Police target speeders

Quito police get tough with speeders

Beginning Wednesday, June 4, Quito traffic police are stopping speeders on the city’s streets and highways. The city says that more than 400 vehicles were pulled over in the first two days of the operation.

For first offenses, police are attaching a “slow down” sticker to offenders’ windshields. Repeat speeders can pay as much as $150 in fines and those clocked at “excessive speeds,” described as speeds of 30% to 40% above the limit, go to jail for three days.

Most of the traffic stops have been on Av. Mariscal Sucre, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares where the speed limit is 90 kph. Speeds are recorded by radar or camera.

The traffic police say their first priority is to make drivers aware that speed is being checked and that there are consequences for breaking the speed limit. “Some drivers are of the belief that there is no enforcement of speed limits and we want to change that perception,” said a police press release.