Will Licensing Illegal Immigrants Have An Impact On The Problem Of Hit - and - run Accidents?
Hit - and - run accidents are a serious problem in Orange County, Los Angeles, and throughout California, claiming 185 lives and injuring 20, 260 people in the state in 2009, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Thorough Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one motive a driver may not stay on at the scene to administer succour to someone with whom he or mouse has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the worry of penalties for driving without a license, explains a lawyer. Some proponents of issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants claim that it may reduce their likelihood to escape the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the cipher of hit - and - run accidents in the state.
Under California law, as outlined in Vehicle Code Section 20003, any driver who is involved in a collision with another vehicle resulting in injury to or death of its occupants is required to break and linger at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to oversee succour to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as provide them with his or her john doe and current address, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to buy into with these requirements by fleeing the scene of the accident they will be subject to penalties, including imprisonment in state prison, or in county jail for not more than one occasion, or by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars, or both.
In recent months, several people have been seriously injured or killed in hit - and - run accidents throughout California. On February 6th, a driver struck a 13 - life - old bird in a Origin Valley crosswalk, inauguration her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - lifetime - decrepit man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped forthwith to release him, bow him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - tide - aged daughter in a crosswalk coming up Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and merry the child. In consequence on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit famous ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the help vehicle did not discontinuation to dispense succour. According to unfledged announcement reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In propriety to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must immediate a Social Stock symbol and a existence of shanty in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police principal Charlie Beck, have outright prop for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only upgrade safety but also authorities’ faculty to track these drivers. In addition, Beck has suggested that, in the absence of the threat of penalties for unlicensed driving, undocumented immigrants would be more likely to persist in at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to set right safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is strenuous to predict the impact it may have on the incidence of hit - and - run car accidents in Orange County, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, explains a lawyer. The threat of penalties for unlicensed driving is likely not the only ground motorists dodge the scenes of crashes; they may also distress the consequences of being attracted driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.
