A federal proposal moving through Washington now threatens to dismantle a traffic enforcement system that has shaped how the District polices its streets for more than two decades.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has sent a proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget that would prohibit Washington, D.C. from operating automated traffic enforcement cameras, including speed, red-light, and stop-sign cameras. The measure is tied to the upcoming surface transportation bill Congress is expected to consider this year and would strip the District of authority it has exercised since the late 1990s.
If enacted, the proposal would eliminate nearly 550 active enforcement cameras across the city and remove a program that generated $267.3 million in fiscal year 2025 alone, according to the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The city collected $213.3 million in fiscal year 2024 and $139.5 million in fiscal year 2023, revenue that has supported transportation safety initiatives and other city services.
District officials and safety advocates warn the impact would extend beyond lost revenue.
“Traffic enforcement cameras are a critical tool in the work to save lives and make our streets safer,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters. “Removing them would endanger people in our community.”
Bowser said traffic fatalities in Washington fell 52% last year, the lowest level since 2014, and warned that eliminating the cameras would also create a $1 billion gap in the city’s long-term financial plan, forcing cuts to everyday services.
The federal push has revived a long-running debate in the District, one that sits at the intersection of safety, race, and equity.
Washington’s automated traffic enforcement system began in 2001 with a speed camera program targeting dangerous corridors, school zones, and major roadways. After a warning period, citations followed. Early evaluations showed average vehicle speeds dropped by roughly 14%, and the share of drivers exceeding speed limits by more than 10 miles per hour fell by more than 80% compared with nearby jurisdictions.
The program expanded to include red-light and stop-sign cameras and later became a central component of the city’s Vision Zero initiative. Supporters argue automated enforcement reduces reckless driving without increasing police encounters, a point that could pose more issues in Black communities that have long experienced disproportionate police contact during traffic stops.
National research supports the safety case. A large peer-reviewed study examining nearly 2,000 speed cameras in New York City found collisions declined by 30% and injuries dropped by 16% within seven months of installation, with speeding violations falling sharply as drivers adjusted behavior.
In Washington, however, the cameras have also produced unequal outcomes.
A 2018 analysis by the D.C. Policy Center found automated traffic enforcement is concentrated in predominantly Black neighborhoods, even where crash rates are similar to those in white areas. Drivers in Black-segregated census tracts received significantly more citations and higher fines per resident, while white-segregated tracts saw far fewer tickets. The study found drivers in Black neighborhoods were more than 17 times as likely to receive a moving violation as drivers in predominantly white areas.
Transportation advocates say those disparities reflect decades of infrastructure decisions. Many Black neighborhoods were built around wide, high-speed roads designed for commuter traffic rather than pedestrian safety, leaving residents more exposed to enforcement without corresponding investment in safer street design.
“If our only mechanism to make a street safer is to go out and have police out there or speed cameras, we’ve already failed at the design of the street,” Jacob Bason of All Walks DC said on “The Kojo Nnamdi Show.”
The federal proposal would remove the cameras without addressing those design failures, according to local officials, leaving communities with fewer tools to curb speeding and reckless driving.
“Traffic safety cameras are not only about revenues, they’re about accountability, prevention, and saving lives,” U.S. Shadow Representative Oye Owolewa stated. “Stripping the District of these tools without a comprehensive safety plan sends a dangerous signal that reckless driving will be tolerated.”