Andre Carroll took a phone call while sitting in his car at a gas station when a police cruiser pulled up behind him with its lights flashing.
A Black man and a state representative based in Northwest Philadelphia, Carroll asked the officer what was wrong. The cop indicated that he had been there a while in his vehicle. Once Carroll identified himself, the officer told him everything was fine.
“One of the things that I recognize is that not everyone has the opportunity to be an elected official,” he said. “An experience like that just three weeks ago could have gone terribly wrong.”
Carroll recalled his recent encounter during a news conference Monday marking the three years since the implementation of the “Driving Equality” legislation, which prohibits police from pulling over a car solely for a series of minor violations.
Impact of Driving Equality law
Progress has been made to reduce potentially negative interactions with law enforcement, but data shows racial disparities persist, City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and chief public defender Keisha Hudson said at the event.
“A lot of Black people who would have been pulled over haven’t been pulled over,” said Thomas, the primary sponsor of the bill. “There’s probably a police officer who hasn’t been hurt because they’re involved in less traffic stops.”
The law reclassified eight offenses (registration that expired within a 60-day period, a visible but not properly placed temporary registration, hanging license plate, a single broken light, items dangling from the rearview mirror, minor bumper damage, expired or missing inspection sticker and expired or missing emission sticker) as secondary violations.
Police are still permitted to issue tickets for such infringements but only if they initially stop the car for a more serious violation, such as running a red light or stop sign.
Following Monday’s remarks, there was a viewing of “Living While American,” a brief documentary about the proposal’s path through Council. Philadelphia was the first major city in the nation to limit the ability of officers to stop drivers, and several other jurisdictions have followed suit.
Progress made, but racial disparities remain
Driving Equality, as the legislation is known, faced pushback, amid a major crime spike coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about reckless driving. However, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the resulting demonstrations, the initiative also drew significant support.
Thomas, a Black man who grew up in Philadelphia, was inspired by his own experience of being frequently pulled over. As a member of Council, he has formed strong bonds with PPD officers assigned to City Hall.
“I think everybody should have that same experience with law enforcement,” he added. “For a lot of us growing up, every experience we have with a police officer is negative.”
Data shows that younger Black men are still the most likely to be stopped by police. Between October 2018 and September 2019, 72% of drivers pulled over were Black; last year, 63% were Black, though the share of the city’s Black population has also fallen 5 percentage points in that time, to 38%, according to the Defender’s Association.
“We have miles to go, but this is incredible progress,” Hudson said Monday.
The Defender Association recently published a Driving Equality online dashboard with data culled from the PPD, the census and the city’s Vision Zero traffic safety initiative.
Prior to the law’s implementation, the most common reason for a vehicular stop was a broken light, according to the dashboard. Now, it’s for red light and stop sign violations, and officers are pulling over more drivers on the High Injury Network, a collection of Philadelphia streets where 80% of all serious crashes occur.
While vehicle stops increased in 2024, the contraband “hit rate” – the percentage of time when an officer finds a weapon or drugs – is down, the Defender Association determined.
Push for transparency, accountability
An accompanying law required police to collect and publish additional information about vehicular stops, but the department has been slow to comply, Thomas and Hudson said. The Defender Association said there is only partial data for what prompted a stop and whether a gun was found.
The PPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday about the data lags.
Thomas said lawmakers have made an aggressive push to expand automated enforcement, in lieu of police stops. He introduced legislation last week to install speed cameras in seven school zones, and the devices are also coming to Broad Street and additional roadways.
“We feel like those are the things that are the best tools to be able to deter negative activities as it relates to driving and traffic,” Thomas said.
