Traffic cameras in D.C. are plenty controversial, and plenty more are coming. As we reported last week, Mayor Vince Gray has proposed installing more traffic and speed cameras throughout the city as a means to raise some $30 million in 2013. That’s certainly not an insignificant amount—it’s just under half of the $69 million in revenue initiatives Gray proposed to close a $172 million budget gap.

Predictably, AAA has come out against the traffic cameras, telling The Washington Times yesterday that the city is “addicted to revenue” that comes from the hefty tickets sent to speeding motorists. The auto lobby isn’t the only one expressing concern—various councilmembers have said that they’re none-too-happy with all the complaints from their constituents over the cameras.

Yesterday, though, Gray told the D.C. Council that he has no intention on backing down on the cameras. In fact, he’d like to see more of them—way more. “Eventually, we’d like to be able to cover the entire city. We need to do everything we can to protect people from the negligence or irresponsible behavior of others,” he said. This tracks closely to what his aides have been calling the cameras: “traffic-calming initiatives.”

Gray’s aides have also said that the point of the cameras isn’t just money, but rather to change peoples’ driving habits. In a post yesterday, Greater Greater Washington seemed to back that point when it noted that cameras don’t make for good revenue streams because people eventually learn of there locations and slow down. (It has happened at new cameras at Porter Street NW and Foxhall Road NW, they found.)

Still, drivers have a right to be somewhat cynical. As the Examiner has reported, about 30 percent of all camera-generated tickets that are contested are dismissed each year. Additionally, as WAMU has reported, it might get a lot more expensive to challenge tickets:

A change being considered in the DMV’s Fiscal Year 2012 performance plan would require those wishing to challenge tickets in court to pay the tickets, as well as an additional $60 adjudication and transcript fee, up front before going before a judge.

Gray’s proposals for more traffic cameras will go before Councilmember Phil Mendelson’s (D-At Large) Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. He told NBC4 that any new cameras should be based on public safety, not closing budget gaps.