Christmas Eve brought another preventable tragedy: the District’s 51st traffic fatality of the year. It was the fifth in Ward 6. A speeding driver lost control, jumped a curb, and killed Ronnie Clark, a 66-year-old long-time D.C. resident, before fleeing.
Frustratingly, this section of C Street NE in eastern Capitol Hill recently underwent a “road diet” transformation—infrastructure improvements intended to encourage drivers to slow down as they traverse a dense, residential part of the city. Every neighborhood in DC has seen similar changes over the last decade: speed bumps, narrowed lanes, and other traffic calming measures; more frequent crosswalks, miles of bike lanes, and visible crossing signals; lower speed limits and, of course, hundreds of automated traffic enforcement cameras that issue fines via mail for speeding and red-light violations. And yet, we saw 52 traffic fatalities in 2023, a 16-year high and twice as many as in 2014 when Vision Zero was announced, when Mayor Bowser promised to eliminate traffic deaths within ten years. Discouraging incorrigible drivers clearly isn’t working.
Lack of Law Enforcement is the Culprit
While it’s heartening to see the Council finally go after vehicles that have racked up thousands of dollars in unpaid traffic camera fines, there is little evidence cameras alone can encourage dangerous drivers to change their ways. A Washington Post analysis in August found that more than a quarter of this year’s traffic fatalities occurred within 250 feet of a traffic camera. Every phone-based GPS now warns us of speed cameras, and DC has installed signage for those who drive the old-fashioned way. Traffic cameras may be good for the DC budget, but they are doing little to make us safer.
If DC is serious about addressing traffic deaths, we need real deterrence in the form of human enforcement. This type of enforcement has all but vanished from the District—and Capitol Hill—since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data on moving violations issued by the region’s various law enforcement agencies, MPD enforcement of traffic laws has declined dramatically over the last five years. Comparing two randomly-chosen non-consecutive months in 2024 (June and September) to the same months in 2019 shows that officers assigned to DC’s seven police service districts issued 63% fewer moving violations this year compared to 2019, despite traffic deaths increasing from 27 to 51. The numbers for police service districts 1 and 5, which straddle the location where Mr. Clark was killed, are no better. Moreover, the nature of violations has shifted away from deterrence. Speeding violations issued by service district-assigned officers fell even more dramatically (86%), confirming what many of us already knew: DC beat cops have largely outsourced speed enforcement to cameras. Meanwhile, the proportion of moving violations associated with accidents—presumably as police sort out questions of fault—rose 50%. More response, less prevention.
To be clear, this is not just MPD. Police departments in many big cities reported significant declines in face-to-face enforcement following the COVID-19 outbreak and protests over the killing of George Floyd. Some activists argued that a reset of police tactics was necessary to address the racial disparity of traffic stops—black drivers are about 20% more likely to be stopped by police—and prevent unnecessary, violent run-ins. This calculus, however, mostly ignored the disproportionate toll of traffic violence on Black communities. According to national data, Black pedestrians are more than twice as likely to die in traffic accidents, and in DC this disparity is both significant and growing: Ten of this year’s 21 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred in Wards 7 and 8, up from 4 of 14 in 2019.
The good news is that we’ve made huge progress on the hardest parts of achieving Vision Zero—investing in our built environment and increasing awareness among responsible drivers. And MPD recently established a five-officer unit focused solely on enforcing traffic laws and conducting check-points that will help to address the epidemic of fake tags. This is an encouraging first step, but realizing the promise of Vision Zero will require more than five officers in a 3,400-strong department. Mayor Bowser rightly noted that eliminating traffic deaths will require “an all-hands-on-deck approach.” This can only happen when traffic law enforcement is a priority for all of MPD.
Chris Kennedy is an economist, avid cyclist, and resident of Capitol Hill since 2013.
