Road safety for whom?: South Carolina's proposed left lane traffic enforcement bill could perpetuate existing racial/ethnic public health disparities

Abstract Introduction Road safety is an important issue whose public health impact is further intensified by mediators of systemic racism, including biased policing. The historical precedents of Walter Scott and numerous other Black persons who have suffered violence at the hands of South Carolina (SC) police provide added impetus for explicit discussions of mechanisms to mitigate racially/ethnically biased policing in any new road safety measures. Unfortunately, these important considerations do not appear evident in H3011, a new SC enforcement bill predicated on increasing road safety by proposing stricter penalties for slow left lane drivers. Conclusions Regardless of the ultimate fate of H3011, the bill reflects a pattern of road safety enforcement legislation that seemingly fails to place racial/ethnic equity considerations at its forefront. If we, as public health researchers, truly believe that police violence is a public health crisis, we must advocate for our lawmakers to actively do more to address this issue.