Two summers ago, calls to defund the police swept across the nation, spurred by high-profile incidents of police brutality against people of color. While the voices demanding this change may have quieted, with many Americans now calling for an increase in local police budgets, there's a specific, particularly dangerous area of policing that could be eliminated quite easily: traffic stops. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk with independent reporter, Brett Simpson, about the long-standing use of police to arbitrate the rules of the road. We consider alternative models to road safety being attempted in this country and in Europe, examine how new technology could keep our roads safe without those roving fleets of lethally-armed traffic cops, and explore privacy issues related to these innovations.

Narrator 0:02  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Brett Simpson  0:27  Just a simple, common sense solution, like why do we need an armed officer trained with a warrior mindset to tell us that we need to update our license plate tags? It doesn't make any sense. It's a confusing allocation of resources and it's a source of violence that disproportionately affects black and brown people.

Narrator  0:56  Two summers ago, calls to defund the police swept across the nation, spurred by high profile incidents of police brutality against people of color. While the voices demanding this change may have quieted with many Americans now calling for an increase in local police budgets. There's a specific particularly dangerous area of policing that could be eliminated quite easily. traffic stops. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk with independent reporter Brett Simpson, about the long standing use of police to arbitrate the rules of the road. We consider alternative models to road safety being attempted in this country and in Europe. Examine how new technology could keep our roads safe without those roving fleets of lethally armed traffic cops, and explore privacy issues related to these innovations.

Alex Wise  2:07  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by journalist Brett Simpson. Brett, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Brett Simpson  2:12  Thanks so much for having me, Alex,

Alex Wise  2:14  So you have a new piece in The Atlantic entitled Why cars don't deserve the right of way, the simplest way to make roads safer and reduce police violence at the same time. It's very interesting. And a concept that I've kind of wondered about as we have more and more high profile police violence episodes unfold on our TV screens. Inevitably, every year, almost every month, there's some new video of police abuse and so much of it seems to be surrounding the traffic cop. Why don't you explain why it doesn't necessarily have to be this way in terms of our police force being our traffic cops.

Brett Simpson  2:57  Yeah, so this story centers around the city of Berkeley, which in July of 2020, you know, when there was this, you know, after following the, the killing of George Floyd there was across the nation, this movement toward rethinking and reimagining the police force and their prevalence in our lives. And the city of Berkeley was unusual in that, in its police reform, it really targeted the traffic cop. And in doing so, it actually really targeted police violence at its root. I mean, as we've seen, for so many black and brown drivers stops for minor infractions like a broken taillight or speeding too often turned deadly. You know, we have Philando Castille, Sandra Bland, and most recently, Dante Wright,