This city will text you if you’re speeding or ignoring a stop sign

If you drive too fast and get caught, you will anonymously receive a fine on your doormat in the Netherlands. An American city now has a completely different idea. Bad and anti-social drivers who break the rules will soon receive personal emails and apps to warn them.

Washington DC wants to drastically reduce the number of traffic fatalities. So the city is launching a pilot project that will make predictions about the likelihood that someone will be involved in a collision.

An app from the city about your traffic behavior

Cameras take a picture of a person’s license plate when they’re speeding, ignoring a stop sign, or crossing a red light at a traffic light. Research shows that a driver who regularly makes mistakes is more likely to cause an accident than the average driver.

For this reason, Washington will collect and analyze all license plate information from its automated traffic monitoring system. Anyone who has been fined twice or more in the past year and a half will receive an app from the city.

“Someone in your household drives dangerously”

That will be about 100,000 people, so the expectation. Instead of a fine, they receive a list of previous violations and a brief summary of the personal benefits they can expect from complying with the rules on their cell phones.

“Someone in your household drives dangerously,” according to a Washington Post report. “Your vehicle has a history of speeding and/or running a red light, increasing the risk of the driver and occupants of your vehicle being involved in an accident.”

See if it works in a few months

Washington hasn’t fully sent out the messages yet, so it remains a mystery whether they work. In a few months, the Automated Traffic Enforcement System data will be analyzed again to see if the apps and emails were having an effect.

According to the city council, this tactic is a lot cheaper than using police officers. In addition, something must be done, because the number of traffic deaths in the USA is at a record high.