With traffic fatalities at a 14-year-high last year, D.C. is looking to more drastic measures to reduce recklessness on city streets.
The bills targeting speeders and red-light runners — particularly those with the most egregious or repeated offenses — aim to reverse an alarming rise in reckless road behaviors that contributed to a 14-year high in D.C. traffic fatalities last year. The proposals are part of the city’s efforts to move away from car-dependency as it also struggles to create public spaces where transit users, pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders and drivers can safely coexist.
“We had just been trying to move cars, but the paradigm is shifting around what we want for our communities, and I know that can be a shock for folks,” Henderson said. “People are always ruffled by change — and this is a shift.”Her proposal, co-signed by four other council members, would allow the city to issue points based on infractions caught on traffic cameras, a measure used only in a handful of jurisdictions nationwide.
to complete a traffic safety program to recover their vehicle. Council member Elissa Silverman , the lead sponsor of the bill, said the measure would bring accountability to drivers with multiple tickets.According to data provided to the D.C. Council late last year, more than 3,000 vehicles had more than 20 outstanding tickets for moving violations in the District and about 500 had more than 40 outstanding tickets. The records indicate about 550,000 vehicles with D.C.
Silverman’s proposal would authorize the District to boot or impound any car with five moving violation tickets, three tickets for speeding by more than 25 mph