DC on Speed

Big Brother is watching you, but not in the way you might expect. It isn’t through John Ashcroft’s hidden cameras in smoke detectors, but rather through a system established to monitor traffic. And this time big brother doesn’t want you to obey-he wants you to pay.
Beginning in 1999, the District began installing cameras across the city in order to monitor traffic. Cameras were placed at certain intersections in order to ticket motorists who run red lights, while other cameras with radars were set up to catch speeders. Since it’s inception, the system has generated over $50 million in revenue from fines.
The plan created the expected backlash from privacy advocates who argue that the system treats drivers with a guilty-until-proven-innocent attitude. Over the summer, two area lawyers challenged the camera system, claiming a violation of due process. A federal judge dismissed the case in June.
There are more concerns about the system than just privacy. Recently the Automobile Association of America referred to the system as one that focuses more on revenue than on safety. The AAA argues that the District’s efforts are not an attempt to enforce laws or promote safety, but rather a way to make some easy money. Lon Anderson of the Mid-Atlantic AAA pointed out at a recent conference that the system targets drivers who barely miss yellow lights lights, not those who blow through intersections long after the light has turned red.
Examples have also been cited where the duration of yellow lights has been shortened in order to catch more people who narrowly run red lights. The AAA argues, rightly so, that this demonstrates a clear lack of concern for safety. Drivers expect a certain amount of time for the light to be yellow, and shortening that leads to people running red lights or slamming on their breaks-both of which increase the potential for accidents.
Safety experts believe that to maximize safety, lights should be yellow for a longer, standardized duration, and for a brief time all lights at an intersection should be red. This is so drivers have a certain expectation for how long they have to make it through the intersection. Having all lights be red is a hope to prevent collisions from occurring as people speed through the light at the last minute.
Concerns about the system’s accuracy are not unfounded. Since the program began, thousands of citations have been issued mistakenly. Just last month 33 speeding tickets were thrown out due to error.
The District government claims the plan is indeed fully baked, and they point to ambiguous traffic accident statistics. When questioned about a recent increase in traffic fatalities, Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey responded claiming that meant the District needed more cameras, not less.
It’s a bit like the film Minority Report; a system is introduced in the District with the hopes of eliminating a problem. Officials can point to statistics that show it works, but in the end, the system is flawed—-and the flaw is human. In this case, it’s flawed because big brother is looking for a way to make some easy cash.