Low-income D.C. drivers will soon be able to apply to have the cost of a camera ticket slashed in half, as part of a pilot program scheduled to launch this spring.
Drivers eligible for SNAP benefits will be able to apply to have one camera ticket of $100 or less reduced by 50%, if the request is submitted within 30 days of when the ticket was issued.
The pilot comes after Mayor Muriel Bowser created a multiagency task force on automated traffic enforcement in 2023. The task force created recommendations to maintain or increase the program’s effectiveness while minimizing the financial burden, according to Charlie Willson, director of the city’s Vision Zero office.
“The pilot seeks to reduce the financial burden of safety camera tickets on certain low-income drivers, while still holding them accountable and maintaining the effectiveness of the program,” Willson said.
The program only applies to tickets issued to drivers whose cars are registered in D.C. Drivers will only be eligible to have the fine for one ticket reduced.
Once it starts, the initiative is scheduled to run for about 120 days. The city is bracing for about 3,000 applications, though it only collects information tied to registration for tickets, so it doesn’t know how many drivers are eligible and will want to participate.
“We want to see if it allows more people to pay their fines, and therefore, less people to go into collections for their tickets, which is what happens if you don’t pay an (Automated Traffic Enforcement) fine after a period of time,” said Sam Quinney, director of The Lab at D.C., the part of the city administrator’s office that oversees pilot programs.
The District, Willson said, will “assess the effects it has on people’s likelihood of paying their tickets, and then the likelihood of getting another ticket.”
The approach, according to Quinney, has produced positive results in places such as California, finding it results in “higher rates of people paying them at the reduced rate.”
The cameras, Willson said, “are a tool in our Vision Zero toolbox, and why we’re excited to be a leader in trying out this new method for administering the program.”
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