Photo by yospyn

D.C. Department of Public Works spokesperson Nancee Lyons sent out the message posted below to neighborhood email lists today.

Dear Neighbors,

I just wanted you to know that the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) will now begin booting vehicles with outstanding photo enforcement tickets. Photo enforcement violations include red-light running, speeding, and parking on streets during street sweeping hours.

As of January 30, 2009, 12,834 vehicles were boot eligible with 15,700 outstanding photo enforcement tickets representing $1,852,865 in fines.

Law enforcement’s public safety efforts will be enhanced by immobilizing vehicles with unanswered photo enforcement tickets as many violators ignore these tickets and have not changed their dangerous driving habits as a result.”

District law states that a vehicle is boot eligible if it has two or more tickets that remain unpaid with no request for adjudication within 60 days of issuance or that remain unpaid after the owner’s appeal rights have been exhausted.

If you have outstanding photo enforcement tickets, DPW strongly encourages you to pay them right away to avoid possible boot and tow fees.

For more information on parking enforcement, residents should visit www.dpw.dc.gov, dmv.dc.gov, or call 311.

Nancee Lyons
Public Affairs Specialist
DC Department of Public Works

Scared? Well, don’t worry too much. DCist just got off the phone with Lyons, who explained that there isn’t actually that much new about this booting effort—DPW isn’t suddenly able to deploy more boots on any given day than it used to, it’s just that there are now a few more boot-eligible vehicles thanks to the proliferation of photo enforcement devices across the District over the last year. So if you’ve got two or more outstanding tickets (although Lyons did tell us they often wait until you have three), photo-enforced or regular, it certainly couldn’t hurt for you to take care of them now, before they become an even bigger hassle.

UPDATE: Lyons was able to answer my other question just now: the District has a little over 1,000 boots at its disposal at any given time, somewhat limiting DPW’s threat to boot over 12,000.