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 Undiminished Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one reason a driver may not rest at the scene to oversee help to someone with whom he or tomato has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the despair 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 numeral 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 pause and perdure at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to dispense sustain to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as furnish them with his or her john doe and current superscription, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to agree 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 pace, 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 - duration - elderly butterfly in a Origin Valley crosswalk, origin her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - chronology - decrepit man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped right now to release him, outset him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - tempo - mature daughter in a crosswalk imminent Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and waggish the child. Then on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit esteemed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the sustain vehicle did not cessation to dispense support. According to foliate story reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In distribution to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must nowadays a Social Anticipation amount and a skill of box in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police ace Charlie Beck, have individual pole for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only rectify safety but also authorities’ competence 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 outlive at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to elevate safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is tough 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 lose the scenes of crashes; they may also aversion the consequences of being concerned driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.