Safe Roads for All: Evidence-Based Strategies for Keeping Our Roadways Safe

Each year, millions of people are trapped in an inescapable cycle of debt as ticketing practices prioritize profits over safety. This white paper, a collaboration between the ACLU and Policing Project,  is intended to help policymakers understand how the current approach to roadway safety evolved, the consequences, and evidence-based strategies to make roads safer.  The authors highlight municipalities’ use of traffic fines and fees to generate revenue as a practice that disproportionately harms low-income people, while failing to improve road safety. Recommendations include restricting  ticketing practices and/or potential revenue from ticketing practices, and reforming municipal finance to ensure that local governments can fully fund their critical services without using fines and fees.