Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Metropolitan Police Department isn’t ticketing drivers like they used to.
Red-light camera tickets are at their lowest levels in seven years in the District, according to a study by AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Police issued 71,739 red-light camera citations in 2014, only a fraction of the 2,135,861 total citations issued that year.
John Townsend, Manger of Government and Public Affairs at AAA-Mid Atlantic, said that the decrease in red-light tickets stems from a combination of safe and tech-savvy drivers.
“They’re using apps to know where the red-light cameras are located, and they’re more app-savvy these days,” Townsend said.
He also stated that most of the red-light tickets come from cars making right turns on red or blocking the crosswalk at intersections.
The District is often criticized for it’s “draconian” approach to issuing tickets, as a dip in tickets issued means a decrease in revenue from paid fines.
Parking tickets are issued more frequently than red-light tickets, but the number issued in 2014 is also lower than in previous years.
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