The Mayor has been very consistent in her argument against increasing booting and towing. Apparently, she believes that it leads to personal confrontations against DPW workers and drivers. Because of this, she has completely pivoted to automated ticketing with towing reserved only for moving vehicles from emergency corridors or commuter corridors during defined times. Even then, they typically simply move your car around the block and ticket it. Booting is rarer and rarer.

The no follow through in getting other DMV drivers to pay is a little harder to trace as the Mayor keeps changing her story about having requesting this to be a topic for discussion or not with the other Governors. Remember that the Mayor does not really deal with the Mayor of MoCo or Arlington or Alexandria as she see herself more as a state rep. So instead of creating a local solution, she would like a longer lasting more permanent statewide solution, even though she apparently has not brought it up yet despite having said that she has.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Maryland has no reciprocity. So even if it’s a legit plate, the driver never has to pay the fine.

Wrong. MD doesn't have reciprocity when it comes to CAMERA citations.

Or parking violations. And we already know the MPD does not write traffic offenses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not people being dumb and joking around when they say Equity. That was the actual reason the police were instructed to stand down.

the Mayor did not tell her employees (the police) to stand down on this. They did it on their own. I've encountered cops who say "well, Chairman Mendelson told us we couldn't enforce x... so we don't" which is idiotic. He is not their boss.

There have been links to the exact city policy in this. Read the fcking forum before spouting off and showing how ill-informed you are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Maryland has no reciprocity. So even if it’s a legit plate, the driver never has to pay the fine.

Wrong. MD doesn't have reciprocity when it comes to CAMERA citations.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not people being dumb and joking around when they say Equity. That was the actual reason the police were instructed to stand down.

the Mayor did not tell her employees (the police) to stand down on this. They did it on their own. I've encountered cops who say "well, Chairman Mendelson told us we couldn't enforce x... so we don't" which is idiotic. He is not their boss.

Anonymous wrote:It’s surprising insurance companies aren’t pressuring the powers that be more to crack down on this.

Why? You're paying for it every month.

It’s surprising insurance companies aren’t pressuring the powers that be more to crack down on this.

MoCo wants to outlaw basically ALL traffic stops. DC is not alone in the lunacy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost every crime report I read talks about the getaway car having paper tags. I see fake paper tags all over the city. Why is the city not pulling these cars over? Worst case, you ticket someone for illegally avoiding speed/red light cameras. More likely, you find stolen cars and people up to no good. Seems like low hanging fruit.

DC can control DC things. Why doesn't Maryland crack down on Maryland paper tags?

Are you people really so dumb that you don't realize people are printing their own tags attached to nothing.

The city does not care.

So...there is a paper tag on a parked car. Issuing a ticket does nothing, because the tag isn't traceable.

Then what?

I get it for a moving violation. How often does that happen?

DC is down from 10 booting teams in the entire city to 7 this spring. The Mayors goal was to further reduce to 5 or fewer teams.

Staffing at DPW is another factor. Currently, the department has seven two-person crews booting vehicles.

The issue according to the Mayor is safety. Her plan is to basically automate all of the city's interaction with drivers. This is based off of the fact that DC consistently brings in $100M a year in traffic fines from red light cameras. So she is putting in five times as many cameras with hopes of tripling the revenue. All without interacting with a driver.

She has been asked how this fits in with vision zero and she believes that the deterrent value of the cameras will ultimately provide vision zero gains.

Interestingly in all of this, this revenue is generated off of DC resident who pay tickets. It really does not impact those who don't pay, because, the Mayor does not want to interact with them.

Right. Both the Mayor and the Council seem to not want any kind of manual enforcement of traffic regulations - that is, zero interaction between MPD and motorists.

I don’t know whether they haven’t thought it through or just don’t care, but the effects of that attitude are manifest both in the crime and traffic statistics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Maryland has no reciprocity. So even if it’s a legit plate, the driver never has to pay the fine.

My issue is we (our politicians) state things like the above like they are immutable facts. They did the same with the logistics of covid vaccinations. or when it comes to metro issues. We live in a "tristate" area, the DMV. So create reciprocity already! What DO they do all day?

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Maryland has no reciprocity. So even if it’s a legit plate, the driver never has to pay the fine.

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Uh, the folks racking up thousands in DC camera fines don't give a hoot about car registration fees, nor do they matter when they just switch to fake paper tags anyways. Unless DC drastically boots and tows (along with finally getting reciprocity with VA and MD for repercussions in those states), nothing will happen.

You can drive like an idiot in DC, obey zero traffic laws, run all the red lights and speed, racking up thousands and tickets, and nothing - absolutely nothing - will happen to you. Especially if you don't need to park on a public street where the tiny little boot crew might encounter your car and boot you at the right time. But even that wouldn't happen if you park in a private lot or space.

Anonymous wrote:If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Except with my paper tags that I put on before I leave my house and then remove when parked on the street, I never see the tickets.

If DC wants to automate they should automate like the Middle East where all traffic violations are automated. And then you can't go anywhere until you pay your fines. If you don't go anywhere they just roll the into your registration fees next time.

It is also easy to contest them if required. In the middle east they do it this way because the police force is not local and they don't want interaction between the police and the public. But it would work here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost every crime report I read talks about the getaway car having paper tags. I see fake paper tags all over the city. Why is the city not pulling these cars over? Worst case, you ticket someone for illegally avoiding speed/red light cameras. More likely, you find stolen cars and people up to no good. Seems like low hanging fruit.

DC can control DC things. Why doesn't Maryland crack down on Maryland paper tags?

Are you people really so dumb that you don't realize people are printing their own tags attached to nothing.

The city does not care.

So...there is a paper tag on a parked car. Issuing a ticket does nothing, because the tag isn't traceable.

Then what?

I get it for a moving violation. How often does that happen?

DC is down from 10 booting teams in the entire city to 7 this spring. The Mayors goal was to further reduce to 5 or fewer teams.

Staffing at DPW is another factor. Currently, the department has seven two-person crews booting vehicles.

The issue according to the Mayor is safety. Her plan is to basically automate all of the city's interaction with drivers. This is based off of the fact that DC consistently brings in $100M a year in traffic fines from red light cameras. So she is putting in five times as many cameras with hopes of tripling the revenue. All without interacting with a driver.

She has been asked how this fits in with vision zero and she believes that the deterrent value of the cameras will ultimately provide vision zero gains.

Interestingly in all of this, this revenue is generated off of DC resident who pay tickets. It really does not impact those who don't pay, because, the Mayor does not want to interact with them.