Researchers in DC found that red light cameras were disproportionately placed in Black communities, leading to more tickets for Black drivers. Despite no evidence of Black drivers speeding more, the focus on these neighborhoods is seen as systemic racism. The debate revolves around whether the placement of cameras is based on traffic safety needs or perpetuates racial disparities in traffic deaths. Some suggest placing cameras in both Black and white neighborhoods to ensure fairness and safety for all residents.
Black communities deserve to be safe from accidents caused by speeding vehicles too 🖤 #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/8C2DB6eceZ
A way to solve the social-justice question: put red-light cameras on ALL the traffic lights.
Are the people in these neighborhoods not voting for local leaders who are all in on red light cameras? Red light cameras are all over DC and a succession of black mayors have been all in on the program. https://t.co/F1wLm03bEt
Black people get more tickets, are arrested more for traffic violations <progs> "there's no evidence that blacks commit more vehicular crimes" Yeah, there is - *you just stated it* This passes for thinking in the "mainstream" https://t.co/YyCIpKOoFC https://t.co/eT3qGKIMrv
Black city council: We need red light cameras in those areas where people keep speeding and crashing into each other. [A few months later] Antiracist nerd: They put red light camera mostly in black areas. This is systemic racism! https://t.co/HCJ18acGFy
Amazing that he has this blind spot. In Chicago, red light cameras do disproportionately target people of color because more traffic in white neighborhoods precludes speeding. https://t.co/YEfq8LjpqE https://t.co/eFCShhhEB2
Narrator: "There is a ton of evidence of different driving patterns among races, including traffic fatality patterns, and dating back at least to Heather MacDonald in 2002." https://t.co/J8YiVdQQjz
Putting a red light camera in a black neighborhood isn’t about punishing only black people for running red lights, it is about protecting black people from people of all races who run red lights. The intersections that get cameras are the ones with the most crashes. https://t.co/PedVo1rE2O
This is a good point. We should also put the red light cameras in white neighborhoods. https://t.co/RLvIFiENoO
If there's nothing different about black neighborhoods that justifies putting more red light cameras there, then why do black people die in traffic accidents so much more often than white people do https://t.co/rrlS96z6tA https://t.co/LdWChBLKx6 https://t.co/HANsNv83sd
This is an interesting one because to me if all the cameras were in white neighborhoods *that* would be the racism, ignoring the traffic safety needs of black residents. https://t.co/7SwLOL62Wy
"Racial disparities in traffic deaths are outrageous." [they really are] We could have cops step up traffic enforcement! "No. That's racist." Oh. What, then? "We should use cameras." OK. Where? "In minority neighborhoods where fatality risk is highest." I guess so... "Gotcha!" https://t.co/ZyJvLsTM8n https://t.co/fetmAFMOTB
In DC, researchers found that red light cams were systemically concentrated in Black communities, resulting in more tickets for Black drivers. Meanwhile there’s no evidence Black drivers speed/drive differently than anyone else. This is systemic racism. https://t.co/In38dUQshA https://t.co/FnoDbk78jt