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AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — New numbers show a sharp increase in traffic-related deaths within the city of Aurora this year.
Agent Matthew Longshore, with the Aurora Police Department, said they’ve recorded 43 fatal crashes, just seven short of their entire total for all of 2022.
“We’re on par to break last year’s record, which is awful,” Longshore said.
Longshore said police have responded to nearly 5,000 crashes this year, with about 10% classified as injury crashes.
In Aurora, he said the top contributing factors are speed, intoxication, lack of seat belt use and distracted driving.
“The text message can wait. You don’t need to check your social media when you’re driving,” Longshore said. “These are things that we are seeing people do that are leading to these injury and fatal crashes.”
Aurora Police officers are on a mission to prevent deaths on the road through education and enforcement.
DUI checkpoint Saturday in Aurora
On Saturday, starting at 9 p.m., Aurora Police will conduct stationary roadside sobriety checks as part of the DUI Checkpoint Colorado Program.
The checkpoint will be located near East Hampden Avenue and South Tower Road and is in collaboration with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“We’re contacting people and letting them know why we’re doing it,” Longshore said. “A lot of times, these contacts are done within seconds, and you can go about your day. We’re looking for those that shouldn’t be operating motor vehicles on our roadways. They are people that are drunk, the people that are driving high.”
Speed camera tickets to begin Monday
On Monday, the department will start issuing citations as part of a new photo speed enforcement pilot program aimed at cracking down on speeding in the city.
“Having these photo vans in these more residential areas allows our officers to be more proactive on those higher-speed traveled roadways,” Longshore said.
It’s all part of their effort to make the streets safer with the hope that all drivers will follow suit.
“We need to reduce the amount of fatal crashes, injury crashes and crashes total. These are things that are affecting our community,” Longshore said. “The police department is out there doing enforcement actions, but the responsibility is on our community to help reduce those driving habits.”
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