Try to Avoid This Traffic Camera That Has Issued $11.6 Million in Tickets
A single speeding camera in Washington, D.C., has put together collection of statistics that would be the envy of entire police forces: Over the last 23 months, the camera has issued 116,734 tickets with fines totaling $11.6 million.
“We believe we have made an impact,” Gwendolyn Crump, spokeswoman for the D.C. police, said about the prolific traffic camera. “There have been 16 fatalities in 2012, compared to 28 at this time last year, for a 43 percent reduction of traffic fatalities. There is great value in slowing drivers down not only for their own safety, but also for safety of all other traveling parties.”
The plethora of motorists who have been flagged by the device may disagree with that assessment. Some have argued that traffic cameras, which will often capture drivers who are just going with the flow of traffic, are backdoor taxes on commuters.
What do you think? Are such cameras effective tools in getting people to drive safety, or is the $11.6 million camera in D.C. proof that they are getting out of control?