AAA Report: Substantial increase in speed camera tickets issued to DC drivers

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A new report by AAA Mid-Atlantic shows a substantial increase in speed camera tickets issued to drivers in the District.

The report says that in the first four and a half months of the current fiscal year, the Metropolitan Police Department has issued more speed camera tickets than it did in all of Fiscal Year 2014.

Over 365,000 tickets were issued from October 1, 2015 to February 2016. More than $37 million in speed camera fines were collected in that period - nearly as much as the total amount collected in the previous fiscal year.

AAA Mid-Atlantic estimates that at the current rate, the District would hand out over 1.4 million speed camera tickets and generate more than $148 million in speed camera revenue.

"Those drivers who were chanting 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead' a couple of years ago are probably regretting their words now. The speed camera program is back with a vengeance," said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic's Manager of Public and Government Affairs. "The District has garnered almost a half billion dollars in speed camera revenue since the program's inception in 2001. The District's speed camera program has issued more than 4.5 million speed camera citations since 2007, and it has generated more than $449.4 million in speed camera revenue."

Want to find D.C. speed cameras before they find you? Charles Yeh told FOX 5 last fall about his new app, Speed Cameras Alert, that alerts drivers to the presence of speed camera. (http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/31074737-story)