Using change in a seat belt law to study racially-biased policing in South Carolina

Seat belt laws have increased seat belt use in the US and contributed to reduced fatalities and injuries. However, these policies provide the potential for increased discrimination. The objective of this study is to determine whether a change in seat belt use enforcement led to a differential change in the number of stops, arrests, and searches to White, Black and Hispanic drivers in one US state. We used data on 1,091,424 traffic stops...