City Of Alexandria: City Of Alexandria Discovers Erroneous Red-Light Camera Ticket Citations, Issues Refunds

Press release from the City of Alexandria:

Feb 3, 2022 at 10:28 AM

The City of Alexandria will dismiss erroneously issued red-light speeding citations and provide full refunds to impacted customers as a corrective action. The refunds come after a review showed the red-light speeding camera at Duke and South Walker streets was issuing tickets without an amnesty period of 0.5 seconds. Virginia law requires all automated red-light enforcement cameras to incorporate this amnesty period, meaning that citations will not be issued until a light turns red and 0.5 seconds have elapsed.

Redflex Group, who at the time operated the City’s automated red-light camera program, discovered that a programming error led to citations being issued incorrectly. A comprehensive review concluded that—between January 26, 2016 and October 4, 2019— 4,709 citations were inadvertently issued and $187,673.35 in fines were collected. The total number of erroneous citations issued accounts for less than a half percent (.047%) of all citations issued during the same period.

Additional protections to safeguard against future programming errors have been implemented, including monthly and quarterly operational audits to ensure all cameras are programmed correctly and in compliance with Virginia law.

For inquiries from the news media only, contact Andrea Blackford, Editorial Communications Manager, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

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This news release is available at alexandriava.gov/125982.

This press release was produced by the City of Alexandria. The views expressed here are the author’s own.