Oh boy. I moved to DC about a year ago. I have nothing against automatic traffic cameras. I've seen them used to great effect in NYC, where I'm natively from,

Oh boy. I moved to DC about a year ago. I have nothing against automatic traffic cameras. I've seen them used to great effect in NYC, where I'm natively from, to reduce speeding incidents in sensitive areas like high-traffic mixed use zones, school zones, etc. The traffic cameras in DC are not that. They're primarily placed at chokepoints that seem intended to collect speeding fines. Some of the most prominent speed cameras are placed on major arterial throughput roads/ that turn into highways, which are either not connected to the sidewalk at all, or have no major foot traffic concerns. In one particularly blatant location, leading right up to US-50, a major road, which has a nominal speed limit of 45, has a speed camera set to 25 mph dead in the middle, over a bridge, which is largely inaccessible to foot traffic. In the hundreds of feet leading up to the camera, the posted speed limit get progressively lower, from 45, to 30, to 30, until settling at 25 where the camera is, and then progressively raises again. The residents have learned the game, and now this major arterial road is a nonstop traffic jam in the mile or so leading up, as people slow to a crawl to avoid the fines. DC absolutely has some aggressive and awful drivers. But the real root cause are things like intensely poor city planning -- the criss crossing grid of exceedingly narrow streets meant to look pretty on a map and picturesque during sunset basically is an absolute worst case for gridlock. They've also done an exceedingly poor job of retrofitting modern amenities like bike lanes onto those streets, where premium space is taken up by triple-wide, treelined sidewalks, yet cars do not have room to navigate major arterial streets, and a single taxi letting out a passenger means congestion and danger to everyone around them. And then you have what is probably the least engaged police force. Traffic cops can be seen casually parked and playing on their phone for hours on end, often parked illegally themselves, while drivers around them brazenly break the law, knowing there's nothing approaching real patrols or enforcement.