District of Columbia Speeding Laws

Basic Speed Law: No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing.  D.C. Code §§ 40-703(a)(6) & 40-712(a)

Penalty for Exceeding Speed Limit

A first time violator may be:

• fined between $15 and $100, and
• the violator’s license may be suspended between two and 90 days.

Penalty for Reckless Driving

A first time violator may be:

• fined not more than $250,
• sentenced to jail time of between 90 days, and
• the violator’s license may be revoked for six months.

Speed Limits

• 25 MPH
• 15 MPH in alleys
• 15 MPH in streets adjacent to school buildings or playgrounds when indicated

D.C. Speeding Law

The District of Columbia has what is known as an “absolute” speed limit law. There is no trick to how this works: If the sign says 40 mph and you drive 41 mph or more, you have violated the law. In other words, you are guilty if you drive over the speed limit. In the District of Columbia you may be able to make three possible defenses:

• Attacking the officer’s determination of your speed. To do this you must discover what method the officer used to cite you and then learn about the ways to attack that particular method.
• Claiming an emergency forced you to exceed the speed limit to avoid serious damage or injury to yourself or others.
• Claiming that the officer mistook your car for another car. With so many similar-looking cars, it is possible that a cop could see a speeding car, lose sight of it around a corner, and then wrongly pick out your car farther down the road.

Note that in the District of Columbia you can be ticketed for driving at an unsafe speed, even if that speed does not violate the posted limit -- for example, driving exactly at the maximum mph posted limit on the freeway amidst slower and heavy traffic, in a dense fog, or in a driving rainstorm or blizzard.

Point System

Under the point system, a person's license can either be suspended if they accumulate 8 points (16 points for drivers who operate motor vehicles for employment purposes) or be revoked if they accumulate 12 points.  The following points are assessed for speeding and other speed related traffic law violations: Reckless driving-12 points; speeding in excess of the posted speed limit by 21 MPH or more-5 points; speeding in excess of the posted speed by 16 to 20 MPH-4 points; speeding in excess of the posted speed limit by 11 to 15 MPH-3 points; for all other accident violations-3 points; and, for all other non-accident violations-3 points.