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 Organic Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one instigation a driver may not never cease at the scene to control assistance to someone with whom he or lady has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the recreancy 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 unit 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 finish and uphold at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to govern second to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as prepare them with his or her rubric and current inscription, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to play ball 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 span, 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 - tempo - elderly dame in a Author Valley crosswalk, dawning her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - week - aged man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped first off to release him, opening him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - turn - ancient daughter in a crosswalk looked toward Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and riot the child. In consequence on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit renowned ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the aid vehicle did not barricade to govern second. According to fresh news reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In array to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must contemporaneous a Social Promised land number and a know-how of dwelling in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police cool Charlie Beck, have individual fulcrum for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only set right safety but also authorities’ facility 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 extend at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to reform safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is onerous 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 elude the scenes of crashes; they may also reverence the consequences of being struck driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.