“The change in polity spared unsuspecting motorists $2,203,200 in ticket overcharges. Moreover, total red-light camera ticket fine revenue plummeted $6.8 million, or 54.3 percent, from the previous budget cycle. For the longest time, ticket fines became revenue generators with motorists paying millions more than they otherwise owed. The District kept drivers in the dark about paying fines ‘at rates higher than those allowed by city regulations.’ Adding insult to injury, even after getting caught red-handed, the city is steadfastly refusing to issue millions of dollars in refunds to motorists it wrongly fined,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “This has been going on for years. Motorists need a full accounting of the ticket overcharges. Yet when ticket errors and overpayments have occurred in other cities,  Cleveland Heights, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, officials put integrity first, and issued ‘millions and millions of dollars’ in refunds. Justice demands the District to do the same for the unwary drivers it wronged.”

The actual number of red-light camera tickets dropped from 100,173 citations in FY 17 to 45,594 tickets in FY18, a 54.4 percent drop. Yet nearly 68,000 motorists were mailed notices of photo-red violations.

Of the 67,663 ticketed motorists caught on red-light cameras during FY18, nearly a third, or 32.6 percent, were cited for a rolling right turn on red (RTOR) violation (22,032 drivers), a common scenario, or for taking a right hand turn at a red light in an intersection with a sign stating “No Turn On Red” (just  37 drivers). In August 2017, the fine amount for right-on-red infractions were quietly re-adjusted to $50, as originally mandated by a law passed by the District Council in 2013, after a backlash over the District’s fine regime was sparked by District residents and area motorists. Mindful of this, the Council lowered certain traffic fines, and raised others, bringing the penalty for RTOR infractions closer in line with surrounding jurisdictions.

Of note, the policy change also set into motion a series of unforeseen results and unexpected consequences. Although the District’s red-light camera program experienced a banner year in Fiscal Year 2017, as the city issued a record number of red-light camera tickets and collected near –record photo-red revenue for its coffers, red-light camera ticket output dropped by a third, from 100,173 citations to just shy of 68,000 photo-red citations, during the following budget cycle, observes AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Instead of garnering $10.1 million in potential red-light camera revenue that it would have gleaned under the previous fine regime, the city’s bottom line took a big hit as it collected nearly $8 million in fine revenue. So, instead of getting slapped with $150 tickets, motorists who did not completely or safely comply with “Right Turn on Red” (RTOR) regulations (T334), or who illegally turned right at an intersection with a sign prohibiting right turns on red (T202), were assessed $50 per ticket, the correct amount for their violations, in the wake of the policy changes implemented as of August 2017, as laid down by city law.  Perhaps it is one of the major reasons red-light camera revenue dipped from $12,650,650 in FY 2017 to $5,775,775 during FY 2018, a decrease of $6,874,875 budget cycle over budget cycle. That’s a precipitous 54.3 percent decrease. It comprises the lowest photo-red revenue amount for the city’s coffers in seven years or since FY 2011.