Do you know how fast you were going?

Dear Readers:

The following article might not be a surprise to you, but the reason this sort of thing happens is not what you would think it is!  (I will give you the explanation after this article, but it has a lot to do with countries that don't really teach driving skills ......, you just have to bribe someone to get a license!)

Ottawa Police are pulling over Middle Eastern and black drivers -- especially young men -- far more often than other groups relative to their population in the city, according to a report analyzing traffic stops over a two year period.

Researchers at York University looked at 81,902 traffic stops between 2013 and 2015 where officers were asked to approximate the driver’s race, sex, and age, as well the reason for the traffic stop and the outcome.

The data revealed that drivers perceived to be Middle Eastern accounted for 12.3 per cent of the stops, about 3.3 times what you would expect based on their proportion of Ottawa’s population. Those thought to be black accounted for 8.8 per cent of the stops, roughly 2.3 times higher than anticipated based on population size.

The disparities were even more pronounced among young men. Middle Eastern males between the ages of 16 to 24 were 12 times more likely to be pulled over.

Young black men were 8.3 times more likely to be stopped. With the exception of Indigenous peoples, men aged 16 to 24 of all racial groups saw a disproportionately high volume of traffic stops.

The massive data pool, which is the first of its kind in Canada, was collected in response to a human rights complaint against the Ottawa Police stemming from a 2005 traffic stop. However, the researchers behind the study say the findings should not be seen as proof of racial profiling within the force’s ranks.

Officers reported perceiving the race of the driver before deciding to pull the vehicle over in only 11.4 per cent of the stops -- a fact that could partially mitigate the chance of perceived racial bias.

Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau says he isn’t troubled by the outsized representation of Middle Eastern and black drivers in the study.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ottawa-police-pull-over-higher-rate-of-middle-eastern-and-black-drivers-report-1.3129761

O.K., now here comes the part they don't tell you about!

My wife spent about five years living in the Middle-East and Northern Africa, while I have seen the way they drive in Jamaica and most of the Caribbean, and this makes me wonder how these people ever got a drivers license in the first place. That's right kids, they didn't learn how to drive a car ...., just how to aim it!)