck by drivers in the 3-mile stretch of Central, between San Mateo and Eubank, from 2018 to 2024.

Mayfield said the new cameras are being installed in areas identified in the city’s High Fatality and Injury Network map. The map shows where crashes occurred on the most dangerous streets and intersections, according to the Mid-Region Council of Governments website.

Since the speed camera program began in 2022, Albuquerque has issued 397,716 citations at $100 apiece, totaling about $39.8 million, according to the city. Of the 397,716 citations, about 49.5%, or 197,042 citations, have been paid — totaling more than $19.7 million.

Half of the proceeds from the citations go to the state while the remainder is used for pedestrian and bicycle safety projects in the city, including safety improvements the city made on East Central, he said.

There are 182,232 unpaid violations. Of those, 170,539, or about 93.6%, have been sent to collection agencies, Mayfield said. The remaining 18,442 citations were settled when those people chose to do community service.

In the past few years, Mayfield said all speed cameras reported speed decreases of between three-tenths of a mile an hour and 8.3 mph.

“Our program has shown that speed cameras do work in Albuquerque and that drivers are slowing down,” Department of Municipal Development Director Jennifer Turner said in a news release. “Slower speeds mean safer driving.”

The city said the cameras have not only cut down on speeding, but played a role in reducing fatal crashes.

In 2025, as of Aug. 11, the Albuquerque Police Department investigated 41 fatal crashes. This is down about 19.6% from a year ago, when it investigated 51 fatal crashes, Mayfield said.

“Nothing will bring Kayla back, but we can all work together as members of this society to protect each other,” Montoya said. “No one wants to carry the weight of taking a life. Let’s all practice safe driving habits and increased situational awareness.”