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A new effort to reduce traffic-related deaths will include strongly worded letters to dangerous drivers, urging them to be more careful on the road.
WASHINGTON — Reckless D.C. drivers might want to check their mailboxes for a sternly worded letter from the government.
The Lab Projects @ DC, an agency purposed to create and suggest pilot programs to improve the broader D.C. area, recently proposed a simple and inexpensive plan to reduce the risk of DC traffic-related accidents. The program is a part of Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero initiative—an initiative meant to bring traffic-related deaths to a halt.
Mayor Bowser is implementing the Lab’s pilot program. The agency will use a statistical model that will utilize the District’s Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) system to identify high-risk drivers. Once identified, officials will send targeted, sternly worded letters or texts to these drivers, urging them to be more careful on the road.
You can see the template for these letters here.
While there are no legal implications to receiving these letters, the Lab is hopeful that it will cause drivers to feel seen and guilty.
“Targeting messages to higher-risk drivers is an innovative approach to help us improve safety for all our roadway users, especially for our most vulnerable users – children and pedestrians,” said Everett Lott, the director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).
This program is an innovative response to the hundreds of thousands of dangerous driving violations reported in D.C. The ATE system automatically takes photos of license plates if drivers run red lights, roll through stop signs, or exceed speed limits. Data from these systems in multiple jurisdictions reveal that it is only a small number of drivers who are responsible for a large number of accidents in the district.
The results of this pilot program will likely inform future government action. The program has only recently been announced, but the agency is hopeful that it will decrease dangerous driving and traffic-related accidents. After the program runs for a year, the agency will assess its effectiveness.
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