Gray Wants Red-Light Cams to Catch Speeders

OK, there soon may be another reason to worry about those red-light cameras in the District.

If Mayor Vincent Gray gets his way, those red-light cameras will be doing double duty. Not only will they take photos of red-light runners, the cameras also will snap a photo if you’re speeding through the intersection on green.

And the mayor also wants to take advantage of laser beams and even catch speeders zooming through the city’s tunnels.  You can’t escape.

The mayor’s proposals are part of his 2013 formal budget he submitted  to the D.C. Council last week.

The goal is public safety, he and the police say, but the new proposals would raise about $30 million in new fines.  That’s on top of the approximately $58 million raised by speed and red-light cameras now.

“It’s really to have drivers to be cognizant that these cameras are out there and the ultimate goal is to get folks to slow down,” Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham told News4.  “If you’re not speeding, at the end of the day, you’re not going to get a ticket.”

D.C. Council Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson will hold  hearings on the new speed camera policies before they can go into effect this fall.

Mendelson said the city “should not be balancing budgets based on ticket writing; ticket writing should be based on public safety.”  He said there is a real law enforcement problem with speeding and red-light running.

If forewarned is forearmed, you can easily find out where the city’s speed cameras and red-light cameras are. Click here for a complete list of speed cameras and here for a list of red-light cameras.

Or better yet, just slow down when you drive.

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