CHICAGO (AP) – Fewer bicyclists are getting tickets in Chicago but most of the written citations are going to riders in low-income, predominantly African-American neighborhoods.
The Chicago Tribune obtained figures from the police last month under the Freedom of Information Act showing bike citation totals dropping from over 4,000 in 2016 to 2,196 last year. Fewer than 600 tickets were issued through late June.
But the newspaper reported Monday that over half of the citations were issued in majority African American neighborhoods on the South and West sides in 2018 and 2019, disproportionate numbers mirroring preceding years.
Transportation equity advocates have criticized the practice of ticketing bikers in impoverished areas as “racist and discriminatory.”
Chicago officials and the Illinois attorney general approved a police consent decree in January, heightening scrutiny on misdemeanor arrests.