The Cost of Lax Enforcement of the Law

The Washington Post provides an example of the cost of not enforcing the law, even for minor offenses, in this story by Racher Weiner.

Paisley Brodie, age 12, was walking from school to the library when she was hit by a car while crossing the street in the crosswalk. She was taken from the scene in an ambulance. The car that hit her “has 94 unpaid tickets worth $19,770 from D.C. traffic cameras, six for speeding just this month and four for running red lights since July.”

It turns out this is not unusual. The car “is among roughly 2,100 vehicles with 40 or more unpaid tickets, according to D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles numbers from last year. It’s a fresh example of how drivers can rack up infractions from D.C. cameras but remain on the road.”

Speeding and running red lights are not major offenses, but people who commit them regularly are dangerous people. Innocent people suffer major injuries and death from such behavior. Far more vigorous enforcement is in order.