DC Issues Record Number Of Traffic, Parking Tickets

WASHINGTON, DC — It's a real good news/bad news situation for Washington, D.C. residents and drivers.

If you're someone who's concerned about traffic enforcement and whether there's enough funding to pay for city programs, it's good news that D.C. issued a record number of traffic tickets and parking citations in fiscal year 2019, bringing in a record amount of revenue to D.C.'s general fund.

But, if you're a driver who tends to speed, roll through stop signs or park where you're not supposed to, you may be one of the nearly 3 million drivers to who received traffic or parking tickets during FY 2019, according to a release from AAA.

According to Department of Motor Vehicle records, 2,869,810 traffic and parking citations were issued to D.C. motorists in FY 2019, which is a record. In addition, D.C. issued more than $1 billion in traffic and parking tickets over fiscal years 2017, 2018, and 2019 combined.

One of the factors that may be contributing to this increase in revenue is the enactment of higher fines and lower speeds throughout the city. Eleven new traffic infractions were added as part of D.C.'s Vision Zero Initiative.

But not everyone is paying those fines. More than 970,000 motorists who received tickets skipped paying almost $200 million in parking and traffic fines, according to AAA.

“The District witnessed ‘more than 25,000 crashes that resulted in more than 10,000 injuries’ in 2018 alone. One crash, like one injury, is one too many,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs, in the release. “The District generated 8.2 million traffic and parking tickets with a windfall value of one billion dollars over the past three budget years. The jury is still out on whether the higher ticket cost has anything to do with compliance. Or, for that matter, if increased ticketing will ever engender a ‘deterrence effect,’ modify behavior, or produce a ‘marked decrease in crashes.’ Yet a modicum of research suggests that ‘as unpopular as traffic tickets are among drivers, motorist behavior does respond to tickets.’”

Read the full AAA release:

District Shatters Traffic And Parking Ticket Records And Stands To Rake In Record Breaking Ticket Revenue