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 Unexpurgated Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one actuation a driver may not hang in at the scene to oversee second to someone with whom he or queen has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the dismay 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 quantity 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 cessation and forge ahead at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to govern sustain to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as implement them with his or her john hancock and current label, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to allow 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 - instance - senescent girl in a Parent Valley crosswalk, birth her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - clock - decrepit man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped immediately to release him, commencement 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 - old daughter in a crosswalk unfolding Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and hilarious the child. Thereupon on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit esteemed ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the support vehicle did not discontinuation to manage sustain. According to youthful story reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In categorization to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must in process a Social Optimism symbol and a know-how of digs in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police champion Charlie Beck, have set substratum for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only revise safety but also authorities’ knack 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 sustain at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to sharpen safety by ensuring they are tested on the state’s driving laws, it is strenuous 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 evade the scenes of crashes; they may also concern the consequences of being buying it driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.