Vehicle stops by police for driving while Black: Common problems and some tentative solutions

A common set of problems currently surround analysis of vehicle stops by police for what has come to be called “driving while Black.” These common problems range from an exclusive focus on contemporary police practices to possible differences in the driving behavior of African Americans and Whites. The present research used observer-reported data from “Midwest City” at the start of the 1970s to propose and illustrate tentative solutions to the common problems that currently surround analysis of race and vehicle stops by police. The article concludes with discussion of the tentative solutions and the implications that follow from them.