Granting journalists access to the locations of automatic traffic camera speeding tickets is essential for promoting accountability and public safety. Transparency in automated enforcement allows journalists to investigate the effectiveness of camera placements, ensuring they prioritize high-risk areas and contribute to genuine traffic safety. This information empowers journalists to scrutinize potential misuse or biases, holding authorities accountable for fair implementation. By analyzing data on speeding violations, journalists can also contribute to public awareness and informed discussions on traffic safety measures. Access to these locations fosters a responsible, informed public discourse and reinforces the role of journalism in ensuring the proper functioning of automated traffic enforcement systems.
The DC government publishes anonymized moving violation data and the locations of Automated Traffic Enforcement cameras. There has also been regular reporting on the issue.
I recently received a speeding ticket in the mail from the DC Department of Motor Vehicles. The ticket included a link to a website where I could see information about the incident, including the date and time, location, and photo evidence taken by automated traffic cameras. There’s also a link to a PDF containing the evidence log, which verifies the camera was working properly at the time of the incident. Here’s an example.
I created a Tableau dashboard to visualize the trends in ticketing using a couple months of data from 2022. This dashboard could be automatically updated with new data on a regular basis to provide near real-time insights on which cameras are generating the most tickets.