Nearly one million tickets issued to drivers over six month period in DC

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Nearly one million tickets and citations were given out by automated traffic cameras in the District within half a year, according to data from the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT).

DDOT released its semi-annual report to the D.C. Council on Wednesday.

According to the report, 973,431 tickets were mailed out to drivers between Oct. 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024. A majority of those tickets – 739,876 – were for speeding.

Maryland drivers made up most of the tickets, amounting to roughly 40%. Virginia drivers followed with 26% of the tickets. D.C. drivers received 21% of tickets.

During that time, $87,470,702 in Automatic Traffic Enforcement (ATE) program tickets were collected by the District. Meanwhile, 525,452 tickets remained unpaid.

Of the uncollected tickets, more than 350,000 of them belonged to Maryland and Virginia drivers.

“[The numbers are] certainly stark and they certainly show dangerous driving, reckless driving on D.C. roads,” said Councilmember Charles Allen.

Allen has led the charge in addressing dangerous driving and holding drivers accountable.

Specifically, he drafted and helped pass the STEER Act , which went into effect on Oct. 1. The legislation allows the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to file lawsuits against out-of-state drivers who rack up thousands of dollars in unpaid tickets, among other things.

“I hope what it does is show people were going to put teeth into our traffic and enforcement. That the days of just driving recklessly and dangerously in our streets is over and you’re going to see real accountability in place,” said Allen.

The OAG is currently working to hire two attorneys to handle traffic-related cases.

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