Photo by billadler

The D.C. DMV announced today that in the first month of its ticket amnesty program, deadbeat drivers paid 17,950 outstanding tickets worth $976,341 in revenue for the city.

Under the program, which started on August 1, anyone with a ticket issued before January 1, 2010 is enticed to pay it without having to deal with the types of penalties that would usually accrue when someone, you know, didn’t pay a ticket for two years. (Fines double after 30 days.) The amnesty will run through January 27, 2012, after which the DMV will institute a second phase in which they kick down doors and just take the money owed out of people’s wallets. (Okay, so that won’t happen, but hey, maybe it should.)

According to the DMV, Maryland drivers paid the most tickets, owning up to 8,746 worth $475,360. District drivers paid back 5,009 tickets worth $282,021, and Virginians settled 3,027 tickets for $155,438.

Earlier this year, the District admitted that drivers owed it $300 million worth of overdue fines and tickets. The amnesty is expected to bring in a mere $6 million, which, we suppose, is better than zero. Earlier this summer, the D.C. Council passed legislation that would allow Mayor Vince Gray to centralize collections on the estimated $1 billion in fines and fees owed to a number of city agencies.