Washington, D.C.  (Wednesday, February 19, 2020) – If you have received one of those infamous pink parking tickets on your car or traffic citations in the mail recently, you are not alone.  According to a new report from AAA Mid-Atlantic, nearly three million motorists received  traffic tickets and/or parking citations in the nation’s capital during Fiscal Year 2019.  That number actually shatters three records in the process.   The report shows the numbers include the volume of citations issued, the value of ticket revenue, and the amount of defaulted tickets.

In total, D.C.  issued more than a billion dollars in traffic and parking tickets over a three-year period, including fiscal years, 2017, 2018, and 2019.  Approximately 2,869,810 traffic and parking citations were given out in DC during the budget year ending September 30th 2019.  AAA says higher traffic ticket fines and lower speed limits in DC are mainly behind the increased numbers.

With the topmost speed camera fines increasing to $500, tougher penalties and higher traffic fines are the new normal under the city’s Vision Zero Initiative, which also spawned 11 new traffic infractions.

“The District generated 8.2 million traffic and parking tickets with a windfall value of one billion dollars over the past three budget years. The jury is still out on whether the higher ticket costs have anything to do with compliance,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs.