DC's busiest speed camera in northwest gives out over 33,000 tickets in 3 months
WASHINGTON (7News) — The D.C. Council got a detailed update this past week on which speed cameras in the city are taking the most pictures.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) said the busiest speed camera in the entire city is located along the northbound Potomac Freeway at 25th Street in Northwest. It also happens to be one of the newest ones.
From Oct. 1 through New Year’s Eve of last year, this camera issued 33,682 tickets. That’s the most citations ever given out by any D.C. Automated Traffic Enforcement camera.
But other cameras are not far behind. In the last three months of 2023, the camera on DC-295 near Exit 1 gave out 20,641 citations.
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New York Avenue, southwestbound at N Capitol Street Northeast snapped more than 19,041 pictures. The cameras are strategically placed based on speed, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as crash data.
DDOT claims some locations have seen a drop in speeding by 96%.
Warren Gorlick, co-chair of the D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council is calling on the city to expand the red light and speed camera program even further.
“With 49 traffic fatalities in 2023 alone, a 17-year high that makes a mockery of the Mayor’s Vision Zero goals, this is hardly the right time to curtail the expansion of red light and speed cameras which have proved highly effective,” Gorlick told the transportation committee.Since last October, the city’s automated traffic enforcement program has brought in more than $60 million in revenue, according to the chief financial officer.
DDOT said the hope is that they deter speeding and change driver behavior.
There are now nearly 200 speed cameras in D.C., the most recent ones were installed just over a month ago.
“Speeding contributes to nearly 30% of all traffic fatalities. And in D.C., the number is even higher, contributing to 46% of all traffic fatalities in the district in 2021,” said Ellen Lee, with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The other locations in the top 15 over those three months in 2023 include:
- New York Avenue, southwest bound at N Capitol Street Northeast — 19,041 citations
- 2200 block K Street Northwest, westbound — 13,572 citations
- 600 block Kenilworth Avenue Northeast, southbound — 13,281 citations
- 600 block New York Avenue Northeast, westbound — 10,891 citations
- 2200 block K Street Northwest, eastbound — 10,838 citations
- 27th Street, northbound at R Street Southeast (Stop Sign Camera) — 7,805 citations
- 2600 block Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, southbound — 6,924 citations
- 3300 block New York Avenue Northeast, eastbound — 6,474 citations
- 2200 block South Dakota Avenue Northeast, southeast bound — 5,975 citations
- 200 block H Street Northeast, eastbound — 5,768 citations
- 2800 block N Capitol Street Northwest, southbound — 5,761 citations
- Kansas Avenue, northeastbound at Buchanan Street Northwest (Stop Sign Camera) — 5,441 citations
- 1700 block N Capitol Street Northeast, northbound — 5,104 citations
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