Traffic Stops in Philadelphia

Before Driving Equality

1. What problem led to the creation of the Driving Equality law in Philadelphia?

   Driving Equality is a response to persistent racial disparities in the way Philadelphia police stop drivers. Traffic enforcement has consistently been used by police as a pretext to stop, frisk, and/or search Black drivers, contributing to unnecessary, harmful, and sometimes deadly police interactions. The Defender Association of Philadelphia found that, from October 2018 to September 2019, 72% of drivers stopped by Philadelphia police were Black despite Black people comprising approximately 43% of Philadelphia’s population. And, once police stopped Black drivers, officers searched or frisked them and/or their vehicles twice as often as white drivers, despite Black drivers being 34% less likely than white drivers to be found with contraband.

2. Why did the Defender Association of Philadelphia focus on traffic stops?

   In 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania and the law firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight Black and Latino men alleging they were stopped by the Philadelphia police solely on the basis of their race or ethnicity. As part of the settlement agreement, the Philadelphia Police Department is required to collect data on each pedestrian and vehicle stop it makes—including data on race and ethnicity. The parties to that lawsuit have been monitoring and reporting on racial disparities in pedestrian stops; however, no one was monitoring vehicle stops. Originally, the Defender Association also focused on pedestrian stops because, despite monitoring, pedestrian stops were not declining. In 2016, pedestrian stops finally began to slowly decrease, but vehicle stops remained steady and then began to increase dramatically in the fall of 2018. Seeing this trend, the Defender Association shifted gears and began focusing on vehicle stops.

3. Before Driving Equality, what were the racial disparities in traffic stops by Philadelphia police?

   For as long as Philadelphia police vehicle stop data has been publicly available (since 2014), traffic stops have been racially disparate. Even when traffic stops increased in 2018-2019 and decreased in 2020-2021, police still pulled over a similar proportion of people of color and consistently frisked and searched Black drivers more frequently than any other racial group. In 2021, the year before Driving Equality, Philadelphia police stopped Black drivers 72% of the time they made traffic stops, stopped white drivers 15% of the time, Latino drivers 9% of the time, Asian drivers 2% of the time, and drivers of all other races less than 2% of the time. By comparison, during a surge in stops from October 2018 to September 2019, police stopped Black drivers 71% of the time, stopped white drivers 16% of the time, Latino drivers 10% of the time, Asian drivers 3% of the time, and drivers of all other races less than 2% of the time.

4. Before Driving Equality, what were the top reasons that Philadelphia police stopped drivers?

   Traffic enforcement has consistently been used by police as a pretext to stop, frisk, and/or search Black drivers, rather than target traffic and pedestrian safety. From October 2018 to September 2019:

   • Lighting violations were the top reason for traffic stops, followed by failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, window tint, failure to signal or illegal turn, and violations related to registration and inspection.
   • Stops for these top five reasons made up 88% of traffic stops, totaling 272,486 stops.
   • Racial disparities in these stops were striking. For example, 73.42% of people stopped by police for lighting violations were Black, and 81.34% of people stopped for window tint were Black.
   • Officers spent 14.55 years in personnel time making traffic stops.

5. Before Driving Equality, was there any relationship between traffic stops and public safety?

   Data in Philadelphia do not indicate that more traffic stops lead to better public safety. For example, when there was a surge in traffic stops by Philadelphia police in late 2018 into 2019, crime, arrests, fatal crashes, and shootings did not decrease. Repeated Defender analyses have shown that more traffic stops do not lead to a reduction in crime, arrests, crashes, or shootings.

