DC Needs to Start Enforcing Traffic Laws

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem is lack of reciprocity with other states, including MD and VA.

That's not really the issue. As one of the PPs mentioned, the city could just boot their cars until these reckless drivers pay up. How many more children need to be mowed over on their way to school before DC takes any action?!

And as another poster pointed out, DC does not have the manpower to do this, so no, the city cannot boot its way out of this problem. And there's no desire by the city to increase its boot squad, because paying for the manpower that's needed would be more expensive than the fines that would be brought in.

The solution is to give camera tickets teeth for Maryland and Virginia drivers, so they would not be able to renew their licenses and registrations if they owed DC money. But Bower has failed miserably to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem is lack of reciprocity with other states, including MD and VA.

That's not really the issue. As one of the PPs mentioned, the city could just boot their cars until these reckless drivers pay up. How many more children need to be mowed over on their way to school before DC takes any action?!

And as another poster pointed out, DC does not have the manpower to do this, so no, the city cannot boot its way out of this problem. And there's no desire by the city to increase its boot squad, because paying for the manpower that's needed would be more expensive than the fines that would be brought in.

The solution is to give camera tickets teeth for Maryland and Virginia drivers, so they would not be able to renew their licenses and registrations if they owed DC money. But Bower has failed miserably to do this.

Booting would actually produce payment for the fines. That’s the teeth you’re looking for.

[Anonymous]

At current staffing (and desire...) levels, the city can't boot enough people.

The mayor's new budget includes a lot of money for new traffic cameras, and a little more money for boot crews. I sense no desire from DPW to actually boot more people (nor do I think they mayor wants it). So she essentially wants to raise taxes only on city residents.

Compared to writing tickets, booting and possibly eventually taking a car requires a lot of man power for little payoff. Easier to write a ticket someone pays than attach a boot, notify the owner, etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem is lack of reciprocity with other states, including MD and VA.

That's not really the issue. As one of the PPs mentioned, the city could just boot their cars until these reckless drivers pay up. How many more children need to be mowed over on their way to school before DC takes any action?!

And as another poster pointed out, DC does not have the manpower to do this, so no, the city cannot boot its way out of this problem. And there's no desire by the city to increase its boot squad, because paying for the manpower that's needed would be more expensive than the fines that would be brought in.

The solution is to give camera tickets teeth for Maryland and Virginia drivers, so they would not be able to renew their licenses and registrations if they owed DC money. But Bower has failed miserably to do this.

Booting would actually produce payment for the fines. That’s the teeth you’re looking for.

+1000. Also, just have private tow trucks go after the deadbeats by giving them a cut of the speeding ticket. No need for DC to hire more boot squad staffers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At current staffing (and desire...) levels, the city can't boot enough people.

The mayor's new budget includes a lot of money for new traffic cameras, and a little more money for boot crews. I sense no desire from DPW to actually boot more people (nor do I think they mayor wants it). So she essentially wants to raise taxes only on city residents.

Compared to writing tickets, booting and possibly eventually taking a car requires a lot of man power for little payoff. Easier to write a ticket someone pays than attach a boot, notify the owner, etc. etc.

Wrong. There is big money in booting cars. If the deadbeat doesn't pay you just auction off the car. Even bigger payoff.

Also first and foremost this should really be about safety not money. Getting crazy commuters to stop speeding on small residential streets should be the goal in of itself.

[Anonymous]

Why are they not hitting the credit reports of those who with unclaimed tickets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem is lack of reciprocity with other states, including MD and VA.

Isn’t this DC’s problem for choosing cameras over human enforcement? An option with reciprocity exists.

VA and MD would be foolish to grant reciprocity for traffic cameras. Neither state uses them to the same degree as DC so what exactly are they getting in the deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they not hitting the credit reports of those who with unclaimed tickets?

I seriously doubt someone with thousands of dollars in speeding tickets is worried about their 327 FICO score

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure it would all be ok if we didn't have bike lanes.

Troll harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they not hitting the credit reports of those who with unclaimed tickets?

