Austin Entrepreneur Seeks to Save Lives at Traffic Stops
Michael Odiari is the Founder and CEO of Check, a web application that makes traffic stops safer for both drivers and law enforcement. It was about 10 years ago when Odiari was pulled over while traveling with friends for what should have been a minor traffic stop; but everything happened so fast, and Odiari just remembers looking down the barrel of an officer’s gun.
This traffic stop could have ended much differently, and Odiari put himself in the shoes of the mothers who have lost their sons, and children who have lost their fathers under similar circumstances.
According to Odiari, Black motorists are 20% more likely to be pulled over. Recently, the City of Austin released a report that stated Black people were the most overrepresented race when it came to traffic stops in 2019. More specifically, despite making up only 8% of the population in Austin, 14% of traffic stops, 25% of searches related to traffic stops, and 25% of stops that led to arrests involved Black people. Black people were also three times more likely than white people to be searched when pulled over. Odiari also shared that there is a 40% fatality rate for officers during traffic stops. With Check, Odiari strives to create a win-win situation for motorists and law enforcement by providing a solution that allows routine traffic stops to take place without either the officer nor the motorist having to leave the safety of their own vehicle.
Michael Odiari, Founder and CEO of Check
Check is a web application that allows officers to pull up the driver’s license and insurance of a motorist who has registered on the Check website and provided such information for their car in advance. The officer can send a text to the registered motorist’s phone, and when the motorist clicks the link in the text a video chat will open to allow the officer and the motorist to communicate from their own vehicles. A traffic ticket can be issued via the web application, and the web application even provides a streamlined resolution process to allow motorists to take care of the ticket with the court.
The vision is to usher in a new era of technology-driven communication, creating more efficient, convenient, and safer ways to connect civilians, law enforcement, and municipalities. Odiari has taken the time to learn from the community issues faced when interacting with law enforcement and municipalities. He has also devoted a significant time to learning from law enforcement how their processes around traffic stops work. All users have to do is register on the Check website and upload a picture of their driver license and insurance. When law enforcement agencies see a significant portion of their constituents have registered, it will signal to them a desire from the community to have Check incorporated in the local traffic stop process. Even if local law enforcement hasn’t yet adopted the web application, you can still handle your citations with the court from it.
Traffic stops are a $6.2 billion industry that Check is looking to give the community an equitable way to tap into by providing opportunities for individuals to invest in Check.
Emeka Anyanwu is an attorney and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of Aˈme-kə, an online retail space for makeup, beauty, and grooming brands founded by Black entrepreneurs. She is the 2019 recipient of the National Black MBA Association – DFW Chapter’s Empowering Visionaries Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Emeka is a graduate of Stanford University, and she also received her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law and her M.B.A. and M.S. in Healthcare Leadership and Management from The University of Texas at Dallas.
