How cars fuel racial inequality (VOX)

How cars fuel racial inequality – By Marin Cogan (VOX) / June 13, 2023

Cars can be a source of freedom. They also drive discrimination.

Marin Cogan is a senior correspondent at Vox. She writes features on a wide range of subjects, including traffic safety, gun violence, and the legal system. Prior to Vox, she worked as a writer for New York magazine, GQ, ESPN the Magazine, and other publications.

Part of the discrimination issue of The Highlight. This story was produced in partnership with Capital B.

When a Nevada police officer pulled over Leisa Moseley-Sayles in 2010, she was new to Las Vegas. She was getting a divorce and going through a custody battle, raising four young children, and working on a political campaign. Money was tight. So when the officer issued a ticket for $299 because her California license plate had expired, it couldn’t have come at a worse time: Moseley-Sayles didn’t have the money to pay. She signed up for a payment plan, not anticipating how that traffic ticket would haunt her for the next several years of her life.

For the first few months, she made her payments on time. Then, one month, she was short on cash. She wasn’t sure what missing a payment would mean, but when Moseley-Sayles called the court to ask if she could resume payments the next month, she learned that because she’d missed one, there was now a warrant out for her arrest. In order to get out of warrant status, she’d have to pay the warrant fees, which in Nevada can be $150 or more. She didn’t have the money to pay, so Moseley-Sayles was stuck, unable to afford the fine necessary to get back on the original payment plan.

The late fees accumulated and then multiplied. In 2011, she was pulled over again and informed that because she hadn’t paid her fines, her license had been suspended. She was issued another ticket. She tried to stay on top of payments, but in 2014, the worst happened: She was dropping her kids off at school and an officer pulled her over and informed her that she had an outstanding warrant for unpaid fees and was under arrest. Moseley-Sayles had to call a friend to pick up her kids while she waited to be released from jail later that night.

CONTINUE > https://www.vox.com/23735896/racism-car-ownership-driving-violence-traffic-violations