D.C. traffic cameras in danger of going dark after House Oversight advances bill

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation to shut down the District’s expansive traffic camera system, a move that the bill’s supporters said would end a money grab by D.C. leaders who have long hailed the devices as a boon for road safety.

Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled committee voted along party lines to unplug the roughly 550 speed, red-light and stop-sign cameras around the nation’s capital. The cameras have generated $600 million in revenue for the city over the past three years alone.

“The residents and commuters of Washington are both sick and tired of being fleeced for hundreds of dollars of petty, automated traffic fines, all in the name of alleged safety,” said Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican and the bill’s chief sponsor.

He said many of the District’s cameras are installed in neighborhoods inhabited by “the people that can likely least afford” to pay the tickets, which can range from $100 to $500, depending on the severity of the infraction.

Mr. Perry cited local estimates that said the cameras would bring in about $1 billion in revenue between 2024 and 2028. Other lawmakers chimed in to criticize the machines as a scheme to bilk money from residents, commuters and tourists.

“One report has noted that it generates more money than alcohol, cigarette, motor vehicle, fuel and estate taxes, and all revenue from licenses and permits and personal property taxes, combined,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican. “That’s why they do this. It isn’t for safety, and it’s a problem.”

Mr. Perry said the cameras fall short of D.C. officials’ stated goal of making the roads less hazardous.

The District documented 52 fatal crashes in both 2023 and 2024, which Mr. Perry said was the highest number of deadly collisions since the 54 witnessed in 2007. Those deaths include fatal car crashes as well as pedestrians and cyclists killed in road accidents.

Traffic deaths dropped precipitously last year, as Metropolitan Police recorded 25 traffic fatalities, the lowest number since 2012. But 10 traffic deaths have occurred so far this year, more than triple the three documented at this point in 2025.

Some Democrats, such as Rep. Robert Garcia of California, said he agrees that the cameras can be “misused” by localities around the country. But he said the cameras are a D.C. matter that should be handled by the city’s leaders and constituents, not Congress.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting representative in Congress, echoed that sentiment when speaking about the proposal.  

“If residents do not like how the members of the D.C. Council vote, residents can vote them out of office. That is democracy,” the Democrat said. “If D.C. residents do not like how members of Congress vote on local D.C. matters, residents cannot vote them out of office. That is the antithesis of democracy.”

Elected officials in the District, who are all Democrats, came out strongly this week against the proposal, which now goes to the House floor.

Mayor Muriel Bowser defended the cameras’ role in protecting motorists and pedestrians, saying the automated traffic enforcement has helped improve safety in the District over the past two years.  

“This progress was made possible through a broad strategy to both deter dangerous driving and hold reckless drivers accountable — a strategy that also includes infrastructure upgrades, targeted law enforcement efforts and strengthened accountability,” Ms. Bowser said in a statement.

“To remove [automated traffic enforcement] at a time when we are finally making progress will put residents and visitors at risk and send a misguided and dangerous message that reckless driving is acceptable in our nation’s capital,” she said.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson sent a statement Tuesday on behalf of the entire legislative body — except Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White — that said turning off the cameras would mean more traffic responsibilities for police.

The statement noted that it would defang D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s efforts to prosecute dangerous drivers who have racked up thousands of dollars in fines thanks to camera-captured violations.

Cameras that catch drivers turning right on red, which is banned throughout the District, are most beneficial to pedestrians, the statement said. Many of those pedestrians are tourists visiting the nation’s capital, such as those who live in states represented by the oversight committee’s members.

“Around 85 percent of the visitors to the District don’t drive a car here; they walk to attractions, restaurants and events,” the statement said. “Our restrictions on right turns have led to a decline of more than 90 percent in drivers failing to yield to pedestrians at certain intersections that have been analyzed. Banning the District from implementing these restrictions threatens this progress.”

The House bill, for which the Senate prospects are uncertain, is just one avenue through which the federal government is looking to put a lens cap on the District’s traffic cameras.

The Department of Transportation proposed eliminating the District’s devices in a surface transportation bill that will go before Congress. It’s not clear when lawmakers will take up the bill.

Republicans have been eager to inject themselves into the District’s affairs ever since President Trump returned to the White House last year.

Mr. Trump launched a citywide crime crackdown last summer that saw more than 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to the city and federal agents joining Metropolitan Police to patrol the streets.

House Republicans passed several bills seeking to reconfigure the District’s criminal justice system, such as allowing children as young as 14 to be charged as adults, relaxing police pursuit rules and eliminating the District’s cashless bail system.

Ms. Bowser scrubbed a Black Lives Matter street mural near the White House after Rep. Andrew Clyde, Georgia Republican, proposed cutting some federal funds for the District if the artwork, created during Mr. Trump’s first term, was allowed to remain.

The mayor said the mural was going to be removed anyway to allow replacement by a new mural celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary this year.