Philadelphia City Council voted 14-2 to make it illegal for city police to pull over drivers solely for a motor vehicle code violation. The legislation is called the “Driving Equality Bill” and was passed under the pretense that police unfairly target Blacks.
A special process is also being set up for Black drivers to submit complaints that a cop pulled them over solely for a vehicle code violation. Racial grievance activists campaigned for the legislation. They claim that the police have too many interactions with Blacks.
Starting in 120 days, drivers in Philadelphia will not need a vehicle registration sticker, emissions test sticker, working taillights, or working headlights as long as they do not commit a more serious moving violation.
The bill initially banned officers from pulling over drivers for excessively loud mufflers. However, as the bill was being debated, a large crowd of young Blacks blocked traffic in front of Philadelphia City Hall while several people performed stunts with their cars. Many had modified aftermarket exhaust systems to make their cars louder.
City Council members removed exhaust-related code violations from the bill because of public outrage.
Philadelphia’s only two Republican city councilmembers, a White male and an Asian male, voted against it.
This was the event that prompted City Council to remove exhaust code violations from the bill:
