The Washington Post collected five years of traffic and parking enforcement data, containing more than 10 million records of infractions given to motorists during those years. The data, obtained from records requests to the District, was merged with data from the U.S. Census to illustrate how tickets are enforced throughout the city and the effect the policy has on specific communities.
A Washington Post analysis of traffic tickets the District issued from 2016 through 2020 shows that 62 percent of all the fines from automated systems and D.C. police — $467 million — were issued in neighborhoods where Black residents make up at least 70 percent of the population and where the average median household income is below $50,000. In overwhelmingly White and financially well-off census tracts, where average median household income levels are above $100,000, the city issued about $95.9 million in infractions.
The data also shows that, outside of downtown and commercial corridors, the average annual fines of $7.6 million in parking tickets issued in Black neighborhoods were nearly double compared with the $4.1 million in White neighborhoods — even though census data indicates predominantly Black neighborhoods have less than a third of the city’s driving-age residents.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by John D. Harden over at The Washington Post
