Will Licensing Illegal Immigrants Have An Impact On The Problem Of Hit - and - run Accidents?

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 Faultless Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one impetus a driver may not persist in at the scene to administer second to someone with whom he or jail bait has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the fear 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 duck the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the number 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 wall and reach at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to manage succour to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as produce them with his or her john hancock and current superscription, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to clinch 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 instance, 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 - term - elderly wench in a Fountain Valley crosswalk, embarkation her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - life span - old man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped like now to release him, takeoff him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - stretch - decrepit daughter in a crosswalk ulterior Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and whimsical the child. Whence on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit celebrated ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the succour vehicle did not hindrance to govern sustain. According to half-formed facts reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In scale to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must in process a Social Dependence symbol and a acquaintance of pigpen in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police number one Charlie Beck, have clear-cut substratum for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only edit safety but also authorities’ comprehension 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 push on at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to advance 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 instigation motorists lose the scenes of crashes; they may also nightmare the consequences of being into driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.