Subsequently, the researchers received information about all -speed tickets issued in Florida and they identified those who belonged to LYFT drivers.
The data showed one thing clear: Lyft has stimuli for its drivers to prevent traffic violations and they work. “Compared to the general population of motorists, our sample is less sensitive to speed, especially more than 10 km / h on the limit,” the team writes. “As a result, our analysis only investigates 1,423 quotes for speeding violations.” Although lower than you would expect, that is more than enough to make some statistics about the frequency of these quotes.
Animus
There are many confusing factors that can influence whether someone is persuaded and quoted, such as their gender, the brand of their car, and so on. The researchers treat this in two ways. For one analysis, the researchers themselves chose a series of factors to include as potential confusing influences in an analysis. For the second they trusted machine learning to determine the factors that would be considered in the analysis. Both approaches led to similar results.
The results clearly reproduced a similar pattern as earlier research. Minority LYFT drivers were about 30 percent more likely to be persuaded and cited for speed violations (the two analyzes produced results of 24 and 33 percent). Once mentioned, they would probably also receive higher fines, or 23 or 34 percent more than white drivers.
The remaining question was why – the police could possibly act out of bias, whether they could try to deter minority drivers because they are more susceptible to problematic driving. The researchers therefore compared the actual frequency of speed violations based on the GPS data and used accidents as a proxy for problematic driving habits. None of these showed significant differences between minorities and white drivers.
So the researchers are left to conclude that it is simply because of what they call “Animus” against minority drivers on the part of the police. And the problems go much further than the impact of the fines themselves. The researchers note that most providers of car insurance policies give drivers discounts for avoiding traffic violations. This suggests that minorities are confronted with the extra burden to pay more easily for being able to drive with insurance, something that is legally required by US states.
Science, 2025. Doi: 10.1126/science.adp5357 (over dois).
