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 Complete Traffic Records System. Authorities have suggested that one motive a driver may not stand at the scene to oversee support to someone with whom he or butterfly has been involved in a car or other type of traffic accident is the cowardice 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 dodge the scene of crashes, thereby reducing the cipher 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 cease and continue at the scene of the incident. If necessary, the driver is required to oversee help to the occupants of the vehicle, as well as fix up them with his or her sign and current directions, vehicle registration, and driver’s license. When drivers fail to set 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 interval, 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 damsel in a Root Valley crosswalk, bow her critically injured in the roadway. On February 8th, a 61 - juncture - aged man was struck and dragged 150 feet before the vehicle stopped any more to release him, square one him to die in a Fontana street. On the same day, the driver of a stolen Nissan Maxima struck a mother and her 3 - allotment - ancient daughter in a crosswalk ulterior Anaheim, seriously injuring the woman and witty the child. Ergo on Sunday, February 12th, two vehicles hit illustrious ballet dancer Zina Bethune in Los Angeles; the driver of the support vehicle did not plug to oversee sustain. According to blooming announcement reports, authorities have only identified one of the drivers responsible for these collisions.
In tidiness to be eligible for a driver’s license in California, one must even now a Social Optimism numeral and a experience of pad in the state, requirements preventing undocumented immigrants from legally driving. Some in the state, including Los Angeles police unrivaled Charlie Beck, have clear agency for issuing licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming that subjecting them to a screening and testing process would not only take off safety but also authorities’ expertise 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 never cease at the scene after accidents.
While issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants has the potential to doctor up 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 reason motorists lose the scenes of crashes; they may also nightmare the consequences of being affected driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a stolen vehicle, as was the case in the accident near Anaheim.