Police on the Lookout for Cash

“Just a warning, I’m driving like a granny,” that’s what my friend Anne said before we ventured up I-70 to our hiking spot yesterday. Anne has good reason. She received two traffic tickets since I last saw her a few weeks ago. She’s not a notorious speeder either.

If it seems like there are more police on the road, well it’s sort of true. There may not actually be more officers but there is a focus by more municipalities to increase revenue through traffic and parking violations.

Last week at two different intersections in Denver I noticed police motorcycles sitting directly next to traffic light poles. Within seconds of my noticing each of them they had nabbed somebody.

In January of this year the Rocky Mountain News noticed that the city of Denver had handed out 6% more parking violations, but a public works spokesperson denied a connection between the economy and the increase.

Yet another article by the Denver Post in June linked increased violations to budgets. This time the accusations were not denied.

"We've put everything on the table, and fee increases are always part of that," said Eric Brown, Mayor John Hickenlooper's spokesman.

Colorado is the only place cashing in on our speeding. Car and Driver has noticed growing numbers of tickets across the country.

It used to be that I could tell that it was the end of the month by the increase in speed traps. My brother-in-law who is a chief of police in another state confirmed this. He said that in months when the revenue budgets were not met they would work to bring in more money through traffic fines. Now, however, increased patrolling can be any day of the month.

So be careful out there. Drive safe and slow to save yourself some money.

Why drive to the mountains when you can fly?

Frontier airlines just annouced the addition of Steamboat Springs to their short list of mountain town service. They'll fly their Lynx Avaition Bombardier jet up from Denver 4 times daily begining December 18th. Frontier already flies to Aspen and Durango, oh and Grand Junction (though they don't include that in the ski towns).

Mountain service began last December. And earlier this year Frontier announced that mountain service was up 27%, that was enough growth to convince the company that there's gold in them hills. Plus, the Bombardier Q400 uses 30% less fuel than other jets of its kind.

Meanwhile there have been no updates on the I-70 study or the I-70 Coalition to resovle the traffic problems. So it looks like another ski season of gridlock.

Here's a photo of the Aspen Frontier jet, borrowed from Aspen Fly Guy. You can click the photo to learn more about Frontier's mountain service schedule. But don't expect this to be a cheap alternative to driving. A round-trip same day ticket could cost about $260. But specials are running for under $100 each way to Aspen, Durango or Grand Junction.