Cohort 2024
ideas42
Exploring the Role of Race in Traffic Citation Response and Resolution
Bay Area, CA
In California, Black and Latinx drivers disproportionately experience traffic stops and certain traffic-stop outcomes (PDF), such as arrests and searches. Much less is known, however, about disparities in how people respond to and resolve their tickets, including through options that support drivers, such as income-based fine reductions, payment plans and extensions, and traffic school. To improve outcomes for drivers, ideas42 partnered with California agencies to redesign the statewide traffic citation, which went into effect on January 1, 2024.
With Catalyst Grant funding, ideas42 will analyze traffic ticket data, provided by a California superior court, to better understand the journey from issuance to compliance to resolution, including the roles of demographics such as race, neighborhood wealth, and age under the old and new citations.
ideas42 was also a Catalyst awardee in 2023. Read about its 2023 project, Evaluating the Impact of Court Reminders to Reduce Warrants and Advance Racial Equity.
