In October of 2021, the very #woke^[1]From Wikipedia: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from … Continue reading Philadelphia City Council was swayed by the notion that law enforcement had created a class of offenses which fell under the heading of “driving while black”, and they were determined to end that in the City of Brotherly Love:

Philly has become the first big city to ban minor traffic stops said to criminalize ‘driving while Black’

Philadelphia is the first large U.S. city to enact legislation aimed at curtailing the use of pretextual stops for low-level infractions, which disproportionately have targeted Black drivers.

by Sean Collins Walsh | October 14, 2021 | 6:42 PM EDT

Philadelphia on Thursday approved groundbreaking legislation that will bar its police officers from pulling over drivers for low-level motor vehicle offenses like broken taillights, a long-standing law enforcement tool that critics said led to Black motorists being stopped at disproportionate rates.

With a 14-2 vote, City Council passed the Driving Equality Bill, which details seven offenses — including improperly displayed registration or emission stickers — as “secondary violations” that cannot be the sole reason for police to pull over a driver. Instead, officers can issue citations for those infractions that will be mailed to drivers. The legislation will take effect 120 days after Mayor Jim Kenney signs it, which he is expected to do in the coming days.

In doing so, Philadelphia became the first large U.S. city to ban the use of so-called pretextual stops for low-level infractions, a practice that police departments have not only permitted, but encouraged for years to enable officers to potentially search the cars of drivers they suspected of carrying illegal drugs or weapons. Instead, critics say, it led to motorists being unfairly stopped and searched for what’s become known as driving while Black.

If that sounds like bovine feces to you, well that’s because it is. The Philadelphia City Council was saying, in effect, that black motorists are less capable than white drivers of keeping their cars registered and in proper working condition.

The new law is likely to have a significant impact on the nature of policing in Philadelphia. About 97% of police vehicle stops are for low-level violations, according to the Defender Association. Eliminating those could lead to as many as 300,000 fewer police encounters each year, it projected.

Ahhh, the Defender Association. When you hear the words on a police show, “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you,” the Defender Association of Philadelphia is what you get in our nation’s sixth largest city, and they truly love them some criminal defendants.

The actual text of the Driving Equity Bill does not mean the police cannot stop you if you don’t have a license plate on the back of your car, but that’s pretty much how it has worked out. And so I saw this in Tuesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

Cars with missing or covered plates are foiling speed cameras on Roosevelt Blvd.

In the 26 months since speed-enforcement cameras were installed on Roosevelt Boulevard, average speeds and violations have dropped.

by Thomas Fitzgerald | Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Over the last year, 30,630 vehicles caught speeding on Roosevelt Boulevard dodged tickets because the drivers were traveling without a license plate, according to the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

As a result, automated speed-enforcement cameras watching over one of the region’s most dangerous roads did not capture the data needed to send a ticket to the registered owner. PPA staff and city police officers who review potential violations had to reject them.

That’s kind of funny, actually, that the Roosevelt Boulevard Robocop couldn’t send tickets to guys eleven miles an hour over the speed limit, right?

And 240 vehicles with no plates were clocked at 100 mph or more, the report said.

Oops!

By CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Roosevelt Boulevard has 12 lanes and long stretches without traffic signals. Though built like a highway, it runs through densely packed commercial and residential neighborhoods. Posted speed limits are 40 mph and 45 mph along the route. It’s often at or near the top of the list of most dangerous roads in the city and is especially perilous for crossing pedestrians.

The speed enforcement cameras have contributed to reduced speeds, as the robocop just sends tickets to drivers. But it seems that 30,630 drivers have taken advantage of Philly’s non-enforcement of non-hazardous vehicle violations; the peopple who scoff the law the most, by not having license plates visible, are the ones getting away with speeding on the Boulevard.

The 100+ MPH violators? Almost certainly street racers, and you’ve got to admit: if you’re going to drag race in the city, the Boulevard sure looks like an ideal place to do it! Maybe, just maybe, the “driving while black” laws have something to do with people not having license plates, or having them deliberately obscured. Hit-and-run fatalities are not exactly unheard of on Roosevelt Boulevard.