DC traffic cameras issued 3.3 MILLION tickets last year

[Anonymous]

I don’t mind if people just see the cameras and slow down, because I think people who speed past cameras repeatedly without slowing down because they’re not paying attention or don’t care are the same drivers who cause accidents. The DC lab study seems to back that up. So ultimately, the cameras and potentially the data from our cars can be used to identify dangerous drivers and I think taking enforcement action against those drivers will improve safety.

If the cameras can already predict 65% of the cars involved in collisions in a year, the data is good. IMO that should be worth a lot more than the revenue as far as public safety, if they can figure out how to use it lawfully.

[Anonymous]

So are you saying people aren’t breaking the law when they get these tickets? Is that the objection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

That's because it's more crowded and more people speed there.

I can tell you that there is a speed camera on the section of Eastern Avenue I live near that has made a huge difference in my family's safety when we turn out of our neighborhood onto Eastern Avenue. Additionally, it's possible to cross the street out of our residential neighborhood and walk to our closest grocery store far more safely than before the speed camera. I'm grateful for it.

A quick glance at the data will show that road fatalities are much higher EOTR. The city responds to this by placing speed cameras EOTR. Is this racist or is it racist to not doing anything about the road fatalities?

The underlying problem is that road designs EOTR (and in poorer neighborhoods in general) are generally more conducive to speeding than in richer neighborhoods like Ward 3. The best way to reduce road fatalities EOTR is to fix that underlying problem.

But then you have Trayon refusing to allow bike lanes - the cheapest "traffic calming' measure - in his ward. So around we go.

I agree with you, but the city really bungled the communications on this. They kept saying the bike lanes were for bikes. And residents are quite understandably opposed when they hear about bike lanes and they know there’s almost no bike traffic. And the bikes go wherever they want anyway. They should have emphasized speed reduction from the start, and they would need to make a clear and compelling case that it would do any more than be a PITA for the people who are responsible drivers just trying to get around. Which idk if that case can be made, I hope it can, I have never seen it.

Bike lanes are stressful for drivers. The benefits as far as traffic calming and sometimes bikes might be worth it, but it’s not an obvious sell and proponents have done a bad job explaining it.

[Anonymous]

Here’s an idea, don’t go 11+ mph over the speed limit in densely populated areas, or run red lights. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number almost doubled from the year before. DC now issues 8 times as many tickets each year as it did a decade ago. We issue twice as many tickets as Chicago, which is SO MUCH BIGGER! Pretty insane.

Hard to see what difference it's made to safety. Here's how many people the police say were killed each year in DC by speeding drivers:

2023: 22
2022: 9
2021: 12
2020: 15
2019: 10
2018: 9
2017: 12
2016: 8
2015: 11
2014: 12
2013: 11

Not really seeing a pattern.

It's striking how speeding deaths don't really change regardless of what the city does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

That's because it's more crowded and more people speed there.

I can tell you that there is a speed camera on the section of Eastern Avenue I live near that has made a huge difference in my family's safety when we turn out of our neighborhood onto Eastern Avenue. Additionally, it's possible to cross the street out of our residential neighborhood and walk to our closest grocery store far more safely than before the speed camera. I'm grateful for it.

A quick glance at the data will show that road fatalities are much higher EOTR. The city responds to this by placing speed cameras EOTR. Is this racist or is it racist to not doing anything about the road fatalities?

The underlying problem is that road designs EOTR (and in poorer neighborhoods in general) are generally more conducive to speeding than in richer neighborhoods like Ward 3. The best way to reduce road fatalities EOTR is to fix that underlying problem.

But then you have Trayon refusing to allow bike lanes - the cheapest "traffic calming' measure - in his ward. So around we go.

I agree with you, but the city really bungled the communications on this. They kept saying the bike lanes were for bikes. And residents are quite understandably opposed when they hear about bike lanes and they know there’s almost no bike traffic. And the bikes go wherever they want anyway. They should have emphasized speed reduction from the start, and they would need to make a clear and compelling case that it would do any more than be a PITA for the people who are responsible drivers just trying to get around. Which idk if that case can be made, I hope it can, I have never seen it.

