Activist Group To Provide Tail Light Repair Clinics

An activist group wants to help people avoid a common kind of traffic stop for tail lights that aren't working.

The idea is that by eliminating the pretense for traffic stops for a not-so-serious problem, drivers can avoid an encounter with police.

It's not uncommon to hear about a person arrested for a crime uncovered after a stop for a broken tail light, or a conflict with an officer that started with a "routine traffic stop".

Some activists believe police use that as an excuse for racial profiling and want to eliminate bad brake lights as a reason for a traffic stop.

"We're not out there to say that traffic laws are bad, but it's just an awareness that many of these people who can't pay or don't know to fix their tail lights are the same people stopped and arrested for failure to pay for their citations and that's just more people incarcerated and held in jails that are already overfull," said Xavier Doolittle with Democratic Socialists of America. 

This group plans three car repair clinics to check and fix tail lights in March, April, and May, starting in North Tulsa, East Tulsa, then in Tahlequah.

They met Wednesday night at Rudisill library to make plans and set the exact days.