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A Woman's Right to Light Campaign

The Motivation
The campaign for "A Woman's Right to Light" was motivated by the recent Dibor Roberts case in Northern Arizona. On July 29, 2007, Dibor Roberts, a 48 year old black female, an African born woman naturalized in the US in 2006, was driving home from her job as a nursing assistant at 10:30PM. A Yavapai County Sheriff's deputy says he clocked her speeding on Beaverhead Flat Rd., a dark stretch of road. He came up behind her, turned on his lights. Ms. Roberts says she was afraid to stop in an unlit area and wanted to get to a lighted area. She signaled through her window when he pulled alongside her vehicle, but the officer says he did not understand.

This Could Happen To Any Woman
According to Roberts, she had seen recent reports of police impersonators and she was afraid to stop on the dark road. She stopped at the STOP sign, and turned onto Cornville Rd where, it was reported, the Deputy cut her off forcing her to stop, approached her car with gun drawn, broke her rear passenger window, took her cell phone and threw it on the ground, pulled her from her car and handcuffed her. She was charged with assaulting the officer, fleeing and resisting arrest. The assault charge was dropped. She was convicted on May 16 of resisting arrest and fleeing. Many in the community supported Dibor Roberts realizing that this could happen to any woman.

The Sentence
The judge sentenced her to 6 months unsupervised probation and reduced one charge to a misdemeanor. Dibor Roberts was not fleeing - she was afraid and was trying to get to a lighted area.

Recommendations Are Not Law
The police recommend that women go to a lighted area but the officer in this case did not allow her to do that. Until it is a law, women are not protected from police impersonators or from officers exerting unnecessary force in making a routine traffic stop.

An Invitation For Your Support
While this campaign is for the State of Arizona, we invite women everywhere to sign the petition, support our efforts, and perhaps begin the call for similar legislation in your own states.

The Online Petition States:
"We, the undersigned, call on the Arizona Legislature to pass a law that states that a woman has the right to drive to a lighted, populated area when being stopped by law enforcement at night, for her safety and that of the officer. The woman would be required to signal the officer by turning on her hazard lights and reducing her speed to a specified limit to communicate her intention to stop in a lighted area. Such a law would be included on the state motor vehicle website and in all materials published for driver's education."

To sign the petition, go to:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/a-womans-right-to-light.html

Dibor Roberts