White Drivers Punished Less Under MA Distracted Driving Law

MASSACHUSETTS — State officials began collecting details on traffic stops one year ago under Massachusetts' new distracted driving law, and data from the first 10 months of enforcement shows Black and Hispanic drivers are more likely to end up with a fine or criminal charge.

Data collected between Feb. 23 and Dec. 31 of 2020 shows about 75.6 percent of white drivers stopped for a hands-free violation were let go with a written warning. Black and Hispanic drivers got written warnings at lower rates: 65.3 percent and 63.4 percent, respectively.

White drivers also had an advantage when punishments were handed out. About 13.5 percent of white drivers were ticketed, while 16.4 percent of Black drivers and 22.3 percent of Hispanic drivers were ticketed, according to the data.

ACLU of Massachusetts Director of Racial Justice Programs Rahsaan Hall said the numbers show what many civil rights groups already knew — that non-white drivers have more interactions with police and often end up with more severe punishments.

"White people are not subject to the same type of policing and enforcement of the laws that people of color, in particular black people, are," Hall said.

MassDOT provided the data to Patch after a public records request. The data accounts for stops made under the hands-free law and the law against texting while driving.

The state Legislature passed the hands-free law at the end of 2019, and police began enforcing it in February 2020. Massachusetts was the last state in the Northeast to outlaw holding a phone while driving, and so the law was seen as an important safety milestone.

Civil rights groups in the state also warned the law could open drivers of color to more traffic stops. The groups, led by the ACLU of Massachusetts, urged lawmakers to require the state to collect collection, analyze and publicize traffic stop data.

Police across Massachusetts made about 31,000 stops over the first 10 months the law was in place. Of those, 7,360 stops ended in a fine. White drivers got about 63 percent (4,658) of those tickets, but non-white drivers were getting tickets at higher rates according to their population size.

Black people make up about 7.9 percent of the state population, according to Census figures, but 13 percent of all hands-free fines went to them. About 12.4 percent of state residents identify as Hispanic, but received 14.6 percent of all tickets, according to the data.

The hands-free stops also led to worse punishments, including criminal charges and arrests in some cases.

About 1,000 drivers stopped under the law ended up being criminally charged, according to the data. About 1.79 percent of white drivers were criminally charged. But 4.19 percent of Black drivers and 4.86 percent of Hispanic drivers were charged with a crime.

There were 144 arrests following a hands-free stop. Black drivers saw the highest rate of arrest of any racial group at 0.66 percent of all stops.

Asian drivers, the fourth-largest racial group in the data, were also punished at higher rates than white drivers. About 82 percent were let go with a warning, but nearly 17 percent were ticketed. About 1.27 percent ended up with a criminal charge.

By gender, women were less likely to get a ticket or criminal charge, with 85 percent driving away with a written warning. Nearly 17 percent of men were ticketed compared to about 13.2 percent of women, according to the data.

The data also show how individual departments use the law to make traffic stops. State police made the most stops, while Lowell police made the most stops of any local police department with 1,506. Salem was No. 2 with 791 stops.

Salem police Capt. Fred Ryan said he wasn't aware Salem's stops were second-highest in the state — but said it was evidence the department is serious about safety violations.

"We did not do any selective enforcement for it," Ryan said. "The traffic officers do regular selective enforcement on all violations, and we were surprised that Salem ranked that high on these particular violations ... I will credit our traffic division for enforcing these and all other safety related violations."

The communities with the highest number of stops were mostly larger cities with diverse populations. However, Needham and Spencer both made the top 10. State police made over 9,200 stops under the law, and often made up a significant portion of stops in various communities across the state. For example, Worcester had 449 total stops, but only 48 were conducted by Worcester police officers.

Overall, stops may have been higher if not for the coronavirus pandemic. Waltham police, whose officers made 393 stops, said officers may have been trying to avoid direct contact with people due to the virus.

"[COVID-19] seriously impacted our enforcement efforts this past year," Waltham police Sgt. William Gallant told Patch. "Officers were given the discretion to issue a written citation or a verbal warning depending on their comfort level with exposure to people. "

There may also be some stops not captured in the data. The data shows North Andover police only stopped four drivers, but a spokesperson said this week officers more often give out verbal warnings — and those are not counted in the data.

Top 10 local departments for traffic stops

• Lowell Police Department — 1,506
• Salem Police Department — 791
• Lynn Police Department — 745
• Spencer Police Department — 741
• Brockton Police Department — 693
• Fall River Police Department — 625
• Springfield Police Department — 555
• Needham Police Department — 551
• Lawrence Police Department — 408

Top 10 by city, town (includes state police and other agencies)

• Lowell — 1583
• Lynn — 934
• Brockton — 830
• Salem — 801
• Spencer — 770
• Fall River — 759
• Springfield — 669
• Boston — 630
• Needham — 629
• Barnstable — 536

Want to see your local stats? Use this tool to search for hands-free offenses by town and police department.

The hands-free law has, in part, renewed an effort to analyze traffic stop data in Massachusetts.

A state law passed in 2000 required the Registry of Motor Vehicles to collect data on all traffic stops and searches. That data was later analyzed by Northeastern University, and researchers found non-whites were subject to more stops and searches in specific cities and towns in the state. But after 2003, the state stopped analyzing the data.

Civil rights groups and lawmakers have been trying to mandate reporting racial data on traffic stops and searches.

Under the new law, the RMV transfers data on hands-free stops to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for analysis. The office hasn't yet produced any public reports, but has entered into an agreement with Salem State University to analyze the data.

Along with publicizing traffic stop data, Hall said the state should provide more public awareness around the hands-free law to help people of color avoid stops — and avoid potentially fatal distracted-driving traffic collisions.

But the data from the hands-free law only provides a glimpse at what may be a wider problem with racial profiling in the state, Hall said. There were about 4.95 million licensed drivers in the state as of 2019, according to the Federal Highway Administration, and some of the top criminal offenses in state courts include moving violations, Hall said.

"This underscores the need to collect data for all stops so we can have a more accurate picture of what's happening on Massachusetts roads," Hall said.

Patch editors Jenna Fisher, Christopher Huffaker and Scott Souza contributed reporting to this story.

Correction: A paragraph in this story describing the share of warnings given to Black, Hispanic and white drivers has been updated to reflect a calculation error. The figures still show white drivers getting warnings at higher rates than the other two racial groups.