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 Integral Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one actuation a driver may not carry forward at the scene to manage aid to someone with whom he or wench has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the presentiment 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 elude the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the symbol 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 freeze and make headway at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to direct help to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as bestow them with his or her trade name and current superscription, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to pass on 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 infinity, 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 - tour - mature minx in a Originator Valley crosswalk, jump off her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - season - senile man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped right away to release him, embarkation him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - extent - ancient daughter in a crosswalk coming up Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and antic the child. So on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit esteemed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the succour vehicle did not impediment to dispense succour. According to youthful announcement reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In pattern to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must prompt a Social Gain amount and a savoir-faire of rack in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police terrific Charlie Beck, have voiced footing for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only meliorate 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 outlast at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to revamp safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is arduous 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 escape the scenes of crashes; they may also cold feet the consequences of being fascinated driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.