WASHINGTON – The STEER Act, a D.C. law aimed at road safety passed earlier this year, had components go into effect on October 1. 

Among some of the changes: it’ll create the opportunity to add speed restrictions to vehicles for drivers who violate D.C. traffic laws. It’ll also ensure that if someone has their car stolen and the plate racks up tickets, that victim won’t have to pay the fines.

But the biggest change the STEER Act creates: going after out-of-state drivers who rack up huge fines.

If a traffic camera catches a D.C. resident, that person must pay the fine to renew their registration in the District.

But out-of-state drivers don’t have to pay their D.C. fine to renew wherever they live.

The impact of this: some out-of-state drivers aren’t as cautious driving around D-C.

According to data provided by the Department of Public Works, the overwhelming majority of out-of-state plates getting citations in the District are in Maryland and Virginia.

In Fiscal Year 2022, those plates got 757,268 citations totaling $151,250,000 in unpaid fines. In 2023, 808,933 citations totaling $160,700,000 in unpaid fines.

D.C. resident Katherine Eyster tells FOX 5 she thinks this is a fairness and safety issue: It’s unfair that D.C. residents have to pay, and she sees out-of-state drivers who aren’t careful on D.C. streets.

“It’s certainly tough to say, but when you look at the numbers and that some of these drivers, we’re not talking about folks who are distracted here and there, we’re talking about folks who are dangerous and shouldn’t be on the road. And so, hopefully that makes a difference,” Eyster said.           

This new law now allows the D.C. Attorney General’s Office to sue these out-of-state plate owners in D.C. Court, get a judgment, then try and enforce that judgment in the state where the plate owner is registered.

Council Member Charles Allen heads the Council’s Transportation Committee. He says this bill adds teeth to D.C.’s traffic enforcement.

“It’s important, I think, to send that strong signal that the Attorney General is going to be coming after you, that we are going to make sure we put teeth into that reckless driving and making sure we get those drivers, hold them accountable, and get them off our streets,” Allen said.

FOX 5 has learned the Attorney General’s Office will add two attorneys whose full-time jobs will be filing these suits in D.C. to secure these judgments.

That sounds like a small number given the number of unpaid citations, but Allen thinks this will be a key deterrent and important tool.

“I think we will see a significant impact and I think it will result in safer streets. Let’s not kid ourselves that one law is going to magically change it all, you have to have better engineering, you have to build safer streets and intersections, we have to help educate drivers to make sure they’re learning and driving more safely. But we have to have enforcement, and this legislation, this law, is going to help improve enforcement,” Allen said.