Traffic fines as steep as $500 aren’t effectively deterring dangerous driving in the nation’s capital, some city lawmakers say. Now they want D.C. to take other, more drastic measures.
The bills targeting speeders and red-light runners — particularly those with the most egregious or repeated offenses — aim to reverse an alarming rise in reckless road behaviors that contributed to a 14-year high in D.C. traffic fatalities last year. The proposals are part of the city’s efforts to move away from car-dependency as it also struggles to create public spaces where transit users, pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders and drivers can safely coexist.
“If the fines are not changing behavior, we need to figure out what are the other mechanisms by which we can get people to slow down on our streets,” said D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large).
Henderson is the lead sponsor of a bill that would use traffic cameras to accomplish what she said police already do during a traffic stop: assess points on a driver’s license. The measures follow other policies in recent years that have reduced speed limits and raised fines in hope of discouraging unsafe driving and reducing collisions.
“We had just been trying to move cars, but the paradigm is shifting around what we want for our communities, and I know that can be a shock for folks,” Henderson said. “People are always ruffled by change — and this is a shift.”
Her proposal, co-signed by four other council members, would allow the city to issue points based on infractions caught on traffic cameras, a measure used only in a handful of jurisdictions nationwide. If approved, a driver would get a point on their license for every ticket issued by a camera, whether for speeding, running a red light or ignoring a stop sign.
Under the Automated Traffic Enforcement Effectiveness Amendment Act of 2022, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be required to report to insurance companies, on a biannual basis, the driving record of motorists who accumulate at least five moving infractions in the city.
Henderson said the proposal would ensure drivers face consequences similar to being pulled over by police. Those penalties have largely been absent in recent years, she said, as D.C. has moved away from police performing routine traffic enforcement while relying more heavily on automated enforcement. D.C. police spokeswoman Alaina Gertz said the department “continues to conduct routine traffic enforcement,” while special operations and patrol officers help enforce traffic rules and educate residents about traffic violations.
Under D.C. law, drivers can have their license suspended for up to 90 days if they accumulate 10 or 11 points over a two-year period, while accumulating 12 points or more results in a license being revoked. Henderson said her measure would include provisions to give vehicle owners a chance to dispute the penalty if they weren’t behind the wheel, as well as a path for having points waived.
Another proposal, the Reckless Driver Accountability Act of 2022, would make it easier for the city to boot or impound vehicles with a record of infractions and require drivers to complete a traffic safety program to recover their vehicle. Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), the lead sponsor of the bill, said the measure would bring accountability to drivers with multiple tickets.
“We have found that excessive fines don’t always work,” she said.
According to data provided to the D.C. Council late last year, more than 3,000 vehicles had more than 20 outstanding tickets for moving violations in the District and about 500 had more than 40 outstanding tickets. The records indicate about 550,000 vehicles with D.C., Maryland or Virginia tags had two or more unpaid parking or traffic tickets in the city that were at least 60 days old, making them eligible to be booted.
About 5,000 vehicles in the region have tickets for traveling at least 21 mph over the speed limit in the city, and about 150,000 have tickets for running a red light. About 50,000 have fines for running a stop sign.
“We want to change people’s behavior, and we want to do it in a way that is not punitive but restorative,” Silverman said “The approach to driver education has been proven to make those behavioral changes.”
Silverman’s proposal would authorize the District to boot or impound any car that, over the span of a year, receives five moving violation tickets or three tickets for speeding by more than 25 mph over the limit or for running a red light — even if the tickets are paid. Owners would be required to take what the bill calls a “restorative-justice-based reckless driving class” to recover their vehicle. She said the program is based on one in New York City that has proved successful at reducing dangerous driving.
Silverman is also proposing another bill that would install devices on about 3,000 city-owned vehicles to prohibit them from traveling more than 40 mph. The measure would exempt emergency vehicles and have exceptions for vehicles that travel on highways with higher speeds.
“We need to lead by example,” she said.
The city’s default speed limit is 20 mph. DDOT recently announced it is reducing speeds along some major commuter corridors, including Connecticut Avenue NW and New York Avenue NE, from 30 mph to 25 mph.
The District last year recorded 40 traffic fatalities, its highest number since 2007. So far this year, 25 people have been killed in traffic collisions, down five compared with the same time last year.
The proposals come after the D.C. Council in September voted to ban right-on-red turns for cars beginning in 2025, except at intersections where the District Department of Transportation determines it is safer to allow such turns. The measure, which will receive a final vote in October, also permits bicyclists and scooter riders to yield instead of stop at stop signs when conditions permit.
In an effort partly aimed at getting more people off the road, a council committee this past week also advanced a proposal that would give District residents $100 a month for transit.
The District already has some of the nation’s heftiest fines for traffic violators and among the strictest road rules in the Washington region. It was an early adopter of automated traffic enforcement through the use of cameras and is on track to add dozens more in the next year.
The programs have become a tool to enforce traffic rules in cities across the country, while some studies suggest they have been effective at dissuading bad driving. They aren’t always popular with residents, and critics argue they are often used to generate revenue.
Alex Engel, a spokesman for the National Association of City Transportation Officials, said cities are taking different approaches to automated enforcement, but there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The association said the programs have become more popular in the wake of high-profile police shootings of Black people during traffic stops. Several states have sought legislation to expand speed camera authority, including New York, Massachusetts and Colorado.
Nationwide, at least 179 jurisdictions have speed camera programs and 338 have red-light cameras, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Maryland and the District use automated speed enforcement, while Virginia has authorized speed cameras in highway construction zones.
Only Arizona and California allow cameras to assess points to drivers, according to the insurance organization.
Henderson’s proposal to increase the role of traffic cameras has come under fire among some critics, with some saying it fuels the perception the city is engaging in a “war on cars.”
“These punitive strategies are counterproductive, and it really feels like a money grab,” said Chioma Iwuoha, a neighborhood commissioner in Ward 7 who has testified before the D.C. Council against what she calls “predatory ticketing.” She said some residents feel fines are excessive and hit low-income drivers hardest.
Iwuoha said allowing cameras to issue points would create further distrust. Instead, she urged the city to make physical changes to streets, such as adding raised crosswalks and bike lanes, and remaking roads to reduce speeding.
“The city’s focus should be primarily on non-punitive ways to make our streets safer and to actually have traffic-calming measures beyond overly fining people,” she said.
Jonathan Adkins, a D.C. resident and executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said automated enforcement has been effective nationwide. He said that whether fines or points are issued — or both — the primary goal should be to eliminate dangerous driving.
“Fines have a more immediate deterrence and accountability impact, while points have to rack up before any real-world action occurs,” he said. “In that sense, points are useful to take action on drivers that have a clear pattern of dangerous driving.”
