AURORA | Ramping up traffic enforcement Tuesday, Aurora police towed away six cars as part of a new Aurora law targeting motorists with no driver’s license, no car insurance and no valid car license plates.
“This is just the beginning of these types of enforcement operations,” Aurora Police spokesperson Agent Matthew Longshore said in an email.
Last week, Aurora Police announced they would begin cracking down on speeding, reckless driving and errant vehicle registration.
Police began the crackdown Tuesday on interstates 225 and 70.
“While we focused mainly on the interstates today, we plan to expand to other major roadways in our city in the future,” Longshore said. “The operations won’t solely focus on registration violations but a combination of that and unsafe driving.”
The new ordinance, approved Sept. 23 by the Aurora City Council, requires impounding cars driven by motorists without a valid driver’s license, registration and insurance — a three-strike rule designed to increase compliance with driving rules and regulations.
Under the ordinance, officers will tow vehicles that meet these criteria, unless extreme weather or emergencies warrant discretion.
Vehicle owners have 30 days to retrieve their impounded cars by providing proof of a driver’s license, insurance and registration.
After 30 days, unclaimed vehicles will be auctioned.
The Aurora Police Department also recently introduced a long-term traffic enforcement initiative targeting unsafe driving behaviors like speeding, aggressive driving and license plate violations.
Here is what first full day of crackdown produced:
- 46 traffic tickets, 26 for registration violations, 13 for speeding, and seven for various other offenses
- Police confiscated seven fake “fictitious” license plates and issued scofflaws traffic tickets
- Six vehicles were towed, all cited as violating the city’s new “three-strike” ordinance
- Four people were arrested, all on outstanding warrants
“The fictitious plate was interesting,” Longshore wrote. “What makes it more obvious is that temp tags are valid for 60 days. That person would have to purchase that car on Dec. 19 for the tag to expire on Feb. 19. They’ve got a mandatory court appearance to explain their side of the story.”
The driver of a Honda CRV was clocked speeding at 105 mph, and ticketed.
“Quite the story the driver came up with, but they were still cited nonetheless,” Longshore wrote. Speeding more than 40 mph over the speed limit requires a court appearance and nets the driver a 12-point violation against their license.
The enforcement crackdown is not a short-term operation, police officials said, underscoring its commitment to improving road safety, particularly during the holiday season when accidents tend to spike.
Aurora’s effort reflects growing concerns across the metro area over unlicensed and stolen vehicles.
It aims to encourage compliance with driving regulations and is cited by council members and the public during council meetings in September when proposing the new mandate.
LOVE this 3 strike rule!
These unlicensed, uninsured and unregistered knuckleheads contribute nothing to society.
Next take the cars of those who flee the police and auction them to fund enforcement.
Good job APD.
Holy Cow! It’s way past time for this…..if it’s actually happening for more than a week. Every day we observe 6-8 expired(and handmade) dealer tags and many tags with past-due renewal. The Fed Ex store on Parker has a busy public copy machine, with ongoing dealer tag “updating.” Staff has alerted APD, who says they don’t care. Doesn’t this money go to road maintenance? Have you driven much around here, worried about your tires and fillings?
And then the speeding…every morning we see results of night racing on Havana. I’m about ready to wish the traffic signs could give more “feedback,” as in totally wrecking cars that hit them, instead of merely getting flattened.
Finally!! Thank you APD for cracking down on these drivers. There are still cars driving on the road with egregious violations on registration (temp tags that are months beyond expiration and license plates that have not been reregistered. The drivers of these vehicles are typically the most dangerous, and I guarantee most do not have insurance. Like many Auroran’s I’m tired of watching my car insurance rates continue to go up and up even thought I have no violations or crashes.
Now, Aurora should take the stance of removing these cars from the roads permanently by defining them as a total loss so they can’t be retitled and put back on the road. The city can make money selling the confiscated vehicles to salvage yards. Sorry, but we all either have to obey the laws of suffer the consequences.
Scrap yard would pay $145.00 per ton for a car. That same car depending on make, model and condition could be resold for several thousand. It would not make sense to sell the cars for scrap, unless the car was a junker already.
When I have outstanding arrest warrants, I obey the speedimit and use turn signals for all turns andane changes.
What is “Fictious license plates”? Not infrequently I see expired temporary tags.
On I-225 I frequently see vehicles well over the 65 mph speed limit – andoing it safely and smoothly in the left lane.
The area which needs watching is northbound ParkeRoad north of Hampden. Drivers are merging onto Parkeroad from East Hampden Ave while too fast Parkeroad drivers are crossing lanes trying to get right to the I-225 on-ramp with others trying to cross lanes left to I-225 southbound. CDOT did a good design – if everyone would travel the posted 45 mph.
Have you ever seen a speed limit sign that says, “right lane XX miles per hour, left lane unlimited”?
Why did it take an ordinance for the crackdown to begin? Was anything preventing the police from enforcing traffic law or issuing citations for speeding and reckless driving before?
Public outcry. The offenders make a lot of noise about this stuff. At one time police were issuing tickets to red light violators. The cameras are in place. The public and the offenders had a fit, so the rest of us suffer.
I’m pretty sure that the Denver Police Department is too scared or lazy to do this.
I wish APD or these area counties would allow vehicles on streets with no tags or expired temp and tags to be removed by every tow truck that’s available. Neighborhoods are full of these type vehicles, and as someone said, this can go a long way towards your budget.
At any given stop light of a major street, you will see at least 4 cars in violation. Remove the violators, take their keys, and tell them how they can pick up their vehicle.
Typical, they enforce minor traffic violations, but they won’t do anything against the flood of illegal aliens’ Leave citizens alone and go after the illegals
And how exactly do you propose to find these “illegals?”
I’m not required to carry ID with me. It’s Unconstitutional to simply ask for someone’s ID.
It sounds like we are being a bit hater-ish and worried about the wrong things. We are happy seeing others get a finger waged at them for revenue generators that we still haven’t seen bare fruits. It would be nice to see APD ticket all the people who ride the exit lanes just to cut back into traffic along all of the freeways, creating the hazardous conditions “accordion effect”. Or maybe the dangerous drivers that intentionally drive 45mph on I-225. It could be that DPD is a bit more worried about serious crime instead of making money for municipality mismanagements.
Nice to see our tax dollars and our trained officers spending time on license plate violations. Really makes me feel so much safer knowing there will be less expired tags on the road. We sure know how to spend our money and really matter a difference in our society. It’s also nice to see all the Jr deputies on here pretending is their business and noticing all the expired tags. Gotta love white people
I believe but do not pretend to know how many of these cars with expired tags or altered tags are stolen or driven by a felon, this policy could bear fruit in arrests. Money could be made by this enforcement which in turn should be used for the APD but that would not the case, the city fathers would take it for general budget. It should lead to lower taxes but I’m not that naive.
Offenders are offended? Makes me happy!
Thank you to Sentinel for your great local reporting.
Awesome enforcement! Thank you to the officers doing this work. May they stay safe and free from harm.
This program, once again, is overreach by the City of Aurora. Mayor Coffman and his goons, including Danielle Jurinsky, seem intent on proving that the City is not habitable by reasonable human beings.
It is not overreach. It is straightforward enforcement.
And the extortion/exploitation of the public continues. Great job Aurora, I didn’t think you could suck any more, but you never cease to astound me.
Stop whining.
I saw the immediate aftermath of an accident last Sunday at 34th @ Colorado northbound. A pedestrian was killed. The body flew about 50 yards. It was a very small person, knocked out of their shoes and hat.
I’m glad the message is out among the offenders. Thank you Sentinel.
AND THANK you APD – keep it up.