ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is trying a new approach to address road rage and reckless driving. Now, people can submit pictures, videos, and information online for detectives to investigate.

Drivers in Albuquerque said you can never be too careful.

“People do what people want to do. I’m a lifelong resident here, so I’m used to it,” said Ron Bennett.

In 2021, road rage incidents led to seven murders, so APD launched a portal in June where drivers can report aggressive driving and road rage.

APD spokesperson Rebecca Atkins explained, “We’ve had it for a little bit over half a year now, and we’ve had 75 total uploads shared to the portal. 

One submission displayed a driver of a pickup truck making an illegal U-turn at Gibson and Girard before speeding away, but none of the uploads led to any arrests or charges.

Atkins explained why, “Having a victim who’s willing to move forward with charges is something he needs to be able to prosecute or, you know, press charges against the other driver. So, and like I said, that was one of the biggest issues he encountered was people didn’t want to do that.”

They also have a difficult time pursuing cases from third-party videos when they can’t identify the victim, but, regardless, a detective will still contact the suspected dangerous driver to let them know they’re on APD’s radar.

“Either way, he’s still making the contact; he’s still reminding these individuals, ‘hey, what you’re doing is not okay. We don’t want you to continue to do this behavior on our roadways’,” said Atkins. 

It’s not just road rage reports; people are also reporting obnoxious drivers.

“We saw people, maybe using the shoulder to drive around someone rather than properly using the lane to move around someone. So, you saw that type of behavior too, which I think would be classified as aggressive driving, rather than road rage,” Atkins continued. 

APD wants to remind anyone who might use this resource to put safety first.

“We don’t want anyone going out of their way to do this if it puts them in any danger. It’s more, maybe, if you have a passenger that’s recording, that could be really helpful as well, so that the driver isn’t doing so.” 

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While APD encourages people to submit any information regarding road rage or aggressive driving to their portal, the department said videos are the most vital piece of evidence for detectives. 

The website can be accessed at this link.