Posted on 01/18/2022 5:33:38 AM PST by Red Badger
In this episode of “Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Any Sillier”…
“Racist” traffic signals. More precisely, racist traffic cameras.
“Guess what’s racist now? Yes, everything is racist, as we know, but specifically what new thing is racist? Traffic cameras.”
The Latest in Racism | Power Line https://t.co/Yfzc7LXeWn
— abk (@seriouslyabk) January 16, 2022
As reported by super-left ProPublica, a recent study found that traffic cameras in Chicago “disproportionately” ticket Black and Latino drivers. Just one problem. Even worse: “Racist,” or not, not only do Chicago city officials plan to stick with the ticketing system; other cities are likely to adopt them as well.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot herself in 2020, not dissimilar to a blind squirrel finding an acorn, lauded the (inherently racist?) ticketing traffic cameras as “about making sure that our communities are safe.”
About making communities safe or not, ProPublica instead focused on the “hundreds of cameras that dot the city,” generating “tens of millions of dollars a year for City Hall” that have “come at a steep cost for motorists” in the Windy City’s Black and Latino neighborhoods.
A ProPublica analysis of millions of citations found that households in majority Black and Hispanic ZIP codes received tickets at around twice the rate of those in white areas between 2015 and 2019.
Note what the above sentence does not say, which is cameras were placed in Black and Hispanic ZIP codes at twice the number of those placed in “white ZIP codes,” nor did it suggest that traffic cameras in “Black ZIP code” ticket Black drivers over any different set of infractions than white drivers.
The consequences have been especially punishing in Black neighborhoods, which have been hit with more than half a billion dollars in penalties over the last 15 years, contributing to thousands of vehicle impoundments, driver’s license suspensions and bankruptcies, according to ProPublica’s analysis.
Olatunji Oboi Reed, a longtime activist for racial equity in transportation in Chicago who has received a handful of camera tickets over the years, told ProPublica that one ticket can be a game-changer in the Black community.
We felt the brunt of it the way white people didn’t. Fortunately, I’ve always been in a situation where I can survive financially, unlike many Black and brown people in the city; one ticket is throwing their whole finances in a hurricane.
According to ProPublica, the pandemic widened the ticketing disparities for Blacks because Black workers have been far less likely than others to have jobs that allow them to work remotely, forcing them into their vehicles more often. In 2020, ProPublica said, the ticketing rate for households in majority-Black ZIP codes jumped to more than three times that of households in majority-white areas. For households in majority-Hispanic ZIP codes, there was an increase, but it was much smaller.
While some cities have eliminated the camera systems in recent years, support for the systems began gaining steam in others in the wake of George Floyd riots — “peaceful protests” — or, as ProPublica called the riots, “the nation’s racial reckoning.”
Call it what you will: Untold numbers of businesses and innocent people’s lives were destroyed by the mayhem and violence, night after night, week after week, month after month — regardless of skin color.
And finally, this:
Chicago city officials told ProPublica they are attempting to “mitigate the financial harm” caused by camera tickets. (No — caused by drivers and jaywalkers breaking the law). They pointed to a pilot program that halves the costs of fines and allows for some debt forgiveness for low-income residents.
“Almost” like cashless bail. Makes perfect “sense” in both cases.
No costs or consequences, no change in behavior.
Put up a wall in these big cities and remove everything they say is racist. Just make sure they cannot escape from the idiocy they want. You want it. Have it and stay away from the rest of us.
Welp. Now running red lights, and 80+ MPH travel in busy city streets, will be the norm.
I will NOT be visiting these deathtrap-cities for ANY reason.
I’ve suspected for a while now that a lot of black folks don’t believe they should abide by the rules of the road and laws of our land...what with our country being racially irredeemable and all.
Because as we all know this country was built on the backs of slaves so blacks should be exempt from evil white laws.
Sound crazy? Think about it.
End these traffic cameras, they are widely detested everywhere they appear.
They did away w/ them here in Juno Beach. Too many bad tickets. They do make more sense in shitholes like Chicago where they probably have no cops.
With America being so “wasis”, I can’t figure out why idiot foreigners continue sneaking into the country. I know their “wace cards” play here where they don’t play at all in the sh*tholes they crawl out of but I think only highly retarded idiots would come here and put up with all of this “wacism” and honky supremacy. Just think, these are the same morons who laugh at “Karens”. Well, I see these illegal aliens as “Nancys”. Pelosi’s Kids.
EVERYTHING is racist except for the left
LOL LOL! I’M OFFENDED I’M OFFENDED!!!! WAAH!
“... forcing them into their vehicles more often.”
But, nothing “forces them to speed, drive recklessly, or engage in other traffic-related violations.
“No costs or consequences, no change in behavior.”
There is a big change in behavior without costs or consequences, it gets much worse.
Why the headline if traffic signals are not what is at issue in the article?
One possible solution: Just as many states make car registration fees proportional to car value, they could do the same for traffic violation fees.
Don’t be silly. It’s everyone.
I’m old and don’t depend on my reflexes any more. That means I leave a lot of distance between me and the next car and drive at or around the speed limits. Generally, I’m driving about 5 mph over the speed limit - 60 on a 55 mph highway.
We’re talking two lane country highway, with deer, bear, and occasional cyclists and pedestrians.
Despite what I consider a reasonable speed I have people blasting by me. I will never figure out why they have to 80 mph in such areas.
This thread is racist.
Olatunji OBOI Reed. The jokes right themselves.
Good lord. How have those people survived for so long with all the racism!!!
/sarcasm
Being accused of “racism” just doesn’t have the punch that it once had. Unfortunately this even applies to true racists like Joy Reid.
“will never figure out why they have to 80 mph”
On many occasions whether on the loop around my city or the two main highways that intersect it I’ve been in the center lane, cruise control set to 80 mph and had traffic pass me on both side continuously.
SMH
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