DC tows, boots hundreds of cars with unpaid tickets in massive crackdown
WASHINGTON - D.C. is cracking down on drivers with unpaid tickets.
As part of a new pilot program, the Department of Public Works has towed 69 vehicles with $604,404 in unpaid fines and booted 777 vehicles with $1.5 million in fines since April.
That's almost $2 million in eight weeks.
The initiative is in the wake of a massive backlog of unpaid fines and some high-profile accidents in recent years, where it was found that the drivers had piled up multiple unpaid and unenforced parking and traffic violations. D.C. officials say this targeted pilot program is tackling decades' worth of unpaid fines that have grown out of control. Since the start of 2000, the District has almost $1.3 billion in unpaid fines.
"A lot of people who drive in the city, they’re not paying the speeding tickets, they’re not paying the red light tickets, they’re not paying those type of tickets and those really safety sensitive issues and part of the mayor’s zero one vision is to get those people off our streets," said Johnny Gaither, DC Parking Enforcement Management Administration.
DC to send letters, texts to drivers who have racked up tickets
Despite traffic cameras all across D.C., many traffic tickets are going unpaid. Now, the District is going to try a new method. In a year-long pilot program, they plan to send targeted letters and texts to almost 100,000 drivers across the DMV who have multiple speeding and red light tickets saying, "someone in your household is driving dangerously," but will it make a difference? We ask DMV residents what they think.
This summer, D.C. will have another new tool to step up their booting and towing program: a new impound lot that can store approximately 300 vehicles. This will enable DPW’s parking enforcement teams to tow more scofflaw vehicles from the roadways.