Much has been made in recent years about all the money owed by drivers who have racked up tickets for speeding, running red lights and other infractions caught on D.C.’s bevy of traffic cameras. And quietly over the last month, D.C. has started going after some of those drivers.
A pilot program run by the D.C. Department of Public Works, which handles impounding and towing, has the city scouring Ward 1 streets with license plate readers looking for “scofflaw” vehicles — those that have racked up at least $3,000 in unpaid fines.
“The license plate readers are able to read the license plate as the enforcement officer is going by and that tells them the person’s status,” said Charlie Willson, director of D.C.’s Vision Zero program. “So based on that then they are traveling with a tow truck that can then immediately tow that vehicle.”
Willson said it’s in the name of safety, not money.
“What we know about our folks who have more violations and outstanding fines is that correlates with risky driving,” Willson said.
City officials said data shows someone with at least one ticket for running a red light is at a two to three times greater risk to eventually be in a crash. People busted for doing 21 mph or more above the speed limit are also at an elevated risk.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by John Domen over at WTOP
