Motor Vehicle Stops

Motor vehicle stops seem to be taken for granted day in and day out by college students on various campuses across the country. They are taken really seriously by police officers on college campuses, city streets, and even highways. College students these days feel as if the cops are just trying to ruin their fun or pull them over because they have nothing better to do. They don’t want to be pulled over that little bit of alcohol that pushed them a little or even double the legal blood alcohol limit of their state. However, most of these stops could be the key to saving someone’s life and keeping our college campuses safe.
Here at WNE, our officers take very good pride in the motor vehicle stops that they do throughout the school year. Just
think of how many people would run through a stop sign had they not seen one of our officers parked right in the CUB or Rivers lot. I had my own experience completing a motor vehicle stop on campus.There are certain protocol that needs to be followed in order to protect the officer’s safety. The officers are also under a lot of surveillance just to follow the requirements of the state. They have to use their discretion, so that students don’t think they are only one of their race or gender being pulled over. Discretion also establishes that they don’t do motor vehicle stops at the same time of day everyday. Moreover, I learned that it’s easier to pull someone over at night and that you don’t want to stay in the same area waiting to pull someone over. I also learned that the more traffic there is the easier it might be to pull someone over for a moving violation. It was a wonderful experience and I would love the chance to participate in one again.
Furthermore, there is a difference of public concern over the decision of certain officers during traffic encounters which is applicable to a college community. DECISION MAKING IN TRAFFIC STOP ENCOUNTERS: A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF POLICE BEHAVIOR states, “The term “racial profiling” generally describes police officers using pretext (often minor traffic or equipment violations) to stop and interview minority drivers to satisfy the officer’s curiosity and/or search for drugs and other contraband. There is general consensus among citizens, advocates, and police that such police behavior is inappropriate, although some contend that targeting minorities is pragmatic and rational police conduct (Taylor & Whitney, 1999)” (Schafer, Carter, Katz-Banister, and Wells 185). Officer who participate in racial profiling while committing traffic stops on college campuses are the reason why people defy or are afraid of the police. These individuals are already labeled without being given a chance to prove that they don’t fit in with the stereotypes placed against them.
Additionally, there is data reports of crashes that happen along intersections where if there more traffic stops to reemphasize some of the actions that could result in a traffic violation. “While about 40% of crashes occur at intersections, the majority happen in other locations such as midblock crosswalks, sidewalks, and parking lots (Campbell, Zegeer, Huang, & Cynecki, 2004). Studies have also explored the impact of marked sidewalks in uncontrolled locations on pedestrian crash rates, finding that on high-traffic (more than 12,000 vehicles per day), multilane streets, marked crosswalks are associated with higher crash rates than unmarked crosswalks (Zegeer, Stewart, et al., 2002)” (Loukaitou-Sideris, Medury, Fink, Grembek, Shafizadeh, Wong, and Orrick 200). These motor vehicle stops on campus allow the campus community and guests to be more aware of the signage and markings around campus. Knowing that the officers who serve these communities take it seriously will then most likely emphasize to the other drivers on campus that these little things go a long way. Just having the crosswalk to show the possibility of pedestrian presence instead if being marked with a million things also causes less distractions for the driver to get used to.
In addition, three college campuses with different sizes, volume, and densities were a part of a study and there was crash data collected for the each of them. According to Crashes on and Near College Campuses: A Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety,
“We collected crash data from 2002 to 2011 from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) and an online survey.
SWITRS is a statewide repository of reported traffic collision data collected by the California Highway Patrol. It includes information about the date, time, location, and type of collision; age and gender of the driver and the victim(s); primary cause of collision; whether alcohol was involved; and the extent of injuries. SWITRS data provided useful information primarily for crashes on the campus peripheries. For information about campus crashes, we turned to the campus police units. However, we found that the number of reported crashes was extremely small. For example, the UCLA Police Department had on record only 15 crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists between 2009 and 2012” (Loukaitou-Sideris, Medury, Fink, Grembek, Shafizadeh, Wong, and Orrick
203).
No school wants to have to file a report to say that there was an accident involving persons whether they were someone of the school’s community or not. College campuses like WNE work hard at keeping their environment as safe as possible. It would only make more work for them having to deal with an accident rather than just reprimanding someone for a simple traffic violation. These motor vehicle stops may seem like they are nit picking, but are beneficial to everyone traveling whether in a car, on a bike, or on foot.
Also, there was the case of Tensing v.
Dubose, Tensing who was an officer at the University of Cincinnati shot Mr. Dubose after a traffic stop for an alleged missing license plate turned south. Harvard Law Review asserts, “After DuBose was unable to produce his driver’s license, Tensing directed him to remove his seatbelt and tried to open DuBose’s driver’s side car door. “I didn’t even do nothing,” DuBose protested, as he held his door closed and turned the key to his car’s ignition. Yelling for DuBose to stop, Tensing reached for him with one hand and his service weapon with the other. He then fired one shot — killing DuBose instantly. Although Tensing claimed that he discharged his weapon only after being dragged by DuBose’s vehicle, his body camera footage plainly contradicted his account” (Harvard Law Review 1168). Officer Tensing probably did not follow the proper protocol for a motor vehicle stop which is probably why Mr. DuBose tried to drive away and his hand got trapped. He then tried to lie about what happened when he knew that he was being recorded at all times as a safety protocol. Officers on college campuses are allowed in certain states to make traffic stops and arrests on our near their campuses. North Carolina happens to be one of those
states.