Every year in America, an estimated 20 million traffic stops take place – over 50,000 a day. For all drivers, the prospect of being pulled over by the police is a stress-inducing event. What did I do wrong? Am I in trouble? In our car-dependent societies, such interactions have become a regular occurrence.
Whilst the promise of independence and freedom that the automobile provides has made the car a central part of our everyday lives, many drivers traverse the roads worried about whether they might get stopped. But for those with socio-communicative difficulties, fears of what might go wrong if their actions were to be misunderstood put off many individuals with autism from learning to drive in the first place. Scared to drive, those with autism may often find it more difficult to get around – restricted in seeing friends, going to places they enjoy, or getting a job. Missing out on some of these important experiences is challenging for those living life on the spectrum.
The Blue Envelope Program was first introduced in January 2020, when the Connecticut State General Assembly unanimously passed a bill requiring the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to create an aid which supports the interaction between drivers with autism and police officers within the state of Connecticut. Simple in design, the Blue Envelope looks to support police officers and drivers alike by providing helpful instructions to both parties.
The envelope is intended to contain the driver’s registration information, insurance details, and driver’s license, so that drivers can hand over the relevant documents to an officer, alongside an explanation of their disorder. The outside of the envelope contains useful information for both the officer and the driver on how best to communicate with one another, alerting the officer to a need for extra sensitivity whilst helping the driver navigate a potentially overwhelming situation. A possible aversion to eye contact is no longer interpreted as suspicious but understood within its proper context, easing tensions and preventing escalations.
Since its emergence, drivers and police officers have raved about the transformative powers of the Blue Envelope – impactful in its simplicity. Drivers who were provided the opportunity to try using the Blue Envelope during a practice pullover event run by Southern Connecticut State University described the envelope as “very helpful,” providing a “better understanding of how to handle a possible traffic stop.” Easy to use, drivers wanted the program to “expand across the country.”
Such praise was equally shared by police officers familiar with the Blue Envelopes. Interviewed members of the police community found the Blue Envelopes “game-changing” to use as it quickly “helps officers identify what is going on.” Already tasked with fulfilling so many different duties, officers appreciated that the program “makes it so much easier for them” and that there was “definitely a need” for a national expansion.
Yet, despite the Blue Envelope’s success, when the pandemic hit shortly after the program’s launch, opportunities for expansion diminished as states dealt with new issues. It has only been in the last 12 months that Blue Envelopes have become more widespread, cropping up across the country. From California and Colorado to New York and Ohio, it has typically been through the initiative of local police departments and county sheriffs that Blue Envelopes are now more readily available in many states. As such, the program has progressed rather haphazardly, emerging in various locations but not always immediately becoming part of the statewide infrastructure.
That is beginning to change. In June 2024, Governor Daniel McKee signed a Rhode Island House Bill requiring the implementation of the Blue Envelope program across the state. In February 2025, Governor Sarah Sanders signed the “blue envelope bill” into Arkansas law. On both occasions, the bill passed unanimously through state legislative chambers – just as it did in Connecticut. On either side of the aisle, in both blue and red states, strong support was observed, a moment of bipartisan respect in a prolific period of hyper-partisan politics.
With California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) now proposing to expand California’s Blue Envelope Program across America’s most populous state, it is time to move beyond local-level advocacy and towards national legislation. Supported by law enforcement agencies, disability advocacy groups, policymakers, academics, and – most importantly – drivers with autism, a unified approach to the national adoption of the Blue Envelope program would send a powerful message of inclusion.
For the many drivers in America with autism, the Blue Envelope is a functional, practical tool. But it is also much more than that. What began as a state-level initiative has demonstrated its effectiveness throughout the nation, earning the praise of police officers and drivers alike – a true win-win program. Enshrining the Blue Envelope into national policy would not only help to transform outcomes for drivers (and potential drivers) on the spectrum but would affirm a broader societal commitment: that all citizens deserve to feel safe and supported not only on the road but in their day-to-day lives.
Fred R. Volkmar, MD, a professor at Yale Medical School and the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, is a world-leading expert on autism (with research cited over 77,000 times in academic articles). Harry Grindle is a recent graduate from Yale University and the University of Oxford, interested in the intersection of psychology and the law. Harry Grindle and Fred Volkmar, alongside Southern Connecticut State University’s Centre for Autism Excellence, worked together on first-in-the-field research showing how impactful the Blue Envelope program is for the hundreds of thousands of drivers with autism.