6. Before Driving Equality, was there evidence that Philadelphia police officers stopped people because of their race?

   Yes. Two analyses of the PPD’s use of “stop-and-frisk” on pedestrians, the Kane report and the Abrams report, found statistical evidence of systematic racial discrimination. Dr. Kane, on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, wrote, “it is clear that being young, being male, and being Black place people at significant risk of being stopped.” (p. 19) Another analysis, known as the “veil-of-darkness” test, examines patterns of traffic stops immediately before and after sunset to see if police stop Black drivers more frequently during the day, when officers can better see the race of the driver. Looking at hundreds of thousands of traffic stops in 2018 and 2019, researchers found that Philadelphia police pulled over significantly more Black people during the day than at night. This analysis holds all variables constant except for the time of day and the race of the driver, which isolates the impact of daylight on whether police stop Black drivers. Therefore, the only explanation for this disparity is that police stop more Black drivers during the day because they can see into vehicles and decide whether or not to stop a driver based on their race. The veil-of-darkness test has been reproduced in Philadelphia by the Stanford Open Policing Project, as well as studies combining Philadelphia traffic stop data with data from other major cities.

Since Driving Equality

7. What is Driving Equality?

   Driving Equality, the first law of its kind in any major US city, reclassifies 8 minor motor vehicle code violations as “secondary,” meaning that Philadelphia police may not stop a vehicle solely for one of those 8 violations. Philadelphia police may still pull over drivers for primary violations, and police may still issue a citation for a secondary violation. Driving Equality does not change the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code—it simply changes the PPD’s method of enforcement. Drivers in Philadelphia must still comply with the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code. Police are free to use other methods to enforce the Motor Vehicle Code, but they cannot stop the vehicle solely for one of these 8 violations.

8. What is Driving Equality’s companion data law?

   The companion data law is a crucial part of Driving Equality. It requires Philadelphia police to publish a public database of traffic stops in Philadelphia. The database must include the reason officers made each traffic stop, demographic and geographic information, whether the stop resulted in recovery of different types of contraband, and other expanded fields. This database will help members of the public to analyze the success of—or need for changes to—the Driving Equality law.

9. How did Driving Equality come to pass?

   Driving Equality came about through a collaboration between the Defender Association and Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. The Defender Association presented its data analysis on racial disparities in traffic stops to Councilmember Thomas, who then took the lead to introduce and sponsor the Driving Equality bill. Councilmember Thomas negotiated Driving Equality with the Mayor’s Office and the leadership of the Philadelphia Police Department. To explain more about Driving Equality, the Office of Councilmember Thomas released a website, and the Philadelphia Police Department published an FAQ for officers.

10. When did Driving Equality become law?

    Driving Equality came into effect in early 2022 in the following timeline:

    October 14, 2021	City Council passed the Driving Equality ordinance and companion data ordinance.
    October 27, 2021	Mayor Jim Kenney signed both ordinances into law. The companion data ordinance was effective immediately.
    November 3, 2021	Mayor Jim Kenney signed the Driving Equality executive order.
    February 24, 2022	The Driving Equality ordinance came into effect.
    March 3, 2022	The executive order came into effect.
    October 27, 2022	The PPD’s deadline to comply with the section of the companion data ordinance requiring a public database.

    When comparing the year before Driving Equality to the year after the law was implemented, this dashboard compares the calendar year 2021 to a 365-day period from April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023. This comparison—rather than comparing March 3, 2021-March 2, 2022 to March 3, 2022-March 2, 2023—is done for a number of reasons and matches the dashboard’s consistent use of quarters of the year. Although these 2 two-year periods have different starting points, they include all the dates in a year and are comparable for analysis.

11. Which traffic violations are covered by Driving Equality?

    The 8 secondary violations that make up Driving Equality are:

