Speed cameras may be a major source of annoyance for drivers in D.C., but they’re doing their job: On streets with cameras installed, speeding has dropped dramatically, city data shows.
In 2015, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) unveiled a traffic safety initiative called Vision Zero, with the goal of reducing traffic deaths and injuries to zero. Cameras that automatically detect speeding and stop sign violations were a central part of the initiative, and hundreds more began to be installed in 2023.
Soon, residents frustrated by reckless driving demanded more; Last year there were nearly 1,200 requests for the installation of traffic cameras, according to the District Department of Transportation. To date, the city has installed 477, including 140 since November.
And they seem to be working. On two blocks of Wheeler Road SE, for example, citations decreased more than 95 percent from February 2022 (the first month the cameras were fully activated there) to November 2023, the last month for which figures were available . according to data from the DC Vice Mayor’s Office of Operations and Infrastructure. Drivers racked up 7,556 citations in the 4000 block of Wheeler Road SE in February 2022 and 316 citations in November 2023, data shows.
Other roads that have cameras and that previously had fatal accidents received between 15 and 61 percent fewer citations in July 2023 than in July 2022, the data shows.
And about 70 percent of drivers who received one citation have not received a second one, according to city data, which officials say suggests drivers who get caught don’t commit traffic violations again, or at least not in places with cameras.
But deaths in traffic accidents have not reduced to zero. Far from it: they have increased every year since 2015 and reached a 16-year peak last year with 52 deaths, according to city data. Serious injuries related to traffic accidents increased almost 15 percent between 2015 and 2022.
And many drivers find the cameras a nuisance or a real financial hardship. The fines, which start at $100 and can reach $500 for high speeds, they have become the main method of controlling traffic in the city.
A Washington Post analysis shows that about half of D.C.’s 25 deadliest intersections now have cameras installed, and another third of those intersections have cameras within two blocks. DDOT plans to install more speed cameras at intersections with high rates of traffic-related injuries, said Sharon Kershbaum, the agency’s acting director.
The 477 cameras installed comprise 213 speed cameras, 140 bus lane cameras, 56 red light cameras, 33 stop sign cameras, 25 school bus cameras and 10 truck restriction cameras, according to city data.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer expects the cameras to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next four fiscal years, although revenue is expected to plateau and then decline as people adjust their driving habits. “We would love to see lower ticket revenue (from cameras), because that would mean more drivers obey traffic laws and our streets become safer,” said Charlie Willson, director of Vision Zero.
But traffic collisions and reckless driving still plague the city (particularly low-income neighborhoods) and have left residents on edge. When Ameen Beale, 41, crosses The 11th Street Bridge on your way home to Congress Heights, you have to “prepare yourself psychologically to drive through District 8,” he said. Since 2017, he has been involved in three traffic collisions in Southeast D.C. due to reckless drivers, she said, and his car insurance premiums have doubled.
“Everyone pays for bad driving,” Beale said. He believes cameras can help.
Even so, there continue to be repeat offenders, especially from outside the District. A report released this month by the District of Columbia Auditor’s Office showed that the majority of drivers who violated D.C. traffic safety laws came from Maryland or Virginia. The office said the mayor still had to negotiate with the leaders of those states to establish a legal framework for the city to enforce fines handed out to its residents. Bowser’s office declined to comment for this article.
“It is clear that (Vision Zero) will not be met this year,” said Lori Metcalf, co-author of the report.
While the city has increased enforcement of cameras, it has reduced police enforcement of traffic, the report said, in part due to a 13 percent decline in police force personnel from 2018 to 2023.
As the summer months arrive, when the data shows Although speeding usually peaks, Beale is nervous. “People are out,” he said. “They are celebrating. They leave later. And with that comes a certain type of road violence, mainly because people are irresponsible drivers.”
The increased use of cameras comes as the D.C. Council and government agencies also crack down on traffic violations in other ways. The council recently passed a bill to empower the D.C. attorney general to sue drivers with multiple violations, regardless of where they live, which could help the city collect the hundreds of millions of dollars owed by other drivers. state. The bill will also allow the city to install speed restriction devices on the cars of drivers who commit serious violations.
The Department of Public Works also recently started a pilot program that since April has towed nearly 70 cars with a total of more than $600,000 in unpaid fines and impounded 777 vehicles with a total of $1.5 million in fines.
Beale, who frequently bikes in D.C., said that while he feels safer with the cameras and new legislation, he would like to see more protected bike lanes on streets to protect cyclists who find themselves dodging cars frequently.
“At some point,” he said, “I don’t want to put my life in other people’s hands.”
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