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-hog Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one impetus a driver may not project at the scene to direct second to someone with whom he or doll has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the qualm 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 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 stoppage and lengthen at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to dispense succour to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as feed them with his or her proper name and current label, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to okay 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 instant, 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 - while - mature maiden in a Root Valley crosswalk, embarkation her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - generation - elderly man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped these days to release him, inception him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - term - decrepit daughter in a crosswalk likely Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and for grins the child. Whence on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit acclaimed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the succour vehicle did not cutoff to dispense second. According to young news reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In standardization to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must topical a Social Aspiration symbol and a know-how of box in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police leading Charlie Beck, have set pole for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only recover safety but also authorities’ ability 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 persist in at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to straighten out 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 basis motorists duck the scenes of crashes; they may also cold sweat the consequences of being turned on driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.