Washington, D.C., could see its speed enforcement cameras triple over the next year, a seemingly futile attempt to address the rising number of traffic fatalities due to a legal loophole that allows some drivers to evade payment.
Mayor Muriel Bowser requested $9.4 million to go toward installing 170 new traffic cameras to enforce speed limits as part of her Wednesday budget proposal, which did not include a fix for a textual quirk that allows residents of neighboring Virginia and Maryland to forgo payment without true penalty.
Washington doesn’t have a system of ticket reciprocity, meaning nonresidents are treated as residents when pulled over for traffic offenses. As a result, there’s no enforcement for Virginia and Maryland drivers to pay their fines — and many of them don’t.
More than 1.4 million traffic tickets were issued from enforcement cameras throughout the district from Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 31, 2021, according to the most recent data from the District Department of Transportation. Of those, 73% of fines were collected, meaning more than a quarter of tickets went unpaid.
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Most unpaid tickets were issued to Marylanders, who made up roughly 48% of all outstanding ticket fines. Virginians came in second, making up about 27% of all unpaid tickets.
Between the two states, drivers owe more than $53 million in traffic tickets as compared to district residents who owe about $10.7 million. Overall, Washington drivers make up about 16% of total unpaid tickets.
A system of ticket reciprocity has been in the works of the district government for years, with City Council passing a law in September 2020 requiring the mayor to establish agreements with the Virginia and Maryland governments to ensure district-issued tickets are paid. However, the two states “declined to enter into a reciprocity agreement” with Washington, according to a letter the mayor sent to City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson last October.
In November, the mayor’s office requested a meeting of the three jurisdictions to negotiate a system of ticket reciprocity, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure told the Washington Examiner. As of Thursday, the office said an agreement on ensuring payment for all ticket types is still being discussed.
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Traffic deaths in the district have been on a steady climb over the last few years, with 40 reported in 2021, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
A representative from Bowser’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
