WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) — If you’re a computer or someone who drives into the District from time to time, you’ll be interested in this.
Did you realize that in the last fiscal year alone, the city of Washington issued more than 147,000 mobile speed camera tickets?
And that’s just the total at THREE locations.
Entering D.C. can be an unfriendly welcome.
“It’s like entrapment to me, of some sort,” said one motorist.
“I was mad. I was very, very angry,” said another.
They’re mobile speed cameras that yank out the welcome mat from beneath drivers who venture into the District.
“With the picture of the car, you can’t argue it,” said a woman on Macarthur Boulevard, notorious for its speed cameras.
9NEWS NOW used the Freedom of Information Act to find out which mobile speed cameras in D.C. caught the most speeders in the last fiscal year. Here are the top three:
On the Southeast-Southwest Freeway at 9th Street in Southeast, a speed camera caught more than 71,000 violators in just one year. And about six car lengths away, a second camera snapped another 49,000 speeders.
Outside the Department of Motor Vehicles, where violators were paying their tickets, there was a flurry of angry comments.
“It makes me mad.”
“It’s ridiculous.”
“That’s crazy. That’s outrageous, really.”
I-295 at Eastern Avenue in Northeast is where the third busiest camera sits. In one year alone, this camera nabbed more than 26,000 speeders.
One motorist asked, “What are they doing with the money? It’s just so much money being made.”
We crunched the numbers for three busiest cameras. Of course, not everyone pays the fine, but even if they paid the minimum — a $75 ticket — DC would be raking in $11,053,800 in one year.
It wasn’t easy to find residents who appreciate the cameras, but we did.
“These speed cameras do something fantastic. They make you aware,” said Dr. Inge Guen, who runs a shop along Macarthur Boulevard.
“Actually I love them very much. These speed cameras tell people they have to be more disciplined when they’re coming here because so many times, women come with their children and they go across the street and suddenly they might get hit,” she said.
But most residents have other ideas.
“Throw the cameras in the trash!” said a disgruntled woman outside the DMV.
Below is a breakdown of the top three mobile speed cameras for FY 2010 (October 2009-September 2010)
–Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance SE: 71,591 tickets
–Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance ramp: 49,483
–I-295 @ Eastern Avenue, NE: 26,310
These are the top three for FY 2011 (October 2010 through April 2011)
–I-295 SW, 7/10 mile south of Exit 1: 20,548
–Southeast Southwest Freeway @9th Street entrance ramp: 17,330
–I-295 @ Eastern Avenue, NE: 12, 485