Mike the Mad Biologist

D.C. statehood is often portrayed as critical because Democrats almost certainly would gain two seats, and it makes sense that is how most people who live outside of D.C. would view the issue. But for D.C. residents, the most noticeable effect is how Congress can influence how we govern ourselves at the state/local level. Some Republican congressmen want to eliminate D.C.’s speeding cameras, which have been very successful (boldface mine):

Nobody enjoys opening that ominous white envelope from the Department of Motor Vehicles, with its creepy photos of your speeding car and the sting of a three-figure fine. But the strategy seems to be effective: A major drop in traffic deaths last year reversed a decade-long climb, and Mayor Muriel Bowser has called automated traffic-enforcement cameras a “critical tool” for roadway safety whose removal would endanger people.

Though it’s hard to prove direct cause and effect, the data does suggest that traffic-calming efforts—including speed cameras—are making a difference. In 2025, 25 people died in traffic accidents in DC, down from 52 in 2024. That’s the lowest level since 2012, and it comes on the heels of a burst of new camera installations. In 2020, there were just over 100 in DC. By 2024, the number had risen to 477, and it’s now at 546, including 212 speed cameras, several dozen red-light and stop-sign devices, and a handful of truck-restriction cameras. More than 200 Metrobuses are also equipped with cameras to nab vehicles that block the bus lane.

Though they certainly can annoy drivers, many residents seem to approve of them: The District Department of Transportation says it has received thousands of requests for new cameras from frustrated pedestrians. It can feel, in a tangible way, as though cars are moving around town at a slower pace.

While some of the decline in traffic deaths might be, ironically, due to more traffic (anecdotally, there seem to be more cars, leading to possible lower traffic speeds), this is the second lowest number of traffic deaths in twenty years. It is not just a post-peak COVID, post-remote work decline.

But multiple Republicans want to end speeding cameras for various reasons, including one who was ticketed–unfairly, in my opinion*. It is one thing if that congressman wants to be petty in his own district, and the others just stupid in theirs; voters should get what they voted for, and get it good and hard. But the residents of D.C. would like to officials chosen by us to make those decisions, especially when it will prevent D.C. residents and visitors from dying.

In other words, Republicans want D.C. residents to be maimed or killed because of their own, unaccountable to D.C. bullshit.

D.C. statehood now.

*Ironically, if D.C. had House and Senate representation, he could have reached out to our congressional officials, who likely would have asked the city to waive the ticketl