Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIn preparation for the Indiana General Assembly’s upcoming session, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Chris Bailey recently wrote in The Indianapolis Star that legislators should allow traffic cameras to ticket drivers as a tool to reduce speeding and reckless driving in Indianapolis. But it is also imperative that lawmakers and business leaders acknowledge the disproportionally high costs that automated ticketing imposes on our Black and low-income workforce. Recent studies show that this tool produces a cycle of poverty, arrests and unemployment that is also likely to result in social and political unrest. Let’s remember that the Indianapolis City-County Council identified “systemic racism” as the cause for the racial disparities that resulted in the riots of 2020 and codified into law their commitment to eliminate it in all facets of city government.
Chief Bailey’s point that automated ticketing would reduce “the potential for [racial] bias in traffic stops” is correct on its face. Cameras do often reduce bias. Unfortunately, this isn’t the whole story. In a 2024 study focusing on camera enforcement in Chicago, researchers found that “Black drivers exhibit a higher likelihood of being ticketed by automated speed cameras” and that the “racial composition of citations at each camera reflects the residential racial pattern in its vicinity.” A 2022 study of the Washington, D.C., Vision Zero plan supports the Chicago study by finding that “neutral automated traffic cameras can unintentionally further racial disparities.” Additionally, inaccurate address information, lack of income and the impersonal nature of automated enforcement all seem to contribute to the increased unlikelihood of tickets being paid on time by Black lower-income drivers.
A moving violation in Indianapolis is $229, a burdensome amount for many low-income workers, even before court costs for unpaid fees or license reinstatement. Thus, an increase in traffic tickets likely increases fines, insurance rates, license suspensions and arrests in households that are often at or below the poverty level. This cycle negatively impacts road safety by increasing the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road. It also results in increased jail sentences and unemployment.
My hope is that, as the General Assembly considers Chief Bailey’s request, we acknowledge that racial disparities will increase.
—Robert Evans III
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Am I interpreting this letter to the editor correctly? The solution to reduce racial disparity caused by neutral automated traffic cameras because “Black drivers exhibit a higher likelihood of being ticketed by automated speed cameras….” is: 1) Do not install cameras in known “high speed” areas that exhibit a specific racial composition, or 2) If (speeder) caught on camera, include with the mailed citation a questionnaire. Are you: a) unemployed, b) low income, c) no insurance, d) previous moving violations. Answering two or more in the affirmative gets the driver a “pass”; no arrest, no fine. Whom are the winners? Not the neighborhood residents who asked for cameras because the principal goal is safer streets for their children.
The goal is to reduce speeding and reckless driving. As obvious as it is, don’t blatantly speed and quit driving recklessly. Then one doesn’t get the ticket, and pays no fines.
So don’t speed. Thankfully, the shift in 2025 seems to be moving towards common sense.