Handful of Traffic Cameras Issue Most D.C. Tickets

A small number of D.C.'s traffic cameras were responsible for the vast majority of photo enforcement tickets issued in 2014 - while some traffic cameras issued as few as one ticket.

A News4 investigation found that four cameras out of the more than 200 cameras city-wide are responsible for one-third of all tickets issued last year.

Each of those cameras is located on high-traffic commuter routes.

A camera on Branch Avenue issued more than 11,000 tickets, according to documents obtained by News4 via the Freedom of Information Act.

On New York Avenue, a camera issued more than 25,000 tickets. Another camera, on Suitland Parkway, issued more than 30,000 tickets.

And then there is the traffic camera stationed on K Street, which issued more tickets than any camera in the district by far: More than 41,000 tickets last year.

Out of the 354,621 tickets issued last year, 109,400 were issued by those 4 cameras.

Another way to look at it: though the district has more than 200 cameras deployed, dozens of those issued 50 tickets or fewer last year. And four cameras issued just one ticket each.

In a written statement a spokesperson for D.C.'s police department explained:

"It is not surprising at all that there is a great deal of disparity between camera sites," the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement. "The most obvious reason is that some of our roads carry more vehicles than others and have more violators. The top sites are all main entry points for the city, with multi-lane roads designed to carry a large number of vehicles."

But at a D.C. Council hearing this week, Chief Cathy Lanier acknowledged there are other reasons some cameras issued so few tickets.

There were problems replacing the batteries on some cameras. There was also a drop-off of maintenance during snow days, and some cameras were hit by cars.

Lanier said because of the recent drop-off in tickets issued by so many cameras she’s not going to install any new cameras until a review of the entire program is completed.

"We are going to hire an outside auditor to audit the whole process to determine where the weak spots are," Lanier said.

The first red light cameras in the district went up in 1999, and in 2005 D.C. installed the first stationary speed camera in the nation.

In the years since the district began using cameras to issue tickets, traffic fatalities have dropped by more than 70 percent. D.C. also brings in tens of millions of dollars a year from photo traffic enforcement.

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