Two speed cameras perched on the steep stretch of Kipling Street in Wheat Ridge have issued nearly 17,000 speeding tickets in just two months, with drivers clocked averaging more than 50 mph through a 40-mph zone. The numbers, drawn from police records, work out to more than 270 tickets a day since the cameras went live on the hill between 32nd and 38th avenues.
According to 9News, the northbound downhill camera alone issued 8,879 citations in August and another 8,100 in September, while the southbound uphill camera issued 628 tickets in August and 702 in September. The downhill camera recorded an average speed of 53 mph, and the uphill camera averaged 54 mph, on a hill where the speed limit holds steady at 40 mph throughout. Alex Rose, public information officer for the Wheat Ridge Police Department, told the station that drivers can gain speed quickly coming down the hill, and joked that they can always use their brakes going downhill.
Rose said drivers must be traveling at least 11 mph over the limit to trigger either camera, and that some drivers have complained the steep grade makes it too easy to get caught. Before July ended, the department had actually been issuing warnings rather than citations on the corridor — the northbound camera logged 11,690 warnings and the southbound camera logged 733 in July alone, giving drivers a grace period before enforcement began in earnest.
A Citywide Program Already Showing Results
The Kipling Street cameras are part of a broader rollout that began in April 2025, when the Wheat Ridge Police Department first switched on automated speed cameras across the city, according to the City of Wheat Ridge. The city says it is expanding the program further in 2026, with planned camera locations at West 32nd Avenue and Independence Court near Wheat Ridge High School and along Kipling Street between 32nd and 34th avenues…