Mayor Muriel Bowser’s new budget proposal includes the addition of 342 new traffic enforcement cameras and a new wrinkle: the $580 million in revenue the cameras are expected to generate over the next four years is slated to go into the general fund, not a street safety fund as originally intended.
The District will also create a task force to study the impact of flat fines.
Bowser’s proposal to redirect the funds to prop up the budget is a change from the Vision Zero law that required camera ticket revenue to go to efforts to redesign streets.
For Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who heads the D.C. Council’s transportation committee, that is a move in the wrong direction.
“I think that most of us on the council want to see those dollars go towards improving safety, slower speeds, safer streets,” he said. “It’s not about the revenue.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jordan Pascale over at DCIST
