DC To Increases Speeding Fines By 233 Percent With New ‘Draconian’ Regulations

Josh Fatzick

The D.C. government wants to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2024, and to do that officials are drastically increasing speeding fines.

The District Department of Transportation is set to propose huge fines for a number of traffic violations, including speeding and hitting a cyclist.

Fines for 20 different violations will rise under Mayor Muriel Bowser’s “Vision Zero” plan. The fine for hitting a cyclist with a car will rise from $50 to $500. The new regulations could be proposed as early as Friday, according to WAMU, and are designed to increase safety, but some say the action is little more than a cash grab.

Drivers caught driving more that 25 miles per hour over the speed limit will be hit with a $1,000 fine. If the fine isn’t paid within 30 days, it rises to $2,000, a 223 percent increase.

The fines will turn the district into a “debtor’s prison,” if they are enacted, according to John B., Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic.

“The District is poised to enact draconian and arbitrary traffic fines by administrative law under the dubious banner of traffic safety,” he said in a statement. “The exorbitant fines would place a financially tremendous and undue burden on low and modest income drivers.”

According to AAA, the high fines are unrelated to driver safety, but rather just a way for the city to raise money.

The district’s speed camera program has brought in more than $477 million in ticket revenue since it started in 2001. Last year, though, the number of speeding citations issued dropped to a seven year low, and the city is looking to recoup those losses, Townsend said.

In 2010, the city increased fines for 71 separate infractions, generating an additional $7 million in revenue, and helping to fill holes in the district budget.

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