Right now if someone gets a speeding ticket in DC they incur 3-5 points on their license. Unless that ticket is camera-enforced, then they don't get any points assessed. [Surprisingly, there are no points for running lights or stop signs] When I've asked about it, I've been told we can't because of the Constitution or the presumption of innocence. The problem with that is that other places do it.
And if Arizona, if someone amasses many tickets, the police will go to their home.
Identifying the driver takes some work - they use the driver's license photo for the registered owner, and if that doesn't work they send out the ticket and give the owner a chance to identify the driver. Which they sometimes do. It's not just AZ either. Both California and Oregon do this.
Attaching the tickets to drivers instead of cars, would also result in the insurance rates of bad drivers going up. Which is how the system should work - although some states (MD and VA included) forbid this.
If we started giving points for camera tickets then we might need to lower the penalty (as enforcement goes up, the penalty should go down), but the incentive to slow down and drive safer would remain.
If you get rid of poor engineering and predatory ticketing, laws will be obeyed. We will be safer too. Pull up the National Motorists Association.
Posted by: Danielle | February 12, 2021 at 01:27 PM
The NMA basic beliefs make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Consider their stance regarding speed limits: "Speed limits should be based on sound traffic-engineering principles that consider motorists’ reasonable and prudent travel speeds."
No mention of other potential users of the road.
Posted by: Kolo Jezdec | February 12, 2021 at 02:56 PM
Thanks for this info. I totally agree
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | February 17, 2021 at 12:31 PM
As an engineer - sound principles are those based on reaction time, stopping distance, proximity, and degree of threat to others. I hope reasonable and prudent in this sense means concern for those aspects, and not the backwards past method of taking 80% of drivers speed and saying that's reasonable and prudent. Driver's clearly don't weight risk (or even properly consider physics) properly so using their judgement while driving is quite backwards.
It's funny to complain about poor engineering, because also from an engineering standpoint, its' precisely because the roads are so overly engineered (i.e. low radius turns, wide lanes, high quality surfaces, etc.) that driver's are saved from consequences of their own dangerous driving.
It's also hard to see the problems of driver behavior and conclude there's a problem with "predatory ticketing". If that were a problem, drivers would be inordinately cautious.
Ultimately, I think it's a huge moral failing to let people just pay to violently break the law. Eliminating all fines for moving violations seems more just (or maybe just compensatory payments along with points and license suspension/removal)
Posted by: James | February 19, 2021 at 12:59 PM
A little off topic, but when it snows the dominance of the automobile is clearly demonstrated. Main roads are cleared within a few hours, most neighborhood roads within 24 hours. Sidewalks, curb cuts/ramps, bus stops, bike lanes/trails? Not so much. Residents clear the parking are on the street and pile the snow on the sidewalk. They clear their driveways and then leave the sidewalks on either side of the driveway untouched. 4 days since it stopped snowing and I cannot safely walk to a store a quarter-mile away. But the roads and parking lots are clear and dry.
Infuriating.
Posted by: Kolo Jezdec | February 22, 2021 at 07:48 AM
@James
I'm pretty sure that many black and brown drivers are "inordinately cautious." Just sayin'
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | February 22, 2021 at 02:13 PM
I got a speeding camera ticket on MacArthur Blvd a while back. 34 MPH in a 25 MPH. I don't drive that road too often and I was distracted by another driver near me who would zoom past at like 50 mph then slam on the breaks down to 20 MPH. We'd even out at red lights but he kept up with his 50-20 mood swings. It was a Friday night and freaking me out. I thought he was drunk. Turns out he knew where the cameras were and I didn't. A human officer would have ticketed the other driver; not me.
Posted by: crin | April 13, 2021 at 01:09 PM
If they stop creating speed traps to juice drivers for cash, maybe. But for that matter, cycling should require a license, revokable for riding in pedestrian areas.
Posted by: BAG | May 27, 2021 at 06:34 PM