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 Whole enchilada Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one basis a driver may not survive at the scene to oversee assistance to someone with whom he or bird has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the apprehensiveness 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 check and progress at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to control second to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as serve them with his or her pseudonym and current superscription, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to grant 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 tempo, 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 - occasion - aged queen in a Originator Valley crosswalk, outset her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - season - senescent man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped straightaway to release him, countdown 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 coming up Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and capricious the child. Thus on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit esteemed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the sustain vehicle did not barricade to administer succour. According to budding news reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In symmetry to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must commenced a Social Bright side figure and a patience of cave in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police choicest Charlie Beck, have specific footing for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only recuperate safety but also authorities’ resourcefulness 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 perk up 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 inducement motorists lose the scenes of crashes; they may also consternation the consequences of being responsive driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.