D.C. will impose harsher penalties on drivers caught speeding on camera and crack down on repeat offenders under legislation passed by the D.C. Council on Tuesday.
Washington, D.C
D.C. passed a bill to crack down on speeding. Here’s how it will work.
The bill, which the council passed unanimously on its second and final vote, would create a point system to track and penalize drivers who repeatedly commit traffic violations. It would also give the city stronger recourse against repeat drunken driving offenders and grant the D.C. attorney general the power to sue drivers with multiple violations regardless of where they live. Many of the city’s unpaid traffic tickets are issued to Virginia and Maryland drivers.
The $77 million traffic safety package spearheaded by Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) would also allow the city to install “speed governors,” which restrict a vehicle’s speed, on the cars of drivers who commit serious violations. It would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to create a safe driving class that would allow participants to have up to $500 in fines waived annually, and it would close loopholes that allow drunk drivers to retain licenses.
The bill, which awaits mayoral and congressional approval, followed a deadly drunken driving crash on Rock Creek Parkway last year. The woman who caused the crash had accumulated three prior DUI convictions in D.C. and racked up dozens of speeding tickets and over $12,000 in unpaid fines. A DMV official later said the woman’s license should have been revoked given her history.