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Just when you thought the District's willingness to give out tickets couldn't get any more zealous, the District Department of Transportation has just completed training their first batch of Traffic Control Officers who are now authorized to issue traffic citations, according to a news release.
The D.C. Council recently passed new laws designed to increase the city's traffic and parking ticket revenue (or traffic and parking compliance, depending on who you ask), and the move to bring TCOs into the game is part of that effort. TCO's are the people who you see at busy intersections helping to direct traffic during rush hours.
Traffic Control Officers now have the ability to issue citations for parking infractions and minor moving violations, including: parking in a bus or loading zone; parking in front of a designated entrance; expired tags; parking in a no standing or parking zone; double parking; expired inspection stickers; blocking crosswalks and bike lanes; distracted driving; use of cell phones, and so on.
The TCOs do not have the authority to write citations for criminal violations.
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wait... we're giving these make-work idiots more responsibility? they don't even do a good job of waving their hands.
This is, without a doubt, a good thing. The reason the traffic cops seem to do a horrible job is because drivers don't respect them. That said, giving them the authority to write citations for expired tags when they're supposed to be directing traffic is absurd.
What about jaywalking? Bike moving violations? Transporting a minor across the street for immoral purposes?
That's a great move. I love the TCOs at McPherson Sqr because they don't tolerate anyone who can't follow simple gestures to move or stop. They even yell at pedestrians who chooses to run across the street within the last few seconds causing more delays for the cars that the TCOs are trying to turn onto a road blocked with pedestrian traffic. It's fair to see enforcement carried out towards both drivers and pedestrians. I want to see one of them issue a citation to a cop who gets caught using their cell phone while driving. HA!
I want to see one of them issue a citation to a cop who gets caught using their cell phone while driving. HA!
I want to see a TCO try to issue one of these, because police of all stripes have a little something called statutory immunity (but not administrative immunity) as long as the conversation is within the scope of their duties.
I say they should issue a $100 ticket for blocking the box without hesitation. DC spends all this money attempting to make the commute home easier for MD drivers (at least on 14 and 16 when I walk by the gridlock).. we might as well make some money off them to at least recoup the cost of the traffic control people (because apparently commuters don't understand traffic signals).
YES. It's very frustrating to watch entitled drivers get away with blocking city intersections. May there be tickets galore, for all of their selfish, suburban asses.
I saw a large group of them at lunch today near the National Press Building. They were inspecting every driver and passenger looking for seat belt violations.
They were handing out a disturbing number of tickets, too. I didn't realize so many people didn't use seat belts.
Put one of these guys on 14th between K and Eye Streets at that eurtrash dance club. Friday night you got double and triple-parking idiots blocking the box, the block, and my cock. Also, the smell of Drakkar Noir is overpowering.
This is really great to see. This move will allow the DDOT TCOs to be much more effective in controlling some of the flagrantly bad driving at rush hour. I say ticket all the fools who block crosswalks and make illegal turns around Farragut.
If I was looking for another job I might consider this but since they're not going to give me a Muzzleloader screw it.
Liz, Liz, Liz, haven't you learned anything from me? With a muzzle loader, you could only get off 3 rounds a minute, max. I recommend a .38 revolver at a minimum.
In my experience it only takes one shot to get everyone's attention.
in my experience, it doesn't do much good to get everyone's attention if you fall asleep (or go on a smoke-break) afterword.
i actually saw them handing out tickets a couple weeks ago downtown. i'm surprised this is just now hitting the news.
Good. Despite claims by a vocal minority, this city is extremely lax on traffic and parking enforcement - expired meters being the exception. I guarantee traffic will improve a bit if the violations above are actually cited.
Exactly, this is a good thing.
If DC actually got serious about traffic enforcement, it'd be a much safer and more pleasant place to be. At least more pleasant for those of us who actually *want* to be here as opposed to those who are just passing through.
Funny how this story came up today. It's my second day on my first ever trip to Nassau and the TCOs here are much different. They'll usually also be standing on wooden boxes with "POLICE" painted in black and white with a lifeguard-type umbrella over them. Given this, they're much more obvious than the DC TCOs who look like recently canned WMATA bus drivers (read: safety vests) that are quickly looking for another govt. transportation gig.
Great...more idiot officers on the corners. So this means they'll hire tons more TCOs so 4 can wave hands and a few others write tickets.
In the mornings, they do a good job at M street and the key bridge and in Columbia Heights in front of DCUSA. Before they were put in at the key bridge it could take 40 minutes to get from wisconsin onto the bridge.
And I really hope they put people out there just to ticket drivers. By writing just three tickets each, surely they'd cover their daily wage. After that, all profit for DC and pain for Maryland and VA drivers.
as long as peds and cyclists get ticketed too!
Here is where they went wrong with the Summer Jobs Program. They should have let the kids issue tickets.
Have you ever watched the ones at 14th and E NW? They make it worse.