Washington, D.C., is owed more than $1 billion in unpaid traffic and parking fines. News4’s Mark Segraves reports on efforts to enforce traffic fine payment.
Drivers owe the District more than $1 billion in unpaid traffic and parking fines, and D.C. has been cracking down on what they call the "high-dollar scofflaws" — drivers of vehicles that have racked up thousands of dollars in unpaid tickets.
Just this week, they impounded a car that had $213,000 in unpaid fines.
As News4 followed along with one of the District's enforcement teams, the crew had no trouble finding cars to tow.
They travel as a convoy: D.C. tow trucks following a lead car equipped with license plate-reading technology that identifies cars with outstanding fines. On Wednesday, they were only interested in cars owing $2,000 or more in unpaid fines.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
"We're trying to send a message that we need safe streets," said Parking Enforcement Administrator Johnny Gaither with the D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW).
After crews hitched up a bright blue Chevy Equinox with more than $9,000 in unpaid tickets, it took them less than a minute to find another — this one was a van that also had more than $9,000 in fines. But the van's owner spotted the DPW trucks and was able to get in and drive away.
DPW teams have a policy of not getting into confrontations with car owners.
So, it was back to the search — but once again, they found another car in less than a minute. This one, a cream-colored station wagon, owed more than $13,000 in unpaid tickets.
"We believe that they are causing a lot of problems within our communities, and we want to make sure that we get them off of our roads," Gaither said.
In 2023, the driver charged in the deaths of three people on Rock Creek Parkway was behind the wheel of a Lexus with more than $12,000 in unpaid traffic fines.
Since April of last year, when the District began ramping up enforcement of high-dollar scofflaws, they've impounded 610 vehicles. Nearly half of those had Virginia tags, more than D.C. and Maryland combined.
"We're finding that a lot of these vehicles are speeding through our streets and they're not paying the fines, and we want to send a message that you cannot speed through the District streets," Gaither said.
D.C. is impounding so many cars they had to open two additional impound lots, both now filled with cars with tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.
"They have 28 days to claim these vehicles. If they don't claim the vehicles, then they're auctioned or scrapped," said DPW program manager Antwon Temoney.
If an impounded car is registered in the District, D.C. will allow the owner to enter into a payment plan. But if it's an out-of-state car, the owner must pay the entire amount owed all at once before they can get their car back.
So far, the owners of 182 vehicles have paid more than $755,000 in fines. Add in the ones sold for scrap or sold at auction, and D.C. has recovered nearly $900,000.
Gaither says he has teams across the city looking for scofflaws: "To make sure that we get these vehicles that owe all these tickets off of our city streets."
Sign up for our free deep-dive newsletter, The 4Front, to get standout News4 stories sent right to your inbox. Subscribe here.