    1. Expired Registration Within 60 Days: Vehicle registration must be renewed annually. Police cannot pull you over solely for an expired registration if the expiry date is within 60 days. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 1301.
    2. Location of Temporary Registration Permit: Pennsylvania law requires temporary registration permits be displayed inside the rear window on the driver-side, bottom-left corner, with the printed information visible. As long as a temporary registration permit is located anywhere inside your rear window and is clearly visible, police cannot pull you over solely for this violation. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 1310.1 (c).
    3. License Plate Not Securely Fastened: License plates must be clearly displayed. If your license plate is not securely fastened, but it’s clearly displayed, police cannot pull you over solely for this violation. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 1332 (a).
    4. Single Broken Bulb or Light: While Pennsylvania law requires all motor vehicles to have working lights, Philadelphia police may not pull you over solely for a single brake, head, or running light out or a single bulb out in any light. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 4302.
    5. Obstruction: Police cannot pull you over solely for an object hanging from your rearview mirror, or attached to your front windshield. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 4524 (c).
    6. Missing Bumpers: If you’re missing a front bumper, back bumper, or both, police cannot pull you over solely for this violation. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 4536.
    7. Missing or Expired Inspection Sticker: Vehicles must be inspected annually, and an inspection sticker must be placed on the driver-side, bottom-left corner of the windshield. If the inspection sticker is missing or expired, police cannot pull you over solely for this violation. Title 75 Pa. C.S. § 4703.
    8. Missing or Expired Emissions Sticker: Vehicles must have an emissions test annually, and an emissions sticker must be placed on the driver-side, bottom-left corner of the windshield. If the emissions sticker is missing or expired, police cannot pull you over solely for this violation. Title 75 Pa. C.S. §4706 (c)(5).

12. Which traffic violations are not part of Driving Equality?

    Most traffic violations are not part of Driving Equality. Philadelphia police can still stop drivers for all other motor vehicle code violations, including tinted windows, reckless driving, and failure to stop at a stop sign or red light.

    Initially, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas introduced a broader version of Driving Equality in Philadelphia City Council on October 29, 2020. This bill would have barred Philadelphia police from stopping drivers for many violations that did not pose a risk to public safety, including window tint, among other provisions. The bill did not advance after it was introduced. Councilmember Thomas then convened collaborative working group meetings with stakeholders, including the Philadelphia Police Department, the City’s Law Department, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia, to draft and ultimately pass the current Driving Equality legislation.

13. In the short-term, what impact did Driving Equality have on traffic stops?

    Since the implementation of Driving Equality, Philadelphia has seen a significant decrease in traffic stops by Philadelphia police. Comparing the first eight months after Driving Equality was implemented in 2022 to the same time period in 2021, we found:

    • Traffic stops impacted by Driving Equality dropped by 54%, which represents a decline of 15,984 stops.
    • Traffic stops impacted by Driving Equality dropped by 54% for Black drivers, which represents 11,879 fewer Black drivers stopped for these secondary violations.
    • Stops for lighting violations decreased 64% and dropped to the third most common violation. Before Driving Equality, lighting violations were the top reason for traffic stops by Philadelphia police. Because Driving Equality only covers lighting violations with a single broken bulb or light, police may still stop a vehicle that has more lights or bulbs out.
    • Concerningly, racial disparities have persisted; when Philadelphia police made traffic stops in 2022, they still stopped Black drivers at a similar rate as they did in 2021.

    Driving Equality has had no demonstrable negative effect on public safety. Instead, Driving Equality makes the city safer by limiting the discretion of police officers to racially profile Black Philadelphians. More data is necessary to understand the long-term effects of Driving Equality.

14. Has Driving Equality had an impact beyond Philadelphia?

    Yes, Philadelphia’s Driving Equality law is a national model. After Philadelphia passed Driving Equality, several cities, counties, and states proposed and passed similar policies. To learn more about progress across the country, and to explore a toolkit for jurisdictions seeking to limit non-safety-related traffic stops, see Vera Institute of Justice’s Sensible Traffic Ordinances for Public Safety (STOPS) initiative.

15. What is the future of Driving Equality in Philadelphia?

    Driving Equality is one piece of the puzzle towards public safety, traffic safety, and the elimination of racial disparities in traffic stops. Driving Equality is not a panacea; rather, it is a small step towards trying to address historic racial disparities in policing. As more data becomes available, the Defender will analyze the success of—or need for changes to—the Driving Equality law.