Governor balks on brake light exclusion

Northam says legislation goes too far in barring stops for vehicles found with equipment violations

Gov. Ralph Northam proposed changes to a bill that would bar police officers and sheriff ’s deputies from pulling drivers over on a wide array of vehicle equipment violations.

The governor supports nearly all of the proposed restrictions on such stops that the bill’s proponents contend will help reduce racial disparities in the justice system.

But Northam stopped short of signing the bill into law Wednesday, saying officers must be allowed to pull over vehicles that are driving without headlights or working brake lights.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether his suggested amendment would allow officers to stop cars with only one operating headlight or brake light.

Supporters contend the bill will reduce what they describe as the targeting of Black drivers with unwarranted traffic stops and vehicle searches.

As passed by the General Assembly, the bill would block police from stopping vehicles on everything from tinted windows and faulty brake lights to loud mufflers and objects — such as air fresheners — dangling from rear view mirrors.

But in two parts of the bill that apparently made it through the legislative process accidentally, police also would be barred from stopping cars that are driving at night without headlights or that are operating without brake lights.

York-Poquoson Sheriff Danny Diggs has said that brake lights and headlights are crucial to preventing car accidents and that “no headlights are one of the top indicators of a drunk driver.”

One of the bill’s sponsors, Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, told the Daily Press two weeks ago that he wasn’t aware that the bill addressed headlights until a reporter asked him about it.

Hope said headlights weren’t part of the intent of the legislation. He said Monday that he spoke with Northam’s office last week about removing that language.

“I will certainly concede that not

having both your headlights on is a public safety risk,” Hope said. “I talked to the governor’s office, and he’s aware of the concerns about the bill ... We certainly don’t want to have unsafe roads or impact public safety in any way, shape or form. That wasn’t the intent.”

The lawmaker said he thought that even with the statute as it passed the legislature, police could likely have stopped someone driving without their headlights at night. “I believe that’s reckless driving and probable cause for impairment,” he said. But he said it makes sense for Northam to clear up any unintended consequences.

Northam had seven days to act on the proposal after it was sent to him last week.

His proposed amendments to the bill — which will now go back to the General Assembly for approval — says police officers can still stop a vehicle “if it displays no brake lights” or “if it displays no lighted headlights” at night.

The bill also bars police from stopping drivers for having a non-working “third brake light” — a higher mounted light required on all new vehicles since 1996.

The special session of the General Assembly, which followed the in-custody death of George Floyd earlier this year, has largely focused on criminal justice. Democratic Virginia lawmakers have used the national moment — as well as their recent majority control — to accomplish changes they’ve wanted for years.

Brad Haywood, Arlington’s public defender and executive director Justice Forward Virginia, says there’s a “wide racial disparity ” in vehicle equipment stops. He said that “pretextual policing” — using minor infractions as a basis to pull someone over to investigate them further — “is probably the primary source of racial disparities in the criminal justice system.”

In a major police shift in Virginia, the legislation bars police from searching vehicles “solely” on the basis that an officer smells marijuana coming from the car.

Local lawyers say that many of the equipment stops lead to searches of cars on the side of the road on the basis that an officer smells pot.

Under current law, that odor is considered sufficient legal cause for officers to search a car without a warrant. But reformers have long contended that the practice is open to abuse — with a built-in incentive for officers to lie about the smell in order to search the car.

The bill says police would no longer be able to pull people over for the following reasons, among others:

Having tinted windows or objects hanging from their rear view mirrors that obstruct a driver’s view

Having expired vehicle registrations; and having expired vehicle safety inspection stickers that are less than three months past expiration

Having loud or non-working muffler systems on cars, motorcycles and scooters

Smoking in a car with a juvenile inside

Also under the legislation, police wouldn’t be able to stop pedestrians who are not walking at crosswalks — jaywalking — or pedestrians who are “carelessly or maliciously interfering with the orderly passage of vehicles.”

Those laws would remain on the books, and drivers could still be charged with the vehicle safety offenses, but only as “secondary” violations.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, had asked Northam not to sign the bill, saying that Virginia would end up with “more crashes and more fatalities” as a result of not being able to pull drivers over.