Reforming Public Safety As It Relates to Transportation

Traffic stops are subject to bias, and are one of the primary ways people encounter law enforcement. It will take all levels of government to change this.

In September, after a summer of protests for Black lives, Councilwoman Erika Strassburger came out with a draft of her vision for public safety reform and asked the Pittsburgh community for feedback and ideas to strengthen it. After looking into local traffic stop data back in June and learning how biased it is, BikePGH abandoned police enforcement as a strategy for safe streets.  One of the main ways in which people encounter law enforcement is via traffic stops by armed police. We sent the councilwoman the following to help focus more attention on how investing in alternatives to enforcement will also yield safer streets. As you will see, not everything is within the authority of the City of Pittsburgh to regulate. Some are dependent on federal, state, and county regulation funding. 

Councilwoman Strassburger still has her feedback form up, so if you think there’s anything we missed, please share your ideas with her.

Here is what our ideas at BikePGH are for reimagining Public Safety

According to a 2018 Department of Justice Report, “being a driver in a traffic stop was the most common form of police-initiated contact.” This was the case in such high profile traffic stops from Johnny Gammage to Leon Ford to Antwon Rose.

Unfortunately, over the past decade, the Pittsburgh Police have gotten worse in regard to racial equity in traffic stops.

In 2017, for instance, according to the City of Pittsburgh Police annual report, police pulled over more Black Pittsburghers than white Pittsburghers, despite white residents outnumbering Black residents nearly three to one. Last year, while Black residents comprised about a quarter of Pittsburgh’s population, they also comprised 44% of all drivers pulled over by police in Pittsburgh. Further, of all of those who were pulled over, 5.9% of Black Pittsburghers ended up arrested, compared to only 2.9% of white Pittsburghers.

A Vision Zero Policy through changes in our streets is achievable in Pittsburgh. In short, a Vision Zero Policy is when a City creates plans, policies, and infrastructure in order to commit to zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by a specific date.

As a way to reduce the instances of interactions in the first place we recommend:

  • Self Enforcing Streets – CITY. When our streets are designed in such a way to make it difficult to break the law in the first place, there will be less need to pull people over, and make the streets safer. The most effective measures include traffic calming to keep speeds at or below the limit, permanent “Your Speed Is” signs, pedestrian centered traffic design, Neighborways, bike lanes, etc.
  • Decriminalize Jaywalking – CITY. Several municipalities are looking to decriminalize jaywalking. Ticketing jaywalkers is not effective and only serves to give police an excuse to confront someone and potentially burden them with a ticket.
  • Better Public Transit – CITY, COUNTY, STATE. From reducing drunk driving to making sure everyone can get around with or without a driver’s license, enhancing Public Transit brings benefits beyond simply getting from one place to another.
  • Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE) – CITY. For years, Pittsburgh has the ability to install ARLE traffic control but has yet to implement it. Care should be taken on the placement of ARLE cameras and the fine amount that is set.
  • Automated Speed Cameras – STATE. These are not yet legal in Pennsylvania but are in a pilot phase in Philadelphia and in work zones. The City should advocate for making these legal throughout the Commonwealth.
  • Suspended License Support – Provide addiction support and training to drivers who have lost or are about to lose their license. We’d rather someone continue driving legally (with help), than continue driving illegally, which is what many do.
  • Support Driving Pennsylvania Forward – STATE. In Pennsylvania, undocumented people are not eligible to access driver’s licenses and therefore risk deportation every time they go to work, school, commerce, or access health care. The legislation will allow undocumented immigrants to show an IRS-issued tax ID number (ITIN) and/or a combination of documents proving their identity instead of a social security number. We’d rather people have the chance to legally drive than illegally drive.
  • Drunk Driving Protection Tech – FEDERAL In 2019 there were 9,380 alcohol-involved crashes in Pennsylvania. In 2018 there were 49,730 DUI arrests in our state alone. If the federal government passed legislation mandating impairment detection systems in all vehicles (at bare minimum all new vehicles), the sensors alone would drastically cut down on the problem of people driving while drunk and the need for enforcement.

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