Bike lanes are stressful for drivers. The benefits as far as traffic calming and sometimes bikes might be worth it, but it’s not an obvious sell and proponents have done a bad job explaining it.

Not a biker - how is a bike lane "stressful for drivers"? You have to slow down some so you don't kill another person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

What else do you propose? Or is it OK according to you that the burden of traffic fatalities fall so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number almost doubled from the year before. DC now issues 8 times as many tickets each year as it did a decade ago. We issue twice as many tickets as Chicago, which is SO MUCH BIGGER! Pretty insane.

Hard to see what difference it's made to safety. Here's how many people the police say were killed each year in DC by speeding drivers:

2023: 22
2022: 9
2021: 12
2020: 15
2019: 10
2018: 9
2017: 12
2016: 8
2015: 11
2014: 12
2013: 11

Not really seeing a pattern.

It's striking how speeding deaths don't really change regardless of what the city does.

Has the city ever tried actually holding scofflaw drivers to account for their behavior? Not in the time I’ve been living here, which is a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

What else do you propose? Or is it OK according to you that the burden of traffic fatalities fall so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else?

Er, well, traffic fatalities in DC are rare, and there's no evidence that the government's policies have any bearing on the frequency of them. You're basically forcing people to buy a very expensive insurance policy that doesn't even do what you said it would do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I speed a lot on DC roads — the speed limits have been lowered so much over the past few years to really dumb levels. Never gotten a ticket. I mean, how hard is it to learn where the cameras are and just slow down in those specific locations? The number of tickets just shows how dumb people are because they don’t want to spend any brainpower figuring out how where the cameras are. It’s really a stupidity tax.

I live in DC, drive DC roads regularly, and never feel the need to speed whether there is a speed camera around or not. I don’t speed because doing so endangers my life, the lives of other people in my vehicle, and other road users. And that is not a price I’m willing to pay to get to the next red light a few seconds earlier. We’d have a lot fewer accidents, a lot lower insurance premiums, and thousands of fewer traffic deaths if more people weren’t so selfish as to privilege their own convenience over other people’s lives. In other words, SLOW THE F$&K DOWN!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

What else do you propose? Or is it OK according to you that the burden of traffic fatalities fall so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else?

Er, well, traffic fatalities in DC are rare, and there's no evidence that the government's policies have any bearing on the frequency of them. You're basically forcing people to buy a very expensive insurance policy that doesn't even do what you said it would do.

They are not rare. And there is plenty of evidence that various policies can reduce the frequency of traffic fatalities. Do I need to show you how to search for information on the internet? Or do you have a special search engine that filters out all evidence that might call into question certain crazy assumptions that apparently inform your world view?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

What else do you propose? Or is it OK according to you that the burden of traffic fatalities fall so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else?

Er, well, traffic fatalities in DC are rare, and there's no evidence that the government's policies have any bearing on the frequency of them. You're basically forcing people to buy a very expensive insurance policy that doesn't even do what you said it would do.

So you are OK with low income Black people being injured and dying in traffic accidents at a higher rate than anyone else? Even though there is ample research out there that shows us exactly how to prevent such traffic accidents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you know there's almost no stop sign cameras west of the park? I wonder how that happens....

There's 17 speed cameras in Ward 3. In Ward 7, there's almost 60.

Other cities have gotten rid of traffic cameras because the burden falls so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else.

What else do you propose? Or is it OK according to you that the burden of traffic fatalities fall so much more heavily on low income Black people than everyone else?

Er, well, traffic fatalities in DC are rare, and there's no evidence that the government's policies have any bearing on the frequency of them. You're basically forcing people to buy a very expensive insurance policy that doesn't even do what you said it would do.

They are not rare. And there is plenty of evidence that various policies can reduce the frequency of traffic fatalities. Do I need to show you how to search for information on the internet? Or do you have a special search engine that filters out all evidence that might call into question certain crazy assumptions that apparently inform your world view?

Here's the number of speeding deaths in DC over the past decade. Please point when the city's policies began reducing them. Evidence too, please, of course.

2023: 22
2022: 9
2021: 12
2020: 15
2019: 10
2018: 9
2017: 12
2016: 8
2015: 11
2014: 12
2013: 11

[Anonymous]

I assume the cameras are leased and the contractor gets a cut from each ticket?