Driverless cars will put half our cops out of work

But pulling over speeders and other traffic violators isn’t the only way police interact with us in ways tied to our cars.

The survey shows that an additional 32 million people had other contacts with the police, such as participating in community policing programs or reporting a problem. Of these other contacts, 17 percent were because of traffic accidents.

Combined, more than half of all contacts with the police are related to vehicles. And almost all of these issues would likely go away once autonomous cars take over the roads, meaning the number of law enforcement professionals could be cut in half without reducing public safety. Earlier surveys that track just face-to-face contacts raise the percentage to almost 60 percent.