Creating a Data Resource of California Police Stops for Use in Traffic Safety Applications

Details

• Creators:
  Lutzker, Liza ; Griswold, Julia B.
• Corporate Creators:
  Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety (CPBS) Tier-1 University Transportation Center (UTC) ; University of New Mexico. Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Crash Causes Traffic Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Traffic Violations
• Publication/ Report Number:
  23UCB02
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/fknx-hw95
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report – (June 2023-June 2024)
• Corporate Publisher:
  Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety (CPBS) Tier-1 University Transportation Center (UTC)
• Abstract:
  Amidst a growing traffic safety crisis in the United States, police enforcement remains a central, yet under-studied, strategy for improving safety outcomes. A significant barrier to research on police traffic enforcement has been the lack of a detailed and comprehensive database. California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) confidential dataset offers an unparalleled resource to address this gap. This report documents the process undertaken as the first external researchers to access and process the confidential RIPA data. Information is provided on the rigorous process required to access the data, including extensive documentation of information technology security. Details are provided on the methodology to process, clean, standardize, and restructure the large dataset into a stop-person analytic file for use in traffic safety research. Descriptive findings from over 17 million traffic stops (2018-2023) reveal key characteristics of enforcement patterns but also highlight data quality challenges and limitations, such as ambiguities in determining the travel mode for nearly 40% of individuals stopped. Despite substantial administrative and technical hurdles, the confidential RIPA dataset is an indispensable tool for traffic safety research. Forthcoming mandated improvements to data collection, combined with the data processing framework presented here, will enhance the dataset’s utility for traffic safety researchers.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  69A3552348336
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d1f6d76849064b63296b5b23e33926a8a8bad7d09aee9b4fe29743e8214fbfeb0e536e399b46114d3706011425345b6fdbde57e2b09213d24daafc69e18c4069
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/87785/dot_87785_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 703.14 KB ]