D.C. traffic cameras could go offline under federal proposal

The Trump administration is considering eliminating the District’s expansive traffic camera system, which has provided a key revenue stream for the city by issuing fines to speeders and red light runners.

The Department of Transportation is seeking to ban “the operation of automated traffic camera enforcement” in the District, says a proposal included in a surface transportation bill set to go before Congress.

That means the nearly 550 speed, red light and stop sign cameras scattered throughout the District would be rendered useless, cutting off a funding mechanism that has generated more than $600 million in fines for the District over the past three fiscal years.

The federal agency, which has not publicly discussed the proposal, first obtained by Politico, told The Washington Times that it is “constantly examining a broad set of preliminary policy options on transportation matters. Many policy options are currently under internal review.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, both Democrats, could not be reached for comment.

Council member Charles Allen, the Ward 6 Democrat who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, said the proposal would make the District’s streets more hazardous.

“Federal DOT trying to scrap road safety in D.C. Wrong to frame this about money,” Mr. Allen posted on X. “While it would have a huge impact on city finances, more damaging effect is on safety. Just as we’re lowering traffic injuries & deaths, this would give a green light to dangerous drivers on our roads.”

Republicans in Congress view the cameras as a cash cow for the District that needs to be reined in. 

“Cameras are a shameless money grab that continuously deter tourists, aggravate commuters and residents and literally attack local residents with hundreds of dollars in fines,” Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican, said during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing this fall.

His proposal to scrap the camera enforcement system was passed out of committee on a party-line vote.

“These automated cameras were expected to yield over $1 billion between 2024 and 2028, with revenue declining over time as people figure out where they are,” he said. “It doesn’t really make anybody safer; it just generates revenue.”

A brief from the Transportation Department’s Federal Highway Administration found that speed cameras reduce serious crashes in other parts of the country.

Cameras positioned on major roads reduced all crashes by 54% and injurious crashes by 48%, the highway administration said. The brief noted that cameras on freeways and expressways helped lower fatal and injurious crashes by 37%.

The results in the District were more mixed.

The Metropolitan Police Department last year recorded 25 traffic fatalities, which include pedestrian, cyclist and motorist-related deaths. It was the city’s lowest number since 2012.

In 2023 and 2024, when the bulk of the District’s traffic cameras were in operation, 52 traffic fatalities were reported. That was the highest number for the city since 54 roadway deaths were recorded in 2007.

Ms. Bowser promised to eliminate traffic deaths in the District by 2024 when she launched her Vision Zero initiative 11 years ago. Installing more traffic cameras around the city was intended to achieve that goal.

Republicans in the White House and Congress have not been shy about usurping the District’s local governance since President Trump returned to office.

Mr. Trump launched a citywide crime crackdown this summer that involved federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department, surging federal agents onto D.C. streets and deploying more than 2,000 National Guard troops.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said this week that the crime-fighting operation resulted in a dramatic decrease in homicides, carjackings and muggings. She said more than 8,400 arrests had been made and 850 guns seized in the ongoing public safety push, which started in August.

Meanwhile, the city erased a Black Lives Matter street mural directly north of the White House on 16th Street Northwest.

The mural, which was painted in 2020 amid the nationwide police brutality protests, was removed shortly after Rep. Andrew Clyde, Georgia Republican, proposed cutting some federal funds for the District if the name was allowed to remain.

Ms. Bowser said the mural was going to be scrubbed anyway, allowing artwork to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary to take its place.

House Republicans passed a slew of bills this fall aimed at reorienting the District’s public safety laws.

In September, the House passed proposals allowing children as young as 14 to be charged as adults, preventing judges from giving juveniles lenient sentences, relaxing police pursuit rules and giving the president greater say in D.C. Superior Court appointments.

Two months later, lawmakers approved legislation that would eliminate the District’s cashless bail system and a bill that would repeal police prohibitions on chokeholds and certain crowd control tactics.

The D.C. Police Union said the statute on chokeholds and crowd control tactics removed legal protections for officers and discouraged people from joining and staying with the Metropolitan Police Department, which has experienced a 50-year low in the number of sworn officers over the past three years.