Larena Bryant, a black woman in Kansas City, has 26 outstanding traffic tickets. She’s not necessarily a bad or unsafe driver. In 2017 alone, Bryant was stopped seven times and cited with 13 traffic tickets by the Kansas City Police Department — five tickets for no insurance, six tickets for driving on a suspended license and two tickets for expired tags, the Kansas City Star reports. “Now it’s pay this ticket or pay this light bill,” she says. “It’s pay this ticket or pay this rent. It’s adding another bill on top of what I already have.” Her ordeal highlights the hardships faced by thousands of Kansas City drivers, particularly poor African Americans suffering from a deluge of problems caused by traffic tickets. The tickets pile up, burying already poor residents under a mass of fines and creating a financial pit few are able to pull themselves out of.
The Star analyzed traffic tickets from 2017 and found significant racial disparities. Of the traffic tickets given to Kansas City residents, 60 percent went to African Americans, who make up 30 percent of the population. Thirty-seven percent of tickets went to whites, who make up 59 percent of the population. Speeding is overwhelmingly the top traffic offense, except for African Americans. The top traffic ticket charge for African-Americans is “state license plate required,” followed by “no insurance” and then speeding. Stacy Shaw, founding partner of a law firm specializing in traffic cases, says the majority of 8,000 traffic-related cases her firm has handled dealt with violations stemming from failure to pay insurance, licensing or tag fees. “These are economic-based crimes, they’re not poor driver crimes,” Shaw says. See also: Millions Lose Driver’s Licenses Over Court Debts