Unpaid camera tickets cannot be listed on your credit reports. The credit agencies ended the practice a few years ago. The only debts that go on your credit reports are those that arise after you signed a contract with someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At current staffing (and desire...) levels, the city can't boot enough people.

The mayor's new budget includes a lot of money for new traffic cameras, and a little more money for boot crews. I sense no desire from DPW to actually boot more people (nor do I think they mayor wants it). So she essentially wants to raise taxes only on city residents.

Compared to writing tickets, booting and possibly eventually taking a car requires a lot of man power for little payoff. Easier to write a ticket someone pays than attach a boot, notify the owner, etc. etc.

Wrong. There is big money in booting cars. If the deadbeat doesn't pay you just auction off the car. Even bigger payoff.

Also first and foremost this should really be about safety not money. Getting crazy commuters to stop speeding on small residential streets should be the goal in of itself.

If this was such an easy solution, as you suggest, the city would have done this already. That it hasn't is a sign that DC knows it cannot simply boot its way out of the problem, because it's not practical and not cost-effective.

The solution is to negotiate with Maryland and Virginia so that their drivers must pay their camera tickets. As it stands now, the cameras are powerless against them and they know this, so why should they bother following basic traffic rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they not hitting the credit reports of those who with unclaimed tickets?

Because the credit agencies agreed to stop including this info on credit reports years ago:

https://www.thenewspaper.com/news/49/4987.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At current staffing (and desire...) levels, the city can't boot enough people.

The mayor's new budget includes a lot of money for new traffic cameras, and a little more money for boot crews. I sense no desire from DPW to actually boot more people (nor do I think they mayor wants it). So she essentially wants to raise taxes only on city residents.

Compared to writing tickets, booting and possibly eventually taking a car requires a lot of man power for little payoff. Easier to write a ticket someone pays than attach a boot, notify the owner, etc. etc.

Wrong. There is big money in booting cars. If the deadbeat doesn't pay you just auction off the car. Even bigger payoff.

Also first and foremost this should really be about safety not money. Getting crazy commuters to stop speeding on small residential streets should be the goal in of itself.

If this was such an easy solution, as you suggest, the city would have done this already. That it hasn't is a sign that DC knows it cannot simply boot its way out of the problem, because it's not practical and not cost-effective.

The solution is to negotiate with Maryland and Virginia so that their drivers must pay their camera tickets. As it stands now, the cameras are powerless against them and they know this, so why should they bother following basic traffic rules.

DC has no power to negotiate with MD and VA either. Anything the DC Council does can be overridden by Congress, and guess who has votes in Congress and DC doesn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At current staffing (and desire...) levels, the city can't boot enough people.

The mayor's new budget includes a lot of money for new traffic cameras, and a little more money for boot crews. I sense no desire from DPW to actually boot more people (nor do I think they mayor wants it). So she essentially wants to raise taxes only on city residents.

Compared to writing tickets, booting and possibly eventually taking a car requires a lot of man power for little payoff. Easier to write a ticket someone pays than attach a boot, notify the owner, etc. etc.

Wrong. There is big money in booting cars. If the deadbeat doesn't pay you just auction off the car. Even bigger payoff.

Also first and foremost this should really be about safety not money. Getting crazy commuters to stop speeding on small residential streets should be the goal in of itself.

If this was such an easy solution, as you suggest, the city would have done this already. That it hasn't is a sign that DC knows it cannot simply boot its way out of the problem, because it's not practical and not cost-effective.

The solution is to negotiate with Maryland and Virginia so that their drivers must pay their camera tickets. As it stands now, the cameras are powerless against them and they know this, so why should they bother following basic traffic rules.

DC has no power to negotiate with MD and VA either. Anything the DC Council does can be overridden by Congress, and guess who has votes in Congress and DC doesn't?

That's simply not true. DC *does* have reciprocity agreements with Maryland and Virginia, but only for tickets issued by police officers.

https://dcist.com/story/21/10/14/dc-didnt-ask-northam-and-hogan-to-help-crack-down-on-unpaid-tickets-despite-initial-claims-it-did/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of cars, speeding problems solved.

That is an ableist position. Not everyone can ride a bike.