2020 Traffic Stops in Connecticut
Every year, CTData analyzes raw traffic stop data as part of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project. This data contains traffic stops conducted starting on October 1, 2013. In this post, we explore overall traffic stops statistics, along with topics such as offense type, outcomes, age, gender, car searches, and more, disaggregated by race and ethnicity where available.
2020 Traffic Stops at A Glance
A total of 201,757 traffic stops were conducted in 2020, compared to 512,697 in 2019. This decrease was due to the transition to remote work for many employees during the global pandemic, resulting in fewer drivers on the road.
(A note about the race and ethnicity categories: Hispanic refers to Hispanic of any race. Asian, Black, American Indian, and white refer to non-Hispanic drivers.)
Summary of General Findings:
The most common offense for conducting a traffic stop was speed-related, making up 35% of stops
Most drivers (41%) who were stopped were let off with just a verbal warning
64% of drivers who were stopped identified as male
3% of vehicles were searched, and over 1 in 3 searches resulted in contraband found
90% of stops lasted 15 minutes or less
Summary of Findings by Race/Ethnicity:
Hispanic or Black drivers were most likely to be arrested or issued a misdemeanor summons, while Asian drivers were most likely to be released with no disposition
American Indian drivers were most likely to identify as male
Vehicle searches were most common for Hispanic and Black drivers, but contraband was found least in these vehicles
Traffic stops for Hispanic and Black drivers were most likely to last over 30 minutes
General Demographics
Overall, 17% of traffic stops were conducted on Hispanic drivers, 2% on Asian, 18% on Black, 1% on American Indian, and 62% on white. 2 in 3 traffic stops were conducted on drivers who identified as male. This was consistent across drivers of all races and ethnicities, except for American Indian drivers, where 3 in 4 traffic stops were conducted on drivers who identified as male. 2% of stops were conducted on drivers who carried only a learner’s permit (ages 16 and 17).
Traffic Stops By Offense
Police officers are required to provide a reason for a traffic stop, such as speeding, defective lights, cell phone usage, registration-related, and more. For drivers of all races and ethnicities, speeding was the top reason for a traffic stop, accounting for 35% of all stops. The second most common reason for a traffic stop varied by race and ethnicity—defective lights for Hispanic and Black drivers, moving violation for Asian and American Indian drivers, and registration-related issues for white drivers.
The table below explores traffic stops by offense type, disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
Outcomes of Traffic Stops
Overall, the most common outcome of a traffic stop was a verbal warning (41%), with the issuance of a ticket a close second (37%). These two outcomes were consistently the most common across all drivers, but the frequency at which other outcomes occurred differed by race and ethnicity. Compared to the overall misdemeanor summons rate of 6%, this outcome was higher for Hispanic (10%) and Black (9%) drivers. Similarly, while the overall arrest rate was 1.0%, this outcome was higher for Hispanic (1.6%) and Black (1.4%) drivers. Asian drivers were the least likely to be arrested (0.3%) and the most likely to receive no disposition (2.2%).
Please note the differences in the y-axis depending on the outcome category.
How Long Do Traffic Stops Last?
The majority of traffic stops are short and take 15 minutes or less, regardless of race or ethnicity. However, Hispanic and Black drivers are more likely to be stopped for a moderate (16 to 30 minutes) or long (over 30 minutes) amount of time compared to other drivers. 13% of Hispanic and 11% of Black drivers are stopped for a moderate amount of time and 4% of Hispanic and Black drivers are stopped for a long amount of time, compared to lower percentages for Asian, American Indian, and white drivers.
Vehicle Searches and Contraband
Overall, 3% of cars stopped for any reason were searched with contraband found in 37% of searched cars. Hispanic and Black drivers had their cars searched at 6x the rate of Asian and American Indian drivers and 2x the rate of white drivers. However, contraband was found less often for Hispanic and Black drivers, compared to Asian and white drivers.
Given that speeding violations were the most common reason for a traffic stop, how often does a simple speeding-related stop lead to a car search? Overall, 1 in 86 (1.2%) speeding-related stops lead to a car search, but the rate was about double for Hispanic (1 in 47, 2.1%) and Black (1 in 42, 2.4%) drivers.
For More Information
Visit our main Connecticut Traffic Stop Data page for more information about this project, including access to previous years’ analyses and links to download the raw data by year.
Visit our 2020 Census Hub for more information about the 2020 Census and to keep up-to-date with data releases and analyses. Be sure to check back as we plan to update the hub often with new data and analyses.
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